Self-reflection of the shit shoveling officer: Have you paid attention to the mental health of pets?
Pets are just like us humans. In addition to warmth, cold, hunger, and thirst, they also have emotions, anger, sorrow, and joy. That’s why cats and dogs are called “companion animals.”
However, in the process of raising pets, many people often only focus on life and health issues such as eating well, deworming and vaccination, and ignore their mental health. Especially the 996 young people are rarely at home during the day and need mobile phones at night. Play games.
Therefore, pets, especially dogs, may have psychological problems, and psychological problems can cause a series of behavioral problems, leading some people to think "my pet is not well-behaved at all."
Next, let’s list and analyze 4 common pet psychology problems. Let’s take a look!
1. Separation anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder
It mainly occurs in dogs, because the ancestors of dogs are social animals, and the concept of group has always been engraved in their genes. In its world, the owner is a member of the group, accepts the owner's food distribution, and shows obedience to the owner. Attitude.
However, if the dog is not used to being alone for several hours, or is too dependent on the owner, it may develop separation anxiety disorder 9 and be complicated by obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Behaviorally, it manifests as being extremely sensitive to the owner's going out, destroying items at home when alone, barking hoarsely, urinating and defecating on the owner's items, and possibly obsessive-compulsive repetitive or even self-harming behaviors, such as frequent licking. Lick a certain part of the body, bark at shadows or doors, circle around certain objects, bite their own hair, etc.
2. Mania
Mania can be understood as the reverse separation anxiety disorder Q, because the cause of mania is often the owner's long-term "training" that is too tough, or the dog is beaten, scolded, abandoned, etc., and the dog develops distrust of humans and has a psychological shadow.
Behaviorally, it manifests itself as having a short temper, barking and baring its teeth at others, guarding food, having a strong sense of territory, and being aggressive.
3. Depression
A sudden move, the addition of new members such as other pets or babies to the home, excessive changes in the environment, lack of companionship and other reasons may cause depression in dogs.
Behaviorally, it manifests as listlessness, loss of appetite, and ignoring the owner's calls, which are precursors to depression.
4. Hypothesis
There is currently no research on "canine and cat paranoia Q", but according to some owners, their dogs will bark in a certain open direction for no reason, or show abnormal fear of a certain object. This may be Because they have been hurt or frightened by the item in the past, they have developed a conditioned reflex to the color, smell, shape and other attributes of the item. When they encounter a similar item again, they will trigger assumptions and cause fear.
When pets have psychological problems, most of them will behave incomprehensibly, which may be serious enough to make the owner collapse (such as breaking up the house and peeing indiscriminately). Therefore, behavioral problems have always been the most common reason for pets to be abandoned or euthanized. main reason.
Therefore, how to keep pets physically and mentally healthy is what all pet owners, especially those who are away from home for a long time during the day, need to focus on.
But I must remind everyone that before doing this, you must first suspect and rule out/confirm whether there is a health problem with your pet!
Finally, the mental health of pets has become popular here. In terms of pet mental health, the owner’s awareness is more important than his actions. However, in reality, many people have a biased understanding of “companion animals”. In fact, the reason why companion animals are called companions is Importantly, animals mean "accompanying each other", not "one-way export of love"!