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Animal Psychiatry
#1
I came across and article about a book called Pets on a Couch.  It is a book about animal psychiatry by a man who works with mental health problems in animals. He believes that animals have the same kinds of problems we have and can be treated for these problems.


http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


The article is good, but the book would be better.  I think he is right about animal problems. They do suffer that same as humans. With proper care they can recover as we can recover.
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Catherine

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#2
This is very interesting!
The only thing I would be wary of is a 'drugs regime'...maybe because an animal is responding naturally to human-induced stimuli (for instance being left 9-10 hours alone all day, or emotional responses to unhappy home stuations which the humans don't even care about. The animal acts out, and the people think it needs Prozac!)

For instance. many childen are on Ritalin and definitely shouldn't be!

Proper holistic "talking therapy" and understanding would be a way forward (lol!)
Of course animals do try to talk to us in their own language. Understanding what they are saying, and being willing to make changes to help them as loved ones and family members -now that would be good!
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#3
I agree with you about the drugs. Getting the pet on some kind of medication is a solution I don't like. There may be a few times where medication helps, but it would be better to work with the pet to try and make it feel better through human contact and understanding.

Still the whole thing is on the right track because they recognize the need for help in the first place. If we approached a pets bad behavior as a symptom of some emotional mental problem we might have success helping them.
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Catherine

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#4
Yes, sedatives, 'doggy Prozac', mood-altering drugs....it's all out there. And behind those treatments are professional people who can convince an animal caretaker that those drugs are needed.

Of course there are times when medication is needed, but I would seriously question the need for medication of animals who are lonely/grieving/ active young animals who are locked up all day/separation anxiety/sleeplessness because they don't want to be alone at night....etc.

But I do think that it is a way forward to acknowledge they are mind, heart and body just as we are, not just body.
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#5
If you have to put your dog on Prozac there is something wrong in how you and the dog are living.

Temporary sedation in a crisis, like temporary pain killers, would be useful. When we start using these drugs all the time there is something wrong.

Better to look at how the dog feels and meet his needs rather than give him drugs so that he no longer feels like himself. The drugs just mask the real problem.  Find a companion for a dog that doesn't like being left alone all day. Dogs are not meant to be alone.
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Catherine

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