Many pets suffer from different forms of pet anxiety. The symptoms of can present themselves both in the short and long term. In many cases, pet owners have to resort to using medication to deal help the pet deal with the anxiety. Symptoms of anxiety include:

Dogs

• Signs of self mutilation – missing hair, raw skin, focus is commonly on the tail, forelimbs, and distal extremities
• The dog’s behavior intensifies over time and cannot be interrupted even with physical restraint, increases in frequency or duration, and interferes with normal functioning
• Frequent tail chasing, especially if the tail tip is missing (however, not all dogs that tail chase will mutilate their tails)
• May be seen in young dogs, but onset is more common during social maturity; playfulness decreases with age, OCD increases
• A solitary focus may have seemed to spur the behavior (for example, chasing a mouse that the patient could not catch) – but usually no direct cause is evident
• May see self-induced injuries and lack of condition that may be associated with increased motor activity and repetitive behaviors
• Behavior worsens with time

Cats

• Fears and anxieties – variable signs: diagnosis may be made only on the basis of nonspecific signs for which no identifiable stimulus is present
• Mild fears: signs may include trembling, withdrawal, hiding, reduced activity, and passive escape behaviors
• Panic: signs may include active escape behavior, and increased, out-of-context, potentially injurious motor activity.
• Classic signs of sympathetic autonomic nervous system activity due to stress, including diarrhea that may be diagnosed as inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome
• Anxieties: lesions secondary to anxious behavior (such as licking and biting at the self)

 Source – PetMD

The Thundershirt has become one of the hottest new “As Seen on TV” products designed for anxiety and hyperactive problems. It is a quick, drug-free method to help deal with anxiety related problems. The patent-pending design applies gentle continuous pressure on the dog causing a calming effect almost instantly. 80% of customers have noticed a significant improvement in symptoms while using the Thundershirt. Already helping tens of thousands of dogs around the world, Thundershirt is recommended by thousands of vets and trainers.

Thundershirt is an excellent treatment for most types of dog anxiety and fear issues. For many anxieties, we recommend simply putting on a Thundershirt and observing the results – no training needed! Generally, one will see significant improvement for noise, crate, travel, and barking with absolutely no training. For more complicated anxiety cases, we recommend using Thundershirt as part of a behavior modification program.

One thing is for certain, for a very large percentage of dogs, Thundershirt’s gentle, constant pressure has a terrific calming effect. This has obvious benefits for most types of anxiety, but Thundershirt is also a very useful tool for managing excitability or hyperactivity with strangers, both on the leash, or in a training environment. Thundershirt’s calming effect helps a dog to focus (or refocus) his or her energies in a more constructive direction, allowing training to be more effective.