How pets deal with big changes like Daylight Saving Time and the election
Understandably, many people have strong feelings about Daylight Saving Time (DST) and its impact on their schedules, bodies, and moods. Some love when DST begins in March because we get more light in the evening, others bemoan the lost hour of sleep. Some love when it ends in November because we get an extra hour of sleep, but dislike that darkness descends earlier in the evenings.
But who thinks of the pets? Do they experience Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) on standard time? Are they late for their meetings? Do they have trouble turning all their clocks back or forward because of the whole "no thumbs" thing? How do our furry babies deal with this disruption? Is it a disruption for them at all?
Fortunately, we have animal whiskerers in the form of veterinarians who can squeak to these seemingly impawsible concerns.
Laura Holland, DVM, of Dunloggin Veterinary Hospital had enough patience to speak to this reporter, to her great credit. She has been practicing veterinary medicine for nearly 30 years, beginning in 1995. While Holland has not had a huge sampling of fur-parents coming to her with concerns about Daylight Saving Time and their pets over the years, she's gathered enough anecdotal evidence to draw conclusions based on her decades of experience.
Holland says some animals are naturally more time-sensitive than others, and while they may not know what the concept of 5 p.m. is, their body does get hungry at around the same time daily. They don't know the clock has changed, so they start asking for dinner early (according to the new clock).
"Same thing with getting up in the morning," Holland said. "My dogs right now, they tend to get up between 6:30 and 7 every day. Daylight Savings day, they were getting up at their normal time, so there's no extra hour for me!"
"I think for the animals that are very time-sensitive when it comes to their potty habits or their eating schedule, it does take them a few weeks to sort of get adjusted to the fact that the time has changed," Holland continued.
Holland said she didn't think being time-sensitive as an animal was connected to breed, necessarily. She reiterated that it isn't a medical problem for which patients would bring their animals to her for treatment, therefore people don't always bring it up with her during their visits.
"I don't think there's a breed variation," Holland said. "I think that dogs that are anxious or anxiety prone are much more schedule-sensitive, just like people. If animals have anxiety, they do better if their schedule is very regimented, if it's more predictable, because that makes them less anxious."
There are anxious dogs across all breeds who are more sensitive to schedule changes, especially since rescues are so much more common. The COVID-19 pandemic also created more rescues, more dogs that had less access to socialization in their very early life, and dogs with lots of unpredictability in their lives. All of these factors contribute to anxiety.
"There's a critical socialization period that happens before puppies and kittens reach like 12 weeks of age, and so not being afraid of various situations is most likely to happen if they are exposed to all the types of normal things that they should be exposed to during that very young period of their life," Holland said.
While it may take the more anxious animals in your life a few weeks to adjust to the new feeding schedule, Holland did not see the need to gradually move their mealtime earlier or later. An hour is not long enough to throw them off too badly, but she also thinks it's fine to wing it and take cues from one's furbaby about the approach that fits them best.
Speaking of big changes this week, the election results afforded Holland the chance to address how pets react to feelings of anxiety and depression in their owners.
Holland told Fishbowl that pets don't really take on the anxiety of their caretakers the way people might, unless the person's stressors cause a disruption in the animal's normal routine.
"If you have somebody that's clinically depressed and they're sleeping a lot more, or they're not doing their normal things because they are that upset, I'm sure dogs and cats sense that, because it's going to lead to disruption of their normal routine and schedule," she said.
"I think your pets know when you're kind of down and out," Holland continued. "They might be more likely to come seek attention or cuddle with you or comfort you, but I don't think it would adversely affect them in some way."
So don't worry about expressing your emotions around your pets. They may provide exactly the right medicine for what ails you.
