How can I keep my pet safe this Halloween? Limerick Vet Donal Ryan joins the show

Plenty of you getting in touch with us on our next item because it's an exciting time with Halloween looming just around the corner.

But if you're a pet owner, you might not necessarily be sharing the same enthusiasm this season.

Maybe your pets are showing some anxiety from the sounds of bangers in the evening, or you might be taking extra precautions and storing away sweet treats like chocolate in your home.

So to help relieve some of the stress for pet owners this Halloween, we've veterinarian Donald Ryan from City Vet Limerick here in studio.

Good morning, Donald.

Morning.

How are you doing today?

Are you looking forward to Halloween first of all? Well, not especially, but I'm sure lots of the animals out there aren't looking forward to it either.

That's precisely it, isn't it? What are the most common concerns for pet owners around this time of the year, Donald? Well, certainly

the fireworks.

are a big issue for dogs.

Maybe not so much for cats, or if it is, they don't seem to manifest the stress in the manner in which dogs do.

This year, my memory of last year was the fireworks started at the beginning of September and they kept going.

This year, they're not as many.

whether that's the cost and recession, etc.

But that can be terribly frightening for animals because there's two aspects to it.

It's the loudness of the noise, but the other thing that stress dogs hugely is they expect...

When they're here, the fireworks are going off.

the anticipation of the next one is a source of huge stress because they kind of know it's going to happen and then they're waiting for it to happen.

And isn't that it as well? Because the initial firework comes unexpectedly.

It causes stress and

anxiety for

the

dog and then they're wound up.

Well, some dogs maybe are better than others and certainly lots of dogs are very distressed by it.

Plenty of you getting in touch with us on our next item because it's an exciting time with Halloween looming just around the corner.

But if you're a pet owner, you might not necessarily be sharing the same enthusiasm this season.

Maybe your pets are showing some anxiety from the sounds of bangers in the evening, or you might be taking extra precautions and storing away sweet treats like chocolate in your home.

So to help relieve some of the stress for pet owners this Halloween, we've veterinarian Donald Ryan from City Vet Limerick here in studio.

Good morning, Donald.

Morning.

How are you doing today?

Are you looking forward to Halloween first of all? Well, not especially, but I'm sure lots of the animals out there aren't looking forward to it either.

That's precisely it, isn't it? What are the most common concerns for pet owners around this time of the year, Donald? Well, certainly

the fireworks.

are a big issue for dogs.

Maybe not so much for cats, or if it is, they don't seem to manifest the stress in the manner in which dogs do.

This year, my memory of last year was the fireworks started at the beginning of September and they kept going.

This year, they're not as many.

whether that's the cost and recession, etc.

But that can be terribly frightening for animals because there's two aspects to it.

It's the loudness of the noise, but the other thing that stress dogs hugely is they expect...

When they're here, the fireworks are going off.

the anticipation of the next one is a source of huge stress because they kind of know it's going to happen and then they're waiting for it to happen.

And isn't that it as well? Because the initial firework comes unexpectedly.

It causes stress and

anxiety for

the

dog and then they're wound up.

Well, some dogs maybe are better than others and certainly lots of dogs are very distressed by it.