With Christmas around the corner, pet owners across the country are preparing to travel to destinations near and far.
While some owners will kennel their beloved fur babies when they go out of town for the holidays, some brave souls will make the choice to travel with their precious dog or cat in tow. Of course, the key to smooth travels usually relies heavily on the level of stress or anxiety of the pet.
As a dog owner, I’ve been lucky that my corgi, Gizmo, isn’t plagued by the intense anxiety that often causes dogs to pee or yelp uncontrollably during loud events such as thunderstorms or fireworks. He is, however, hyper at times and becomes restless when confined to a small space (the car) for too long. He is also not a fan of stressful situations such as getting his nails trimmed.
In the past, I’ve employed several calming aids, including the Thundershirt (didn’t work) and a collar by Sentry that releases pheromones and has a soothing lavender chamomile fragrance (a waste of money).
On a recent trip to my local pet supply store, I came across NaturVet’s Quiet Moments Calming Aid ($10.99, Petco). Available for cats and dogs, the soft chews are made with natural calming ingredients and say they help pets during periods of anxiety, nervousness, tension or stress.
First impression
Available in a 30-day supply (based on a 50-pound dog), NaturVet calming soft chews are suitable for dogs more than 12 weeks old and made with melatonin and chamomile.
The recommended use for the wheat-free chews, which are administered based on weight, is once daily 30 minutes prior to a stressful situation. Examples include storms, grooming or traveling.
Fair warning: The chews do not have a pleasant smell, and my dog seemed to be aware of this. After hiding two chews in his food, I expected (or at least hoped) Gizmo would eat them up without noticing. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fooled, quickly downing his food and leaving behind the two chews.
Not one to back down from a challenge, I tried several more times to get him to eat the chews until eventually I found the only way to get them down was to hide them in a Greenies Pill Pocket.
Fab or flub?
Flub. Without any strong indication that they were actually causing any changes to my dog’s behavior, the “calming” soft chews turned out to be one big dud.
On a recent weekend trip to my parents’ home, I gave Gizmo two chews to help with the restlessness that he experiences during car rides. Despite the combination of melatonin and chamomile in his system, he seemed to remain the same through the entire six-hour drive (unable to ever get truly comfortable).
The chews also did nothing to squelch his disdain for getting his nails trimmed, and he still had to be held down.
I truly had high hopes for the Quiet Moments Calming Aid soft chews.
Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as I’d hoped.
