Creating a Safe and Stress-Free Environment for Your Anxious Pet

Our furry friends need a safe space to call their own as a way to reduce stress and promote positive overall health and well being. This is particularly important for anxious pets who can become triggered by uncertain or stressful situations, experienced traumatic incidents, or suffer from separation anxiety and other forms of nervousness.

Creating a stress-free environment is about making your anxious dog or cat feel safe while offering some level of mental and physical stimulation and this area should also be a place where a beloved pet can go when they need time outs throughout the course of their day.

Let your cat or dog navigate your home to see if there is a place where they feel the most comfortable and then you can start to build out that area with the right furnishings and accessories to ease stress and promote calm.

Before long, you’ll notice a big difference in the behavior and demeanor of your four-legged friend.

Tips for Creating a Dog's Safe Space

Your dog’s safe space should be a part of your home where your pup can have some time alone but without feeling as if they’re being punished or ostracized from the rest of the family. That means creating an area that is warm and appealing to your dog, a place where your pet can go to relax and feel calm.

It should have plenty of physical space for your dog to lie down and sprawl out and be furnished with all of their favorite toys and amenities. A place of comfort all the way around.

Safety is Priority One

Wherever you decide to establish your dog's stress free environment, you must first ensure that it has been made entirely safe for your pet to occupy. That means removing any hazardous items that could pose a threat to your pet’s safety and well-being and ensuring that any valuables or belongings that could be broken are relocated. For instance, a lamp or candle holder that might get knocked over by your dog could break into sharp pieces and cause injury to your pet.

Move wires that could be pulled by mistake and drag the items they’re attached to and secure any cords that might get wrapped around your dog’s neck by mistake, causing a choking hazard.

Be sure there aren’t any plants or flowers nearby that could poison your dog by mistake and take away any chew toys that are small enough to get stuck in your pup’s throat. Anything that poses a suffocation risk should be taken out of the area you’ve established as a safe space.

Make the Space Accessible at All Times

This area is supposed to be a safe, stress-free environment and it should be easy for your dog to get in and out at all times. When the space is accessible for your pet, they are more likely to use this comfortable space when necessary. Try to refrain from forcing your dog into using the area, no dragging or pulling to get them inside. Don't use the space as a confinement option when your pet is misbehaving. A safe space is somewhere your dog can go all on their own, anytime they need to reduce stress and anxiety and avoid triggers that make them feel nervous and frightened, like loud noises and unfamiliar house guests.

Deck it Out with Your Dog’s Favorite Things

Think about your ideal safe space, you’d want it to be furnished with all of the things you enjoy the most, the items that make you happy and instill peace and calm. The same goes for your dog, when you create the ultimate safe space that’s designed to soothe and relax your pet, be sure it has all of your dog’s favorite things.

That might include a special bed, a chew toy, a beloved stuffed animal, anything your pet values and needs to have at their side to decrease anxiety should be incorporated into their safe space. But make sure there are also plenty of items that help stimulate your pet and make them want to engage their mind and their reflexes.

Provide Available Food and Water

When your pet wants to retreat to their safe space, they may not wish to come back out when they're feeling hungry. This may be too stressful. So leaving some food and water in their safe, stress-free zone can make them feel less afraid or worried. If you feed your dog at certain intervals each day instead of free-feeding, have your pup take some of their meals in the safe space to make it a more appealing place to be and ease your anxious dog when things are too stressful for them.

Tips for Creating a Cat's Safe Space

A cat’s safe space requires many of the same things that should be part of a dog’s safe space - safety, accessibility, even some food and water. But cats will enjoy having some features in a safe space that aren’t particularly useful for a dog. If you are designing the ultimate safe and stress-free environment for your feline, these are some of the necessities to include:

Add Plenty of High Places

Cats prefer having elevated surfaces from which to sit where they can look down upon the room below from up high. They enjoy these heightened spaces because it gives them an opportunity for quiet solitude and confidence as they can feel more control over their surroundings. When your cat needs some quiet time on their own, they may jump to an elevated surface to get away from it all. So add some high places to sit and relax in their designated safe space.

If you install a high surface near a window, it gives your cat an excellent view on nature outside with birds, squirrels, and bugs buzzing past as a form of all-day entertainment.

Hiding Spots for Your Furry Friend

Cats are often miscategorized as aloof creatures but, in reality, they just like to have some alone time away from everyone and everything. A safe space for a cat is some place where your pet can have that respite from the everyday and, if your home has more than one cat in it, then it’s good for both cats to have a place to hide out and be alone.

Blankets, boxes, even a paper shopping bag can be a comfortable and stress-free refuge from the triggers of anxiety and nervousness that might exist in your home. Maybe a piece of furniture that allows your cat to crawl underneath and curl up for a while, a dark place that has plenty of privacy.

Scratching Posts and Boards

When your cat wants to get a good scratch, it's a way for them to mark their territory but it's also a stress response that helps the cat relax or calm down. It's a way for them to work out their anxiety and without plenty of appropriate places for your kitty to sharpen its claws, the armrest of a couch or a nice rug is usually going to be the target of their tension.

That's why you want to be sure your cat has plenty of suitable places to scratch to their little heart's content. There are many options available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and textures, from shag to rope to cardboard.

The Ultimate in Comfort

A safe space needs all the necessities available to alleviate anxiety. Food and water and a clean litter box so your cat doesn't have to leave their safe space when nature calls. Just be sure it fits properly in the area you've established and it gives your cat enough room to do its business without feeling cramped as that could add to their stress.

Calming Aids for Your Pet's Mind and Body

Sometimes both dogs and cats need a little something more than just a safe space to find shelter from the triggers of anxiety and stress. When a safe space isn't enough to bring peace of mind to your anxious pet, BioPower Pet offers a range of natural calming remedies for cats and dogs that are effective and easy to use.

But instead of synthetic hormones, artificial additives, or prescription medications, BioPower Pet has infused their products with bioresonance energy. This is a trusted and effective component of holistic veterinary care that’s been in use for many decades throughout Europe, and this innovative technology is now available here in the US.

Choose from the Pet Calm and Chill Tag, Pet Calm and Chill Spray, or the Pet Calming Cushion, to ease and soothe your nervous pet. Each product has been energized with this technology through a proprietary energizing process that offers a consistent source of bioenergetic frequencies designed to interact with your pet's biofield.

The biofield is made up of the energy that flows through all living things via the body's natural meridians. When the Tag is connected to your pet's collar or your pet is lying on the Cushion, the bioresonance frequencies penetrate your pet's meridian network to manipulate your pet's energy flow and support the body's natural healing responses within the nervous system to naturally calm and reduce stress and anxiety. The Spray also contains bioresonance energy in a specially-formulated solution made from spring water and Verbena essential oils for an added calming influence that also targets your pet's olfactory sense for soothing relaxation.

Your Pet's Peaceful Environment

Using calming aids in conjunction with a stress-free safe space is the ideal combination for providing your pets with the necessary tools for reducing anxiety to greatly improve their quality of life by enhancing their health and well being.