Do animals suffer with stress and anxiety like us?

We don’t give animals enough consideration for their emotional well-being, they are sensitive souls and although the way they think and communicate is very different to us, there are many similarities with some of the triggers that cause stress & anxiety.

They are also more in tune with their fellow animal companions and can sense when we are feeling down or emotional and often have ways of offering comfort and compassion. They can also sense when we are annoyed or angry and will read our body language & facial expressions.

Animals often communicate within their own species and to other species such as dog to cat or rabbit to rabbit using facial expressions or body language. Vocal communication is not required in many respects.

Animals can display stress in a variety of ways:

•  Licking lips, Yawning, drooling
• Avoiding eye contact, dilated pupils and changing ear position ‘pinned back’
• Moving away, trying to hide
• Cowering, changing posture, tail between legs, raising front leg
• Banking, whining, growling
• Shaking, pacing and restless, repetitive behaviour
• Scratching furniture / flooring as if they are digging / destructive behaviour
• Urinating / toileting
• Excessive panting
• Excessive shedding / chewing / licking fur

Spotting these signs and trying to work out the trigger of what may be causing it is important in how you deal with it. Animals suffering with stress are often highly reactive and unable to settle, they run high on adrenaline, often jumping up at any slight stimuli whether it be a sound, movement or smell.

Subtle visible signs are often spotted first before they become physically vocal or destructive. It is important to try to observe your pet and work out what signs they display. Not all animals display all or even many of the above that are listed.

Common triggers of anxiety / stress:

• Loud noise phobia – Thunder, gun shots, fireworks, quarry blasting, vehicles driving past
• Separation anxiety – being left home alone, separated from their owners or other animals within the house or garden, or even out on walks.
• Travelling – in the car or on public transport
• Fear of other dogs or animals not experienced before or who have shown to be a threat in the past.
• Going on holiday – being somewhere different, or going into kennels
• Trips to the vets / groomers
• New environments – moving house, visiting family
• New objects in the garden, house or on their usual walks, either they haven’t experienced before, or they are out of context so give increased alert signals as potentially something to be “scared” of.
• Confusion or memory loss / sight / hearing loss associated with old age or a medical condition.
• Smells or sights they haven’t been exposed to before – Meeting people in hats, masks or with walking aids.
• Associating something with a previous bad experience – rescue dogs that have been physically or mentally traumatised can be difficult to truly understand their behaviours

What can we do?
Many years ago…Sedatives were used to control “stress” provoking events to prevent destructive behaviour. Not only can this be detrimental to your pets’ health if required repetitively, then can also make the situation worse. It doesn’t stop your animal being scared but prevents them from displaying their fearful behaviours and less able to display the natural ‘fight or flight response’. They also become less effective over time and leave your pet feeling a lack of control or confused.

There are much safer, more natural products and training methods available, that can be very effective in stressful events and using these as part of your training modifications, animals can learn to overcome these stressful situations. Sometimes professional training / behavioural advice is required, we can give direction on products (we stock a variety of evidence based products), training aids and information for reaching out to professionals where required.