Today’s episode is titled “Fireworks Freakouts: Don’t Let Your Pet Panic” — because if you're a pet parent, you know the Fourth of July, New Year’s Eve, or even random fireworks displays can turn a peaceful evening into a stress-filled experience for your dog or cat.

So what’s really going on? And what can we do to help?

Let’s begin by understanding the science. Fireworks are unpredictable, high-decibel bursts of sound — something our pets’ ears are much more sensitive to than ours. Dogs and cats can hear frequencies up to twice as high as humans. A firework that might just startle us feels like a threat or explosion to them. It’s not just about loudness — it’s about intensity, frequency range, and the inability to predict when the next boom is coming.