JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — In a world where humans have everything at their fingertips, almost any problem can be fixed, even if it involves pets and their stress.
The American Pet Products Association’s 2024 Dog and Cat Report found that, “The use of calming products has grown by 168% for dogs and 174% for cats since 2018.”
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It shows more and more pet owners looking to help address their pets’ anxiety.
Just ask Heather Hannon, who owns an adult use dispensary in Massachusetts, about how popular it is.
“It’s one of my top sellers for sure,” Hannon said. “100 percent. Can’t keep it on the shelves.”
In 2025, Trupanion pet insurance reported seeing a 93% increase in anxiety-related claims for clients’ dogs and cats over the last six years.
So is pet anxiety rising?
“I believe it is,” Dr. Richard Williams, retired veterinarian with the Florida Veterinary Medical Association, said.
Williams is a recently retired Veterinarian with over 40 years of experience. He currently serves on the Florida Veterinary Medical Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association House of Delegates for the state of Florida. He said he’s seen an influx in fur parents asking to put their pets on anti-anxiety medication.
“The drugs have become more available, but I also think we’re seeing a lot more anxiety in animals, so we’re prescribing it a lot more,” Williams said.
A 2016 study shows that 83 percent of small animal veterinarians in North America reported prescribing fluoxetine to dogs or cats.
“It’s the quick fix which is all throughout society nowadays,” Williams said. “It’s not just for animals, it is for humans and everything.”
But it’s not just animals that are anxious. Humans are too.
A study analyzing National Health Interview Survey data published in the National Library of Medicine found “a steady increase in antidepressant use from 2019 to 2023” in Americans.
This begs the question -- who is really more anxious -- pets or their owners?
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“I think it’s both,” Veterinary Behaviorist Dr. Terry Curtis said.
Curtis is based in St. Augustine. She’s essentially a pet psychiatrist. She said human behavior is causing our pets to become more anxious, which in turn generates more anxiety among humans.
“Not all dogs can do OK in Starbucks and not all cats can live inside a house with other cats,” Curtis said. “And so our expectations as people who want pets to be part of our household and our family have kind of lost along the way, the fact that we are living with an entirely different species.”
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So how do we get our pets to relax?
Williams said start with training and desensitizing your pets. Make sure they get lots of exercise in.
If behavior issues still arise, he said it’s OK to use medication for a short time period to get them through it, however, it shouldn’t be something they stay on for their entire lives.
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