As Billy, my childhood dog, grew older, thunderstorms frightened him.
My younger dog doesn’t seem to notice them.
The older dog used get get terribly afraid during storms. Now she doesn’t care at all, but that may be because she’s almost completely deaf these days!
Older dog hides under the vanity during thunderstorms. Youngest one barks his ass off. He broke out a window and sliced his nose open last month barking at thunder. Genius.
Jenny, my 13-year old Golden Retriever, is terrified of thunderstorms. She paces, trembles and tries to find somewhere to hide. Laces, her sister (litter mate and lifelong companion) couldn’t care less about thunderstorms, but is terrified of high pitched chirping/whirring sounds. She runs from the toaster oven and most digital cameras. Jenny couldn’t care less about those.
At the first clap of thunder Muffin, the cat I had as a teenager, would get up from wherever he was, stroll to Mom’s closet in a brisk but still dignified manner, open the door* walk in, and refuse to come out until the storm was over.
*The door didn’t latch properly, and was usually just slightly ajar. Just enough for him to use his paw to pull it open.
My poor Jezabel is terrified of them and will bury herself under anything as long as it is near me … and she hates being under blankets or furniture normally [she prefers to be up high on stuff]
Cicely, my “young” cat (12ish vs. 16), is terrified of thunderstorms. She goes down the basement and hides in the corner behind the big Rubbermaid bins holding our camping gear. She doesn’t cry or anything, she’s just very quiet and worried that Godzilla is going to find her, although sometimes she quivers if it’s a big storm. You can not in any way distract or console her.
I’m surprised and relieved to read that she is not the only wimpy cat out there!
No, doesn’t seem to bother our dog in the least.
Of course, he doesn’t hear very well…
My rabbit consistently tries to out thump the “Big Sky Bunny”
The dog looks up expectanty when the thunder starts. Once the rain starts coming down she goes the nearest window wagging her tail and watches for a while. She’s the only animal I’ve evern seen that reacts to storms in any kind of positive way. Other animals I’ve been around were either scared, or ignored them completely.
The cat hides until it’s over.
Aw, I was so hoping you used a dart gun fired from a helicopter. Bummer.
My cats and dog all want a “cave” when it’s thundering. The cats go under the bed, and the dog wants to be curled up in the smallest spot she can fit into.
The late Gideon Louis would go lie down in our bedroom closet during a thunder storm and my husband reports that both Gideon and Bobby Ranger have followed him around the house during such events as well, even though they have no relationship with their daddy at all. So, yes, they mind(ed). The gatos de tutti gatos don’t care either way.
Our mini-daschund is terrified of thunder and rain. She’ll go into little shivering tremors if a storm is over the house.
She’s also a better forecaster than the weatherman on the radio. If, while I’m stumbling around packing my lunch and getting dressed in the morning, she stays right at my heels, I know to check in the NWS radar online before I get on the motorcycle to go to work.
My cats couldn’t care less about thunder and lighting. Suka, our border-mutt, is likewise completely indifferent to thunder and lightning. Go figure - BCs and BC-crosses are reputed to often be quite reactive.
Dakota, on the other hand, is a nervous nellie - She’ll look for places to burrow and hide… Ever see a 100lbm dog try to crawl under a sofa? She’ll also climb atop things, so she can get a good look at the threat, which is highly silly (not to mention hard on the furniture!) - She’ll see the flash, and she’s off again, looking for a hole to crawl into and pull in after her! She doesn’t bark, fortunately - She’s got a thunderous bark. But she’ll pace, try to dig a hole in the floor, try to burrow under chairs and beds and other furniture, try to force herself into a corner, and in all other ways acts pathetic and anxious. I generally put her up in a smaller-than-proper-sized travel crate during storms - It’s a tight fit for her, but she seems to calm down once she’s tucked in. I guess it’s like being in a den for her.
I’m good with animals, but I didn’t know my reputation had spread quite so far.
I don’t think cats are particularly bothered by thunderstorms.
My cats peacefully slept through the worst thunderstorm Toronto has seen in a half-dozen years… I’m talking the works: lightning and thunder and torrential rain and winds strong enough to rip a huge branch off our 30m high elm tree. Through all that, they both were curled up in little sleepy cat-balls, totally uninterested in all the chaos outside.
I’ve decided that if they ever do freak out over a storm, that’ll be my cue to go huddle under the stairs in the basement and hope we don’t get blown straight into Oz.
Hehehehe… I actually use the same type of tranquilizer in horses, but with them I inject it. The way I was taught to give IM shots with horses is to throw it in like I’m throwing a dart.
My dog, Opie couldn’t care less, neither does George the cat.
However, Boots, the dog we had when i was little used to scrap her face along the carpet until the storm passed, making her nose all bloody.
Oh yes. Linus sounds JUST like our Lexie, Jodi. She just will not shut up. Growl, bark bark bark bark bark howl, bark.
Our previous Westie, Lassie (my sister named her), used to run and hide – and sometimes she’d get the shakes.
And then poor Buffy is TERRIFIED. She sort of crouches down, and skulks, almost trying to sink into the floor. She’ll hide under the sofa the entire time. That’s how we know when the storm is completely over: when Buffy comes out.
None of the other cats seem to care.
I don’t think I ever saw my previous dog, a dalmatian, even react one bit to a thunderstorm. He just did not care, if he even noticed it.
My new dog is much more visually oriented, he even likes to watch TV (especially if there is a dog on the screen. He’ll stop, walk up to it, and try to sniff at the dog. It’s so cute!) I don’t know how he’d react to a thunderstorm, since I’ve never been around when there was one.
My cousins used to have a Bernese Mountain Dog (also Lucy) who hated thunder and would hide in the bathroom when there was a storm.