What, on Earth, is a Thundershirt???

My human partner saw a Facebook Page advertisement for something called a Thundershirt, that is supposed to ease a thunderstorm-phobic dog's anxiety during a thunderstorm or fireworks. As you know, my human partner is a veterinarian, so she naturally wondered whether was any scientific basis for their claims. Unfortunately, unless she became a "fan" of the Thundershirt Facebook page, she could not ask questions there. So she looked up Thundershirt in Google, and discovered their web site: http://www.thundershirt.com/ http://www.thundershirt.com/IBS/SimpleCat/InfoPage/asp/Comp_ID/25315.html

Their web site states that it "works" for the following reasons:

"Thundershirt (patent pending) does the following for most dogs suffering from noise anxiety:

The physical sensation of wearing Thundershirt distracts the dog from focusing on her fears, and

Being wrapped in a Thundershirt gives the dog a feeling of safety and comfort.
Soon after putting on her Thundershirt, your dog will likely settle down and relax. Many dogs will lie down and weather the storms with little to no further symptoms of noise anxiety.
From a more scientific perspective, according to neurobiologists, many types of traumas can cause nerve damage, leading to dogs having exaggerated responses to stimuli such as loud noises. Applying constantly maintained pressure with Thundershirt provides an unchanging, quieting stimulus that allows the dog to relax (in other words, #1 above!)."

My human partner is, understandably, VERY skeptical about the science behind this device, and DISAGREES with physical trauma to nerves being a cause of noise phobias. Because there is no scientific basis for their claims that trauma, leading to nerve damage, leading to exaggerated responses to noise stimuli; my partner also finds it hard to believe any other claims they have made about their product. It might work or it might not work, but if it does, it is probably not because of the reasons they have stated. She will keep an open mind, however---If there start to be UNBIASED reports about its effectiveness AND safety, perhaps she will give it a different review.