Once I heard a noise outside and walked out onto my porch, seeing a dog. A moment after I stepped outside, there was a loud crack of thunder, and the dog ran for dear life. Somewhere out there, there was a dog who believed that he had survived a close encounter with Thor.
The Mrs. has wrapped our dog in a T shirt, which might have had some calming effect. Or just provided some hands-on mom time.
Our cats aren’t too fond of thunder
I’m having a quiet giggle at the thought of a house that’s scared of thunder.
Wow, our horses all seem to like storms, to the extreme of staying out in the rain and lightning and grazing contentedly. My gf sometimes runs out and brings them into the barn before the storm hits.
One of our dogs is storm-phobic. She has been doing well on dexmedetomidine oromucosal gel (Sileo). It’s a gel applied to the dog’s gums, and has an effect in a minute. Only problem is it is expen$ive.
One of our cats hides under the couch when she hears thunder. The other two don’t seem to pay any attention to it.
I have few problems when I use a computer, but my phone and my Kindle regularly “fix” my posts by screwing them up, forcing me to go back and make multiple revisions.
For some reason, none of our dogs (or cat) were ever noticeably alarmed by thunderstorms.
I anticipated there might be a problem with our black Lab, thanks to a puppy experience one July 4th evening when I took her outdoors, only to be greeted from multiple directions by a fusillade of explosions from my thrill-seeking neighbors.
Never had a problem with thunder and lightning, though she certainly noticed it.
towards the later part of his life, my dog Sammie was scared of storms. now, I’m not as comfortable with them as I’d like. in fact, I used to* enjoy *storms. :dubious:
Here’s a house that was:
Thundershirt has a line for cats too, so I guess there’s a market for it.
I got a thundershirt for my scaredy cat. There’s a huge flaw with this idea. Try catching a scared cat and wrestling her into the shirt. She’s never worn it. :smack:
For some reason, I read this as “My wife Buffy was freaking terrified of thunderstorms. She’d always hunch really low to the floor, and then squeeze herself under the sofa.” It made for comically disturbing visualization.
You have a half-cow, half-dog? 
I was intrigued by the cow/shepherd mix.
She barks all the time, isn’t really housebroken, but we need the milk.
A bit off topic but I remember reading about a facility (research I think) that had many tanks of tarantulas. A lot of them got very agitated right before an earthquake. I suppose they picked up on the vibration the same way a web spinner feels a fly.
I don’t think my cat likes thunder much. I’ll have to wait for the next storm, possibly today, and see how the mice react.
We adopted a dog, Sadie, whose x-ray for hip arthritis symptoms showed shotgun pellets in her back legs, hip and tail. Clearly she’d been shot before she found her way to us. She rightly feared thunderstorms, guns, and fireworks.
You might want to try something that worked well for us. My half-baked understanding of canine psychology led me to conclude that the pack leader never initiates (and may not even permit) play when Serious Business is at hand. So I began initiating play at the first sign of thunder. I intended to convey “that’s nothing I’m worried about; everything is safe.”
Pretty soon Sadie was all about playing, admittedly with some tension, while the storm raged. Eventually she seemed calmer, and for the rest of her life, every time the sky boomed and rolled, Sadie would appear, tug toy in her mouth, tail wagging wide, right beside me.
The plaque on the urn containing her ashes reads: Sadie the Brave.
Many years ago I rescued a kitten who had spent the weekend outside in really severe weather. She was naturally terrified of storms. I would know a storm was coming when she would suddenly hide under the couch. I always wondered if she could hear distant thunder or changes in air pressure alerted her. Sure enough, a while later the storm would hit.
But she eventually faced her fears. One night I heard thunder and was surprised to see her laying on the floor. She had her paws over her face. She stayed that way during the storm. She did this during several storms before she finally decided that it wasn’t going to hurt her. After that, she never reacted to a storm again.
A few years ago, I rescued another cat who had lived outside in some woods for about a year. She was terrified of rain. Every time it rained, she would get in her kitty cave. I would sit in front of the entrance to show her that I wasn’t getting wet but she wasn’t having it. It took her a few months to get over that. For a while after that she would get anxious at thunder and I would talk to her to calm her. But now she usually doesn’t bother waking up.
My cats are scared of them.