Pets Need Calm. So Do the People Who Care for Them

A small story behind this blog

This blog actually began with a late-night message exchange between me and Sam. I had just moved back to China from New York, and my jet lag was brutal. What helped me fall asleep was not just the device, but also my cat. I told Sam that my cat’s purring—the sound and the vibration—had become my “sleep tool.” He would curl up on my pillow as I tried to drift off, and when I woke up at 1 a.m. because of the time difference, I would listen to his purring again, sometimes resting my hand on his body just to feel the vibrations while I fell back to sleep.

Sam laughed and said, “Too bad we can’t include a free kitten with every device.” That joke stayed with us. Because, of course, we cannot send a cat with every product. But the conversation sparked a different idea: maybe instead of thinking in terms of “one device, one kitten,” we could create something more meaningful and responsible—a donation project with pet adoption centers. If someone adopts a cat or dog and is themselves struggling with sleep, stress, or pain, then for each adopted pet we could support the human with a ZenoWell device. The goal would not be to bundle a product with an animal, but to honor the bond between them: helping the person feel better, so they can offer a calmer, more resilient home to the pet they just brought into their life.

Pets Need Calm. 

When we think about caring for a pet, most of us begin with the visible essentials: food, exercise, grooming, vaccinations, and regular veterinary care. All of that matters. But there is another part of health that often receives less attention—sleep quality, emotional balance, stress load, and the ability to settle and recover. Pets do not only need to be physically healthy. They also need to feel safe enough to rest well, regulate well, and stay connected to the people around them.

This is especially true for senior pets. As dogs and cats age, families often begin to notice changes that are easy to dismiss at first: lighter sleep, nighttime pacing, increased startle responses, clinginess, irritability, vocalization, confusion, or difficulty calming down after stimulation. Veterinary literature on senior pets notes that behavioral changes may be among the earliest signs that something in a pet’s health, cognition, or nervous system deserves closer attention, and anxiety, sleeplessness, and cognitive dysfunction can overlap in older companion animals.

Senior pets can struggle quietly

One reason these issues are missed is that they are often subtle. A senior dog may still be eating and walking normally, yet begin waking repeatedly at night or become more distressed by separation and routine change. A senior cat may still appear independent, yet become more reactive to noise, more restless after dark, or less socially flexible than before. Mental and behavioral changes in older pets often require more careful observation than physical decline, which makes caregiver awareness especially important.

In practical terms, this means sleep disruption, pacing, nighttime vocalization, vigilance, clinginess, withdrawal, and emotional sensitivity deserve attention rather than dismissal. Sometimes these signs are linked to pain, sensory decline, cognitive aging, environmental stress, or medical illness. Sometimes the picture is mixed. Either way, rest and emotional regulation belong inside the definition of health.avma+1

Science is beginning to explore calm in animals

This is one reason it is so interesting that scientific research is increasingly examining the autonomic nervous system in animals, including how vagal pathways may be connected to calm, recovery, and regulation. The attached short communication on auricular vagus nerve stimulation in animal welfare argues that stress is a major biological problem in animals and notes that stress is associated with increased sympathetic activation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, and reduced vagal tone. Although that paper focuses on farm-animal welfare rather than pets, its broader message is highly relevant: stress is not only behavioral, it is physiological.

In dogs, a 2022 pilot study of transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation in six healthy client-owned dogs found measurable post-stimulation changes in both electroencephalography and heart-rate variability. The dogs showed a significant increase in HRV measured by the SDNN index and a decrease in mean heart rate after stimulation, and the procedure was reported as well tolerated in that small sample. The authors were appropriately cautious and called for larger controlled studies, but the paper still matters because it shows that canine autonomic and brain responses in this area can be measured objectively.

In horses, a 2024 feasibility study explored transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation (taVNS) in healthy non-sedated mares. Of the 44 mares initially enrolled, only 7 completed all three phases of the protocol, which immediately highlights an important welfare point: feasibility depends not only on physiological effect, but also on tolerance. Among the mares that completed the study, some heart-rate-variability findings after stimulation were consistent with increased parasympathetic tone, but tolerance was limited and responses varied across individuals. That makes the study promising in one sense, but appropriately cautionary in another.Taken together, these studies do not suggest that pets should routinely receive vagus nerve stimulation. What they do suggest is that animals have measurable autonomic states, stress matters biologically, and the scientific community is becoming more interested in calm, recovery, and nervous-system regulation across species.

Why this matters to pet families

For pet families, the most meaningful takeaway is not technological. It is relational. If researchers are paying closer attention to autonomic regulation in animals, that reinforces something many people already sense intuitively: our pets are not only bodies that need food and medicine, they are nervous systems that need safety, predictability, and rest.

That matters even more for older pets. Senior animals are often less resilient to disruption, less tolerant of poor sleep, and more vulnerable to pain, sensory changes, and cognitive strain. A younger dog may recover from a stressful day quickly, while an older dog may pace half the night. A younger cat may adjust to a household change within hours, while an older cat may become watchful, unsettled, or emotionally withdrawn for much longer. Paying attention to sleep and emotional wellbeing is not overinterpreting behavior. It is part of responsible care.

Our own exploration

At ZenoWell, this topic is personal. Many of us do not just love animals in the abstract. We live with them, care for them, and in many cases have chosen to bring home animals that once had no home at all. Jane’s five cats and one dog are all adopted or rescued, including cats who were once living on the street. Many of our colleagues have also adopted rescue cats. Pet welfare is not a distant theme for us; it is part of everyday life.

