Can you believe that it's holiday time again? Boy, the year goes by a whole lot faster than it did when I was a kid waiting for Santa to arrive. I swear the year was twice as long back then. But I know that Christmas is just around the corner because the Christmas cactus is in full bloom again and it's never wrong.
Our holidays are pretty quiet because we're far away from family so it's just us and the dogs. I do know from past experience that the holidays can be stressful for the family pets. I remember one year when my sister's parrot perched on a branch of the tree and bit anyone who tried to retrieve him. He spent several days in the tree, flirting with the shiny ornaments. I had to leave before he was finally pulled out of the tree, so I don't know how he was extracted.
Then there was the year that my hermit crab got stressed by the holiday noise and decided to leave home. He crawled out of his shell and found that he could squeeze between thee bars of his cage in his naked state. He made a run for the front door and fortunately I spotted him before he got outside or got stepped on. The experience taught him that he could make a getaway if he left his shell behind and a whole new cage had to be constructed to keep him contained. Did you ever see a naked hermit crab?
There was the year that my dog Libby got up earlier than the rest of us and found the full stockings propped on the couch by Santa. She didn't know, or care, which one was hers and ate all the oranges, lifesavers and Hershey bars from all the stockings. The room was littered with soggy torn candy wrappers and she had an upset tummy for a couple days.
Another year my sister tied candy canes into the ribbons on all her packages. During the night Libby came downstairs and licked all the candy canes. All the packages were really sticky when we tried opening them.
Anyway, you get the idea. Holidays can be stressful. It sounds like my sister was the most stressed but pets can be, too. We have a super idea if your dog stresses over the holidays.
Chewy sent us a wonderful product called
Nutramax Cosequin Calm Chewable Tablets.
We originally tried these during the summer because Norma Jean has become noise phobic and reacts badly to thunder. The very first time we tried them we were amazed at her reaction. Instead of trembling and clawing at me during the storm, she fell asleep on her pillow and was calm.
We've used Calm a number of times since then on several of the dogs. We've used them for storms and for the sounds of gunfire during hunting season. We've used them when a couple dogs had injuries and were stressed. We even used them when Norma Jean had an allergic response to something and was scratching and couldn't stop. The Calm pills allowed her to relax and sleep without scratching and chewing on herself. We have a friend who tried them on her dog who is a nervous rider and they helped. These things are great!
I would suggest keeping a supply on hand if you're entertaining over the holidays. They might help Fido cope with extra people in the house. The main ingredients in Calm are extracts of magnolia and phillodendron, and l-theanine. Norma Jean and the others all like the taste and chew them up with no coaxing. I like the fact that they work. Dealing with an overly stressed dog tends to stress me, so this is a win-win.
One last thing. On my last post I introduced our new family members. It only took them part of the day to adjust to their new surroundings and introduce themselves to Norris. They're already chirping and tossing seeds all around. They also have names. I looked at them together and it seemed obvious, Summer and Winter. You can guess which is which.
Chewy sent us a bottle of Cosequin Calm at no cost to us in exchange for our honest opinion.
