Thundershirt was created in 2009, and has been using it's "calming hug" to bring peace and relief to pets and their owners all over the world.
Here's how it works:
ThunderShirt uses gentle hugging to calm your dog or cat. With its patented design, ThunderShirt’s gentle, constant pressure has a dramatic calming effect for most dogs and cats if they are anxious, fearful or overexcited. Based on surveys completed by over two thousand customers, over 80% of dogs and cats show significant improvement in symptoms when using ThunderShirt. ThunderShirt is already helping hundreds of thousands of dogs and cats around the world and is recommended by thousands of veterinarians and trainers. How does ThunderShirt work? Experts believe that pressure has a calming effect on the nervous system, possibly by releasing a calming hormone like endorphins. Using pressure to relieve anxiety in people and animals has been a common practice for years.
Besides offering the Thundershirt to both dogs and cats, Thunderworks now offers additional products to calm and soothe your pets:
The ThunderLeash: An anti-pull leash solution.
The ThunderToy: Using distraction to help prevent destructive behavior.
The ThunderTreat: Fits inside the ThunderToy to help hold your pets' attention. Contains calming chamomile and lavender.
Calming Caps: Filter your dogs vision to reduce visual anxiety triggers.
We recieved an xxs ThunderShirt for our dog, Ocean. Ocean suffers from separation anxiety and still experiences stress from being in a new home with new owners. *Just in case you are new to our blog, Ocean is almost 6 years old and was owned by a breeder. She spent about five years having puppies, and when the breeder was finished with her, she came into our lives. She is adjusting slowly, but our family is still new to her.* She is clingy when I am home with her, so she gets lots of cuddles and attention, but she cries when I have to leave. I know this is hard on her, so I wanted to do whatever I could to ensure she was as calm as possible when she does need to be left home with Venus.
We tried the Thundershirt out a few times while I was home and it did take a short while for Ocean to adjust to the tightness of the wrap. Not just the wrap honestly, but Ocean isn't used to clothing in general. She is getting more comfortable, since I have a nasty fetish with buying clothing for my dogs (oops!), but she did fight me at first when I had tried to put the wrap on her.
My first impression, I was a little skeptical. She honestly seemed so nervous about having a shirt on, I thought this would just bring on a new form of anxiety in place of her fear of being left alone. After the first initial trials around the house, however, she seemed to really calm down. The Thundershirt is a very soft and smooth jersey knit fabric, and it seems like it would feel like a soft hug that doesn't go away. I noticed while Ocean was wearing the wrap she would quickly find a spot to lie down and relax. While I wish this calming effect would allow her to roam and play with Venus without worrying, I am pleased that it helps her sleep instead of cry and try to scratch the door and potentially hurt herself.
Overall, I would recommend the Thundershirt to a pet-parent who's dog or cat suffers from anxiety, fear, or stress. While it is not a cure, I did notice an improvement in emotion and behavior while Ocean wore the wrap.
My first impression, I was a little skeptical. She honestly seemed so nervous about having a shirt on, I thought this would just bring on a new form of anxiety in place of her fear of being left alone. After the first initial trials around the house, however, she seemed to really calm down. The Thundershirt is a very soft and smooth jersey knit fabric, and it seems like it would feel like a soft hug that doesn't go away. I noticed while Ocean was wearing the wrap she would quickly find a spot to lie down and relax. While I wish this calming effect would allow her to roam and play with Venus without worrying, I am pleased that it helps her sleep instead of cry and try to scratch the door and potentially hurt herself.
Overall, I would recommend the Thundershirt to a pet-parent who's dog or cat suffers from anxiety, fear, or stress. While it is not a cure, I did notice an improvement in emotion and behavior while Ocean wore the wrap.
luckily my dogs have never been bothered by thunder, but this would be great for my mother's dog!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! ! We had a little dog when I was growing up and she was terrified of thunder!
ReplyDeleteYour dog is too cute! We don't have a dog anymore, but this sounds like a good idea for indoor dogs.
ReplyDeleteMy dog Willie has separation anxiety also and I feel so bad when I have to leave him but since we got another dog he has gotten a lot better. I would love to get this for both of my dogs because they are both scared of thunder and other loud noises. Thank you for the review. Your dog is so adorable.
ReplyDeleteI'm sad that poor little animals have to go though what yours did in the first part of his life. I hate the idea of breeding animals for any reason but especially for profit, and without proper attention to all the animals involved. But luckily it sounds like he's got a good home now :) We only have cats at our home but when they are scared they like to be held so I can see how the concept would be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteMy Akita started having issues this year (he is almost 6 years old) and they went from no issues to severe just overnight.
ReplyDeleteHe punches, has asthma attacks, is like velcro on me, tries to sit on my lap (he's 125 lbs, there's no lap sitting). Even when I sit with him and pat him and cuddle him, he still hacks, wheezes, coughs, punches, and god forbid it happen in the middle of the night, he will literally punch any part of your body he can reach every five minutes.
The vet told us this works in less severe cases, and we decided to give it a try before medicating our otherwise obedient and sweet puppy. no go. It just didn't help, but he is really at an extreme end of anxiety.
I would still recommend this for others though because a lot of dogs who suffer anxiety aren't affected as extremely as our dog is, and it has great track record with those sort of issues
This is really great, I am thinking these would be great for cats that have separation anxiety.. I know it sounds weird but my cat literally cries as I walk out the door and my kids told me he cries and roams the house till I come back home.
ReplyDelete