Valium…in a vest?

With social distancing restrictions being lifted, pandemic-weary people everywhere are gearing up for summer. 

Vacations are once again being planned, neighborhoods are again holding large backyard cookouts, and elaborate fireworks shows will finally be returning for Independence Day. A much needed sense of normalcy is coming back for people everywhere. 

The keyword in that sentence is ‘people’. 

Pet owners who have animals with anxiety disorders know that vacations mean extended absences. Cookouts mean strangers. Fireworks mean sudden, loud noises. These can cause tremendous stress on some animals, the majority being dogs. 

Krista James, a Vicksburg native attending the University of Georgia College of Veterinarian Medicine, knows all too well how awful anxiety attacks are for those pets and animal loving owners alike.

“Anxiety causes incontinence, panting, uncontrollable shaking and raises their blood pressure dangerously high,” James said. “Just check Facebook the day after a really bad storm. You’ll notice the number of missing dogs posts increase because they get so scared that they run and lose their bearings before they are able to calm back down.”

If this sounds familiar, help is soon on the way and it’ll be arriving in a brightly painted, old school bus.

(Courtesy of Krista James)

James has created her own version of the expensive compression vests sold for animals with anxiety, and will be spending her summer giving them out to animal shelters and humane societies around the south.

“I had a couple hundred old t-shirts I didn’t know what to do with, and it just came to me that they could do the same job of the costly vests my classmates bought for their pets. It’s really just all in the way they’re wrapped,” she explained.

James loaded up her six mixed-breed, rescue dogs, her immense collection of old shirts and hit the road. She traveled to some small towns around Athens distributing them to shelters and demonstrating the correct swaddling method. Her efforts were so appreciated, she began asking for donations of old shirts and mapping out her route.

“My version of the vest is less expensive, and it’s better than medicine that your veterinarian might prescribe. Think of it kind of like a Valium wrapped up in a home-made vest,” she laughed and said.

She said she will be in and around the Vicksburg area around the second week of June providing nothing goes wrong.

“I don’t know the exact dates yet, but don’t worry.” Looking back at her bus, she said, “I’m kind of hard to miss!”