Does your animal experience anxiety? March is Pet Anxiety Awareness Month and I wanted to talk about the important topic of animal anxiety and share with you how reiki, communication and astrology can help.
Anxiety can be defined as anticipation of a negative event, one which is perceived as negative or a threat to the animal. It is closely linked with the emotion of fear, which is experienced when an animal is confronted with a real or perceived threat. Anxiety, therefore, lacks a specific triggering event and can sometimes be a trauma response. In my experience, I have noticed this sometimes links to past traumas and experiences that the animal has had.
Animal anxiety is believed to be more common than human anxiety. In one study, reported in Scientific Reports, 72.5% of all dogs showed at least one anxiety-related behaviour. Noise sensitivity was the most common across all breeds, affecting 32% of dogs.
Other fears included being fearful of other dogs; 15% were afraid of strangers, and 11% were scared of new situations. The older the dog, the more sensitive it was to noise—especially thunder.
According to the APBC, an estimated that as many as 50% of domestic cats experience an emotional disorder. Even though it is unclear how many are related specifically to anxiety, it expected that anxiety would be a component in a large proportion of cases.
Horses are also affected by anxiety, which can lead to health problems. Anxious horses tend to be underweight and in poor condition. Situations such as travelling, learning a new job or competing can also cause horses to become anxious. I have had experience of working with horses that have experienced noise related anxiety.
Your vet should always be the first port of call about any anxiety or behavioural problem. However reiki and communication can be incredibly helpful and soothing for anxiety, by providing complementary support.
How can reiki, animal communication and astrology help?
Firstly, it may be that you are fully aware of what is causing your pet to be anxious. If it is something that you can do little about, such as noisy neighbours or living in a busy street surrounded by lots of hustle and bustle, it’s important that you find a safe space where your animal can go, one that they feel is their happy place. Reiki can provide additional support for these situations and this can help to calm your animal.
The two chakras which are often out of balance in animals struggling with anxiety are the Root chakra, which is linked to feeling safe and grounded, and the Solar Plexus chakra, which connects to the digestive system and the adrenal glands. This chakra regulates our animal’s gut feelings, their fears and sense of power. Reiki can help to correct any imbalances in these chakras.
If you are not sure what is causing the anxiety, I recommend animal communication and reiki sessions to help you to understand what it is in their environment, or even in their history, perhaps from before you adopted them, which could be linking to the anxiety that they are experiencing now.
It is also important to be able to understand the true nature and personality of your animal. I am able to provide this unique and valuable insight through birth chart analysis. The accuracy of the analysis will depend on knowing your animal's birth date and where possible, their time of birth. Discoveries made from looking at your animal’s birth chart can help to transform your understanding of your animal.