That is one reason there was a period when we explored whether our work in autonomic support might one day have relevance for companion animals as well. We also had a very early exploratory collaboration with a few pet clinics involving senior dogs with sleep-related difficulties. This was not a formal clinical trial, and it should not be read as published outcome evidence. But two clients did share especially positive feedback with us about changes they observed in their older dogs’ sleep and settling. We share that carefully and transparently, not as proof and not as a product promise, but as part of the honest background behind why this question continues to matter to us.

Just as importantly, that exploration clarified our position. This blog is not here to tell anyone to buy taVNS products for their pets. The science is still early, animal tolerance differs by species and by individual, and animal welfare has to come first. The horse study makes that particularly clear: even when a protocol shows physiological potential, tolerance and lived experience for the animal remain decisive.

Why this matters to us

This campaign is personal to us because the human-animal connection is not an abstract idea inside ZenoWell. It is part of how many of us live every day. Research often describes the human-animal bond as a dynamic, mutually influential relationship that can shape emotional wellbeing, social support, and resilience for people while also shaping safety and welfare for animals. We feel that reality not only in theory, but in the everyday rhythms of our homes and our work.

My five cats and one dog are all adopted or rescued. Many of our colleagues have also adopted rescue cats. These animals did not come into our lives as perfect, easy stories. Some came with uncertainty, sensitivity, and histories we may never fully know. That is part of why this subject matters so much to us. When an animal has lived through instability, abandonment, or life on the street, care is not only about food, shelter, and veterinary support. It is also about helping that animal feel safe enough to sleep deeply, settle gradually, trust again, and build connection at its own pace.

That same connection also changes the humans on the other side. Animals ask us to slow down, observe more carefully, regulate ourselves better, and become steadier in how we respond. In that sense, care moves in both directions. We support them, and they reshape us too. That is one reason we believe the conversation about pet welfare should include the emotional state of the caregiver, not only the condition of the pet. A calmer human often creates a calmer environment, and a calmer environment makes connection easier for both sides.

We have also felt this inside the company itself. Our dogs have brought a better sense of connection to the whole team. Their presence changes the energy of a room, softens stress, creates small moments of joy, and brings people together in ways that are hard to force through ordinary workplace routines. Research on pets in the workplace similarly suggests that pet-friendly environments may support trust, teamwork, collaboration, and employee wellbeing. We have seen our own version of that. Sometimes connection starts with something very simple: a dog walking through the office, people pausing, smiling, talking, and feeling a little more human with one another.

That is why this campaign is bigger than a device. For us, it is about supporting a fuller circle of care. Animals need calm, safety, and home. Humans need sleep, emotional balance, and resilience to care for them well. Adoption is not only the rescue of an animal. It is the beginning of a connection, and connections need nervous systems that can rest, reconnect, and respond with steadiness.

A campaign we want to build

This is where we hope to take the conversation next.

We want to launch a campaign built around a simple belief: when people sleep better, feel less stressed, and are more emotionally balanced, they are better able to care for animals with patience, steadiness, and resilience. That matters in every household, but it may matter especially in adoption settings, where both people and pets are often moving through uncertainty, transition, and nervous-system overload at the same time. Research on caregiving and the human-animal bond supports the idea that emotional support and resilience are part of how these relationships succeed.

Our goal is to collaborate with pet adoption centers and rescue organizations on a donation-based campaign. The idea is simple. For people who are adopting a cat or dog and who may be struggling with sleep, stress, or emotional overload themselves, we want to make our sleep- and stress-support taVNS available at no cost when appropriate. The purpose is not to use the device on the pet. The purpose is to support the human caregiver, so they can feel better, sleep better, regulate stress better, and show up with more balance and resilience for the animal they are bringing home.

We want you to feel better, and take care of the pets better.

If you know any pet adoption centers and rescue organizations may be interested in this campain, please feel free to contact us: jane@zenowell.ai.

References:

American Veterinary Medical Association. (2018, October 11). Caring for senior cats and dogs. Retrieved from https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/petcare/senior-petsavma

Castillo, G., Gaitero, L., Fonfara, S., Czura, C. J., Monteith, G., & James, F. (2022). Transcutaneous cervical vagus nerve stimulation induces changes in the electroencephalogram and heart rate variability of healthy dogs, a pilot study. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9, 878962. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.878962frontiersinfvets-09-878962-2.pdf

Landsberg, G. M., Deporter, T., & Araujo, J. A. (2011). Clinical signs and management of anxiety, sleeplessness, and cognitive dysfunction in the senior pet. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 41(3), 565–590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2011.03.017pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih

Özden, A. V. (n.d.). Could auricular vagus nerve stimulation have a place in animal farming for productivity and animal welfare? Short communication.Could-auricular-vagus-nerve-stimulation-have-a-place-in-animal-farming-for-productivity-and-anim.pdf

Vitale, V., Bindi, F., Velloso Alvarez, A., de la Cuesta-Torrado, M., Sala, G., & Sgorbini, M. (2024). Transcutaneous auricular vagal nerve stimulation in healthy non-sedated horses: A feasibility study. Veterinary Sciences, 11(6), 241. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11060241vetsci-11-00241-v2-3.pdfpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih

Disclosure

The core perspective of this article reflects ZenoWell’s ongoing interest in autonomic regulation, sleep, emotional wellbeing, and pet welfare. The section describing exploratory clinic use and two positive client reports reflects internal company background provided for this blog and is not presented as published clinical evidence. The article was revised and polished with the assistance of AI for language.