Veterinarian gives advice to owners of lost pets on New Year's Eve

During the New Year's holidays, a pet may be under stress, causing it to become lost. Pet owners need to be especially careful during this time. In "Sber Eapteca" and veterinary online service "KotZdorov" told "Izvestia" on December 20, what to do to avoid missing, and how to act if the pet disappeared.

According to Zhanna Kashtanova, a veterinarian of the "CatZdorov" service, cats are usually stressed on New Year's Eve by a large number of guests. In an attempt to avoid the noise and fuss, the pet can slip through the doorway and end up on the street. The safest thing to do, according to an expert, is to hold the cat in your arms when the front door opens, or provide the pet with a separate room for that evening where they can feel safe.

Dogs are usually disoriented by the sounds of fireworks and fireworks outside - the pet may snap off the leash and run away. To prevent this from happening, the veterinarian recommended the use of special preparations that reduce the level of light and noise anxiety in dogs. At the same time, such means have an accumulative effect, so you should start giving them two or three days before the holiday.

"You can not punish an animal that has shown destructive or undesirable behavior on the background of stress. However, pity the pet in such a situation is also not recommended - if you take a dog or cat in your arms, which, for example, has just torn the curtains in an attempt to escape, then, firstly, there is a risk of fixing this behavior, and secondly, you can exacerbate stress. Usually the animal in such a situation is looking for a secluded, quiet place, rather than contact with the owner, "- explained the expert.

Chipping can help in the search for a missing pet - when it is installed, the owner's data is added to the database. Also some owners use an address book - an accessory with a QR code or engraved contact data of the owner.

"The variant with an address book both helps and can be dangerous. On the one hand, the person who found the animal can quickly contact the owner, and on the other hand - the lanyard with the address tag can be caught by a bush or a fence, which often has sad consequences", - has drawn the attention of Kashtanova.

In the process of searching you can put up paper ads in the area where the pet was lost and make a post in social networking groups in the place of loss or on the subject of the group, or ask directly for help to zoovolunteers who specialize in finding lost pets.

When a pet is found, the expert advised to examine the animal thoroughly. If no alarming signs and symptoms are found, it should be taken home, otherwise it is worth contacting a veterinarian.

"The pet should be washed, dried, combed, fed familiar food and given time to recover. It is important to monitor reactions to feeding and trips to the toilet for the first few days. Observe carefully, but do not intervene excessively. The animal after the experience may hide, refuse to eat or demonstrate atypical behavior - all this may be a manifestation of stress," - said the specialist.

According to her, the use of special sedatives is recommended for a long rehabilitation period. According to the data of "Sber Eapteka", veterinary sedatives were bought 28% more often in the third quarter of 2024 than in the same period last year.

Kashtanova also advised those who found an animal to give it time to recover from the stress experienced, feed it, and then go to the clinic for a preventive examination of the animal and detection of the chip.

In addition, in the service "CatZdorov" told what problems most often turn to the holidays pet owners. The first place is occupied by food disorders (32%), with poisoning occurring both at home and on the street. In second place is stress (30%). Injuries in the New Year are addressed by 20%, with the ratio of home and outdoor injuries being about the same - 52% and 48% respectively.

Another danger is reagents. They, affecting the pads on the paws of the animal, can cause chemical burns and become the cause of pododermatitis - a pathological process that is accompanied by the appearance of wounds and abscesses on the paws. Pododermatitis is recorded in 11% of all cases of referrals to veterinarians of the service in the winter period.

Earlier, on December 17, the president of the Russian Cynological Federation Vladimir Golubev told "Izvestia" that hypothermia of a pet can be accompanied by frostbite. Peripheral areas of the body, such as paws or ears, are susceptible to this. Therefore, it is important to control the time of walks in severe frosts.