29/12/2025
Seeing as it is New Years soon there will be many fireworks shows. Fireworks will stress out many many animals, here’s some advice to keep you pets less stressed and happy on New Years.🎆✨🩷🫶🏼🥳
Fear, anxiety, increased stress levels and even injury are a common result of fireworks for animals due to the noise, bright flashes and debris.
Fireworks can produce a sound between 120-175 decibels (dB). For humans, sounds over 85 dB can damage hearing, while sounds over 140 dB can cause immediate damage and pain. As dogs, cats and other animals’ ears are more sensitive than ours – they can hear sounds much further away – this level of sound can be much more damaging.
(RSPCA, 2025)
If you own a small pet who lives outdoors (such as rabbits or guinea pigs) you should follow these precautions:
* Hutches, cages and enclosures should, if possible, be brought into a quiet room indoors, or into a garage or shed.
* Give your pet extra bedding to burrow into so they feel safe.
* If you cannot bring your pet’s hutch inside, you should turn their enclosure around so that it faces a wall or fence instead of the open garden.
* Cover any aviaries or hutches with thick blankets or a duvet to block out the sight of the fireworks and deaden the sound of the bangs, but make sure there is enough ventilation.
If you have an indoor small pet (such as a hamster, gerbils or mice), you can:
* draw the curtains
* move their enclosure away from windows
* increase the volume of music or the TV (if they’re used to it) to muffle the sound
* Always keep dogs and cats inside when fireworks are being let off.
* Make sure your dog is walked earlier in the day before the fireworks start.
* Close all windows and doors, and block off cat flaps to stop pets escaping and to keep noise to a minimum. Draw the curtains and, if the animals are used to the sounds of TV or radio, switch them on and increase the volume a bit (but not too loudly) in order to block out some of the noise of the fireworks.
* Ensure dogs are wearing some form of easily readable identification (ID) – even in the house. They should have at least a collar and tag.
* Make sure that your pets are microchippedand that your contact details are up to date, so that if they do run away they have a better chance of being quickly reunited with you.
* Prepare a ‘den’ for your pet where they can feel safe and comfortable – perhaps under a bed with some of your old clothes. They may like to hide there when the fireworks start.
* Let your pet pace around, whine, meow or hide in a corner if they want to.
* Stay calm and act normally. This might be hard to do if you are worried about your pet, but it will help your pet if they see that you are not concerned.
* Avoid leaving your pet alone during such potentially upsetting events. If you do have to leave the house.
* Never take your dog to a fireworks display. Even if your dog is comfortable with crowds and noise, once the fireworks start there is a real risk of them panicking and trying to flee.
(Blue cross, 2025)
https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/fireworks
https://www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/pets/wellbeing-and-care/fireworks-and-pets
