7 Easy Animal Communication Tips for you to help your Dog or Cat with Separation Anxiety.

Separation anxiety has become one of the top 5 reasons that people need my help with their dogs and cats. Because of this, I’ve put together some really easy to follow animal communication tips that you can try with your own dog or cat, to help to address separation anxiety. These tips are ones that I use myself in my animal communication work. The great news is that you don’t need to know anything about animal communication to try them out with your own animal.

My tips are designed to help you and your animal with day to day separation anxiety, as well as anxiety that is triggered at times when there are big transitions, such as moving house. The aim is to help you to find ways to calm your animal and to help them to feel supported and reassured when you need to leave them.

Do you know or suspect that your dog or cat experiences separation anxiety?

Common signs of separation anxiety include your animal barking or crying when you leave them, behaving in a clingy way and displaying anxiety such as peeing on the carpet, panting, pacing, drooling, overgrooming and destructive chewing. All of this can be very distressing for you and your animal and can lead to a great deal of worry about leaving your animal at home when you need to go out. In extreme cases, your dog or cat may even show signs of separation anxiety when you simply leave the room.

Why is my dog or cat experiencing separation anxiety?

There can be many reasons why your dog or cat feels anxious when you need to leave them. It could be that they have found it difficult to adjust to changes in routine and you and they, may have experienced a great many changes in your daily lives owing to Covid lockdowns. They may be very sensitive to sounds or be reactive and so find it difficult to settle on their own. They may look to their person for constant reassurance. They may be very bonded with one person or to their family. They may have been re-homed and experience anxiety because of past experiences.

My Animal Communication Tips to try with your dog or cat.

1. ‌Talk to your animal! In my experience, animals become much calmer when they are kept up to date with our plans and schedule.
2. Let them know what your routine is going to look like. This could be what’s happening today or this week. Giving them the highlights of the week ahead from your point of view, helps an animal to be calmer about things in general. Let them know if the plan changes too.
3. Explain to them where you are going. Even if it’s work, it helps an animal to have a sense of where you will be if you’re not at home.
4. Let them know how long you will be and when you expect to be back.
5. Explain to them where they will be while you are out. Will they stay at home? If it’s a cat will they have free access outside? If it’s a dog, is someone coming to take them for a walk? Will they have anyone checking in on them and when will that happen?
6. Whatever the reason for an animal experiencing separation anxiety, I have found that the key is to provide regular reassurance for them. It’s really important for you to let them know that whatever is happening around them, they are safe and they are not going to be abandoned.
7. Reassure them that you are always connected on a heart level and that wherever you are, you love them and that doesn’t change if you are away from them.

You might like to write some notes about how your animal has been reacting, what you are noticing after you try the animal communication tips and if you can see any changes in their anxiety levels over time. I’d love to hear how you get on.

If you are worried about your animal and would like to know more about how to help them with separation anxiety, please book in for a free discovery call with me. An animal communication session can help to find out the underlying reason that your dog or cat is anxious and that can be really helpful in forming an individual plan of support for them. Please feel that you can reach out to me for the support you and your dog or cat need.

If you enjoyed these top tips, my online class "Easy Animal Communication for Anxious Animals" is specially designed to help a guardian to help their anxious animal to feel calmer. If you're going on holiday you may find the animal communication exercises in my holiday separation anxiety mini class helpful.