VALLEY CENTER, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/06/12 -- Parties with unusual people, blinking lights, overwhelming trees in the middle of the living room, tempting gifts that you're not allowed to touch and extremely long car rides in the middle of traffic -- holiday stress affects pets too. In fact, most veterinarians say that the No. 1 health issue they address during the holidays is pet anxiety. The National Animal Supplement Council (NASC) recommends natural ways to keep your pet calm during this stressful season.

The first step in calming your pet is to recognize the warning signs of pet anxiety. If your pet is excessively chewing or licking its coat, uncharacteristically destroying property, hiding, shaking, pacing or experiencing digestive upset, these are all signs that your dog or cat could be under stress.

Environmental changes are unsettling to pets, as are unusual shifts in your daily routine. Although your house may be decked out in holiday décor, try to keep one room normal as a safe zone for your pet to retreat to especially during parties. Keep to your pet's routine feeding and normal exercise times, and whenever possible choose classical holiday music to fill the house. A recent study by Colorado State University published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior suggests that classical music may be the best way to calm an anxious dog.

There are natural supplements that can help keep your pet calm too. Look for products that include ingredients such as brewer's yeast, pumpkin, oatmeal, L-theanine, L-tryptophan and chamomile, which are known for encouraging relaxation. If a product contains ginger it can help soothe an upset stomach from carsickness during holiday travel. Always look for calming supplements made specifically for pets (not humans) with the NASC Quality Seal.

Some dog and cat calming products carrying the NASC Quality Seal include: Green Dog Naturals Complete Calm Chewable (formulated by Rainbow Light: www.greendognaturals.com), Quiet Moments Calming Soft Chews, Gel and Tablets (formulated by NaturVet: www.naturvet.com) and CALMING for dogs and cats (formulated by PetNaturals of Vermont: www.petnaturals.com). Additional companies that sell calming products with the NASC Quality Seal can be found at: www.animalsupplements.org.

Animal supplements carrying the NASC Quality Seal have gone through a non-biased, third-party verification process to ensure product quality and continued diligence to ongoing safety standards. All products with the NASC Quality Seal are registered in the NASC National Adverse Event Reporting System, the most comprehensive and transparent system accessible to regulators, with analysis of more than 1,400 unique ingredients and more than 5,000 individual products. NASC Quality Seals cannot be purchased by supplement companies but do require ongoing, independent audits and random testing on ingredient potency, identification and quality. All products carrying the NASC Quality Seal adhere to proper labeling guidelines including warnings and caution statements suggested by the Food and Drug Administration, Center for Veterinary Medicine and associations recommending regulatory policy. For more information visit: www.animalsupplements.org.

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