Should you keep your pets inside your house during solar eclipse?
A solar eclipse is a phenomenon that often catches people’s attention but some believe that this might have a different effect on animals.
It is common knowledge among humans that it is dangerous to stare at the sun and it is also the same when the eclipse happens but will this be the same for your pets?
Angela Speck, co-chair of the AAS National Solar Eclipse Task Force, based on the article in Mental Floss, explained that the day of the eclipse is no different from the usual day. She said on normal days, pets do not actually look at the sun and they will behave the same when the eclipse happens.
“All that’s happened is we’ve blocked out the sun, it’s not more dangerous. So I think that people who have pets want to think about that. I’m not going to worry about my cat,” Speck said.
Dr. Jessica Vogelsang, a veterinarian, author, and founder of pawcurious, agreed that a solar eclipse does not impose immense danger to animals. However, she pointed out that it is better to be too cautious than not to be cautious enough.
“But in the interest of offering a realistic risk assessment, the likelihood of a pet ruining their eyes the same way a human would during an eclipse is much lower,” Vogelsang said, adding that humans tend to “extrapolate a lot of things from people to pets that just doesn’t bear out, and this is one of them.”
The veterinarian also said that she has seen warnings of the theoretical dangers of pets and eclipses from the astronomy community and the human medical community but she is not sure if any of them really know animal behavior all that well. She said that in the veterinary community, they appreciate people’s concern for pets, and animals in general but she stressed that there is no issue in this.
Melanie Monteiro, a pet safety expert and author of The Safe-Dog Handbook: A Complete Guide to Protecting Your Pooch, Indoors and Out, said that the issue will arise if your pet is already sensitive to Mother Nature.
“If you have the sort of pet that’s normally sensitive to shifts in the weather, they might be disturbed by just the whole vibe because the temperature will drop and the sky will get dark,” she explained.
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