Terri Bright, director of behavior services at MSPCA-Angell in Boston. New evidence suggests that behavior consistent with trauma may be inherited through DNA, says Dr. “The reality is that many pets with perfectly adequate, loving backgrounds develop fears, anxieties, and phobias based on lack of socialization to a given stimulus as a juvenile.” “While most owners of a fearful rescued animal assume it’s been abused, relatively few pets actually are,” Stelow says. Liz Stelow, chief of service of Clinical Animal Behavior Service at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at University of California, Davis. These behaviors don’t always result from emotional trauma, however, says Dr. Sarah Wooten, a veterinarian based in Colorado, says the type of trauma experienced isn’t as critical as what the pet learns from the experience. If you are wondering if your pet need to go to counseling to explore past issues, the answer is no. Trauma can also manifest as “shaking, hiding, urination and/or defecation when the trigger attempts to interact, howling, pacing, excessive vocalization, and panting,” says Pia Silvani, director of behavioral rehabilitation at the ASPCA’s Behavioral Rehabilitation Center. “Dogs and cats may attempt to escape or flee situations where frightened, they may become aggressive when interacted with or if forced out of a hiding spot, may freeze or show avoidance behaviors such as hiding or becoming still, and fidget by pacing, jumping up, or repeatedly pawing at their owners.” Kelly Ballantyne, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Like humans, traumatized cats and dogs can develop fear and anxiety disorders, says Dr. Signs of Emotional Trauma in Cats and Dogs Veterinarians and behavior experts are effectively treating animals who suffer from trauma-driven fear and anxiety. Frank McMillan, a research veterinarian and director of well-being studies at Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. “The animal can’t tell us what happened to him earlier in life, and whether his fears now come from a traumatic experience or something else,” says Dr. Research on emotional trauma in companion animals is lacking, in large part because of the language barrier. Thankfully, treatments are available to help them heal.īut what exists for companion animals who’ve been traumatized? Cats and dogs are sentient beings, after all, and can be impacted by bad domestic situations, abusive environments, and neglect. People who’ve lived through traumatic events may experience symptoms consistent with depression and anxiety years later.
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