Dogs and Cats
Dogs frequently exhibit severe anxiety during thunderstorms; between 15 and 30 percent may be affected. Research confirms high levels of cortisol - a hormone associated with stress - in affected dogs during and after thunderstorms. Remedies include behavioral therapies such as counter-conditioning and desensitization, anti-anxiety medications, and Dog Appeasing Pheromone, a synthetic analogue of a hormone secreted by nursing canine mothers.
Studies have also shown that cats can be afraid of thunderstorms. While it is very rare, there are some unusual exceptions in which cats will hide under a table or behind a couch during a thunderstorm.
Read more about this topic: Astraphobia
Famous quotes containing the words dogs and, dogs and/or cats:
“Now I am just an elderly lady who is full of spleen,
who humps around greater Boston in a God-awful hat,
who never lived and yet outlived her time,
hating men and dogs and Democrats.”
—Anne Sexton (19281974)
“Parrots, tortoises and redwoods
Live a longer life than men do,
Men a longer life than dogs do,
Dogs a longer life than love does.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (18921950)
“Even cats grow lonely and anxious.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)