Can you tell me the signs that a dog might be depressed?

Question

Dr. Tannetje Crocker · Answer

You tell me this signs that a dog might be depressed. I will do my very best. So one of the most common signs that I see as an emergency veterinarian, is they will become a little less excited about the things that they normally love. So if they normally love to chase the ball, go on walks. Eat you all the sudden, see a decrease in wanting to do those activities or a decrease in eating overall. A lot of owners will mention that they're just withdrawn, maybe they find places to hide and they're not as engaged in general. So that's it's probably some of the most common signs that jumped out to me. And that owners report when their dogs are just sad about something, I'll often see it. If maybe a caretaker has passed away or a housemate that was another dog has passed away and there's been a shift or a change and a dog, maybe need some time to adjust. So hopefully you can give him some TLC. Hopefully, your dog doesn't go through this at all but those are the most common things that I will have people report and that I will hear when it. Dog is what we would consider depressed.

Chris Pachel · Answer

Can you tell me the signs that a dog might be depressed as a Veterinary behaviorist? I'm going to come at this from a couple of different angles. First of all, if an animal is showing signs consistent with depression, at least, based on what we think, we know about dogs, and what this looks like. They're more likely to be withdrawn or low energy or perhaps avoidant of social interaction many ways. Very similar to what people report when they're experiencing depression now, as a veteran. Marian before the behavior. Peace comes in. As a veterinarian, I want to make sure that we're not overlooking the possibility. This could be a medical issue whether that be a pain issue, musculoskeletal issues, arthritis, abdominal pain and so on. That's causing that animal to be a bit more withdrawn or low energy. We could also be seeing hormonal or endocrine issues such as low thyroid levels, that also, show up very much the same way. So if this is a new onset Behavior change by all means, have that dog checked out by a veterinarian. There may need to be a couple of blood tests or physical exam that needs to be done to rule out some of those changes and underlying medical issues on the behavior side. If we're seeing signs of true depression as an emotional response. What I typically do with my clients is, we do a little bit of an inventory. If you will, or a bit of a history to say, hey, what's changed over? What timeline are we seeing these changes? What have we tried? Is the dog responsive to changes in food or the way in which we're feeding Ting. As a form of enrichment, if we modify exercise levels or the type of exercise, does that give us a difference in the way that the dog is showing up in the world? Are there social stressors, new family members or perhaps kids went away to college or anything along those lines. That may be impacting that overall stress level for the animal, I'd be looking for those things and then going down the pathway of what we may be able to do, as a way of intervening to help a dog people, both physically. And emotionally comfortable in their environment.

Michael Shikashio · Answer

Can you tell me the signs that a dog might be depressed? Well we can't put a clinical diagnosis of depression on a dog because they can't really tell us what they're feeling from an emotional standpoint. We might see a lot of the same signs that we've seen a human. That's experiencing depression things like lethargic Behavior withdrawing from the environment but it was actually a great study from 2016. I'll drop a link here on the video that looked at dogs that lost a housemate. So you might see those things like lethargic Behavior, lack of appetite. Seeking out the location of the dog, that previously was in the home. They might actually increase their aggressive responses, and so you're going to see a lot of the same characteristics. Now, I do want to mention that a lot of these signs can be related to medical issues. So it's important to rule out. Underlying medical causes things like canine, cognitive dysfunction, thyroid issues. There's many things that can sort of mask medical issue, that looks like depression. So I do want to make sure that is rolled out. A couple of veterinarians on this app, answered that question, so be sure to check out their videos as well. What causes this sometimes it's changes in routine. Traumatic events can happen. I mentioned the loss of a housemate or an owner, any kind of significant changes in the environment or stressful factors that can impact how that dog is feeling can certainly change their behavior. So it's always a good idea to kind of look at all of the things happening in the dogs like that. I'll help you pinpoint. Hey, is this Behavior? Real. Or is this something I made? You need to look at from a medical standpoint.

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"Can you tell me the signs that a dog might be depressed?"