'They’re excellent at masking': Author explains how to help pets with anxiety

Author and animal communicator Joan Ranquet says a technique based on Chinese medicine can help pets deal with emotional stress.

Ranquet said that animals can have emotional responses just like humans.

“We don't necessarily recognize it because they're excellent at masking,” she told CTV News.

“Moving into a new house, getting a new boyfriend or girlfriend, divorce, even bringing in a roommate, bringing in another animal, all of these things definitely can contribute,” Ranquet said.

Some of the signs to watch for, according to Ranquet, include a variety of unwanted behaviours.

“If they start digging or even licking their paws, little things like that, where we see them really make a shift. Picking on another animal in the house, maybe not getting along with the people in the house, all of those things can be because there's something deeper going on.”

Ranquet said the emotional freedom technique can help animals calm down.

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“Petting or talking, really calming down and kind of bringing them back into their body because a lot of times when they get on high alert, they're not even aware of say their hind end, and so you want to bring them back into their body but again,” Ranquet explained. “The emotional freedom technique where you were tapping on acupressure points along meridians that are connected to organs, it's all Chinese medicine.”

The technique can even result in significant changes in animal behaviour, Ranquet said.

“I worked with a dog recently where the dog had been dumped and had its leg amputated after being hit by a car and that dog was so shut down. The shelter was going to put her down. And we did animal communication and EFT tapping. And that dog got adopted that week in a home where it was with a loving family with people and animals.”

Ranquet's latest book where she describes the technique is expected to be released this spring.