As Florida residents, we have a trade off for enjoying our state year-round. Every year we endure the summer heat, stormy weather and more importantly the threat of hurricanes.
Pet owners today are already faced with a plethora of challenges and problems that did not exist fifty years ago. All types of new health and behavior challenges already test the patience and bank accounts of even the most compassionate pet owners.
One challenges that have become far too prevalent are those surrounding the pets’ behavior when thunder, fireworks, loud noises and weather conditions occur. Symptoms can range from anxiety, trembling, shaking, barking, howling, hiding, destructive chewing, fear biting and even uncontrolled urination. Realize the stress that your pet is experiencing due to the disruption of our normal daily routine to deal with the problem. Unfortunately it has resulted in many pets being surrendered to shelters as owners are unable to control or correct the behavior associated with this challenge.
Like most disorders, there are also organic causes for the behavior. Much of this is rooted in body chemistry which is influenced by nutrition and toxicity. When the body is out of balance, it manifests the imbalance in many ways. Nutritional deficiencies and toxins cause the body to be unable to perform biochemical functions properly. When this happens, mineral and hormonal imbalances change the way the body responds to different situations.
Knowing these basic causes makes this disorder controllable and curable.
Let’s first look at nutrition. Just because the label says dog food or cat food does not mean that it is a proper and optimal food or diet for our pet. Most of the ingredients found in processed pet foods are not even found, let alone eaten in nature. Dogs and cats evolved as carnivores and as such have digestive systems to optimally utilize animal based foods. The fresh meats, eggs, fish, and fowl are loaded with the bioavailable vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed to balance the body properly.
A body fueled by a proper diet will be healthier, relieving stress, pain, aches and other conditions. Your pets’ biological balance will start to relieve the anxiety and many of the symptoms with begin to vanish.
Remember we must combine the appropriate nutrition with detoxification. The toxins that are often given to our pets in their processed foods, vaccinations, preventive medications, and even as treatments often cause a disruption in mineral and hormonal balance. Many lawn, cleaning, and household products add to this toxic load. Natural chelation of these toxins through the use of specific herbs works with the foods to create health.
In many cases we also use homeopathic remedies help speed the recovery time. Many of the remedies help to rebalance the brain to activate enzymes that will send the right nutrients and hormones to where they are needed. This further relieves the stress that is causing the behavior.
Meanwhile we have many natural and holistic products in order to calm your anxious pet.
Natural herbs can help in many ways. Valerian Root is great for anxiety, separation anxiety, insomnia, restlessness, seizures, epilepsy and stress. Chamomile is a natural sedative to soothe nerves, induce sleep, help calm colitis and improve digestion. It helps support the gastrointestinal tract and eases a nervous stomach, IBS, gas, motion sickness, relieves pain of backache, neuralgia, headache, cramps and arthritis. It also serves as an antioxidant, antiseptic and antifungal.
There are organic products in liquid form also available that are made from plant extracts such as Valerian, Chamomile, Hops, Passion Flower and Scull Cap that achieve good results as well.
Our modern “through chemistry” society has created many health and behavior problems. By working with a knowledgeable nutritional specialist and an alternative veterinarian with non-commercial nutrition experience as well as skills in toxicity, many of these will go away and you will have a “normal” pet again.
