Natural Supplements to Alleviate Anxiety in Nervous Pets
Your cat or dog's anxiety can manifest itself in a number of ways. Separation anxiety, for one. Noise phobia due to loud sounds like fireworks is another. Situational anxiety like unfamiliar guests coming into the home can also trigger your dog's anxiety and send your cat running for cover beneath the bed or couch.
Relieving stress in your pet is important for their overall health and well being and when your pet is exhibiting anxious behavior, the steps you take to reduce anxiety and stress are crucial for setting a good example and establishing a positive pattern of behavior.
For some pet owners, dietary supplements can be a helpful solution. Conventional treatment options offered by veterinarians typically involve some type of prescription or anti-anxiety medication to provide calming effects that don't always last as long as you expect. They can also do long-term damage to your pet's internal organs like the liver and kidneys.
Natural remedies like dietary supplements, on the other hand, can target your pet's stress centers, reduce anxiety from stressful events like veterinary visits and long car rides, and give your pet a healthier, more relaxed life by reducing fear and stress through holistic alternatives.
Common Indicators of Cat and Dog Anxiety
Anxiety in dogs and cats is often demonstrated through a range of behavioral problems that must be curbed by pet owners in order to promote better physical and mental health outcomes in their furry friends.
But in order to address the problem, you need to first recognize the signs of anxiety. Most dogs and cats will display these indicators without pet owners even realizing that something is wrong. Therefore, if your dog or cat is displaying these behaviors, pay attention and take action to determine the cause of the problem and alleviate their anxiety or stress:
Signs of a Dog’s Anxiety
- Excessive barking or whining
- Destructive behavior such as chewing or digging
- Aggression
- Loss of appetite
- Excessive licking at areas of the body
- Panting
- Restless behavior
- Prolonged shaking or trembling
Signs of a Cat’s Anxiety
- Excessive vocalization
- Clinginess
- Hiding for extended periods of time
- Prolonged shaking or trembling
- Ears kept in a flat position
- Overgrooming
- Loss of interest in grooming
- Loss of appetite
- Urinating or defecating outside of the litter box
- Excessive vomiting
Natural Ways to Help Your Pet Alleviate Anxiety
The above actions and behaviors are some of the more common signs of an anxious pet. Anxious nervous system responses to stressful situations are common in dogs and cats, but you can reduce feline or canine anxiety through many of these effective holistic options:
Behavior Modification
Before you start giving your pet anti-anxiety supplements, sometimes training your pet to disconnect from the triggers of their anxiety can have a lasting effect. Anxious dogs suffer from stressful situations for many reasons, but if you spend some quality time working to remove the triggers through training and behavior modification, you can make a positive change in your pet’s life.
First, try to determine if your pet is dealing with general anxiety or something more specific in the form of situational anxiety or separation anxiety. Identifying the cause will be useful for taking the necessary steps to get your pet's attention away from the trigger of anxiety and stress and focusing it towards more positive things.
Training can also take the form of refocusing your pet to associate situations that are typically stressful and negative as positive and pleasant. Reward your pet when they encounter a stress trigger, that way your dog or cat will start to feel less nervous and anxious.
You may not see the results overnight but practice and patience can help reduce anxiety in your pet and improve their quality of life.
Essential Oils
Aromatherapy is a popular method for helping us manage a wide variety of physical and mental health issues from anxiety and stress, to insomnia and pain or discomfort. The use of essential oils has long been an effective treatment method for these and other conditions in a multitude of settings from healthcare to recreation.
Fortunately, the use of essential oils has also been shown to have a positive effect on helping our pets overcome general anxiety, separation anxiety, and noise anxiety, along with many other health and wellness purposes.
When using essential oils, always be sure to dilute them first. Many of these oils are highly concentrated and can be hazardous to cats and dogs in their undiluted form.
CBD Oil
More pet owners have begun to embrace CBD oil as a way to reduce anxiety in pets. The oil targets the pet’s nervous system and helps to stimulate the release of serotonin. Depending on your pet’s body weight, CBD oil can start to work rather quickly. So you can administer the proper dosage ahead of a car ride to the vet’s office, when you are expecting guests, or shortly before you’re planning to leave the house to go to work for the day.
Most CBD oil products are given either directly by mouth or mixed into your pet’s food. This natural remedy can have a long-lasting effect on your pet’s mood to help them get through most stressors that cause anxiety.
Bioresonance Therapeutic Energy
A trusted component of healthcare and holistic pet health and wellness treatments in Europe for many decades, bioresonance is a therapeutic energy source that works by interacting with the biofield to stimulate the body’s natural healing and recovery processes.
As for reducing stress and anxiety in your pet, bioresonance energy can be administered through many methods - a pet tag, a bedding cushion, and a calming spray from BioPower Pet.
These have been energized through a proprietary process that embeds the bioresonance energy into each product, emitting a constant source of bioenergetic frequencies that are designed to enter your pet’s meridian system and interact with your pet’s biofield.
Attach the Tag to your pet’s collar for a constant source of bioenergetic frequencies that work to energetically reduce anxiety by manipulating the biofield and ensuring proper energy flow in much the same way that acupuncture and other similar traditional Chinese medicinal techniques restore balance within the body. Bioresonance is built upon the same principle and influences your pet’s nervous system to restore that important balance and bring natural, soothing calm and relaxation.
The Cushion is also infused with bioresonance energies that act upon your pet’s biofield, providing calm and relaxation every time your pet curls up and rests after a busy day. The Spray is a specially formulated combination of all-natural ingredients that use bioresonance-enhanced spring water and Verbena essential oils to comfort your pet in the face of the most common stressors.
These products do not contain any additives, artificial stimulants, or synthetic pheromones that are found in most mainstream, conventional “calming diffusers”. Bioresonance energies relax your pet the holistic way to bring about calm and ease nervous disorders through natural methods.
Soothing Your Anxious Dog or Cat
These are some of the most useful ways to alleviate anxiety in your pet. Remember, the sooner you determine the cause of your pet's stress, the quicker you can figure out how to help them lead a happier, healthier life. Implementing one or more of these solutions can help your pet overcome noise phobia, separation anxiety, and traumatic experiences that limit their ability to enjoy that kind of life.