Animal Anxiety Facts:
At least 1 in 5 cats & dogs have an anxiety disorder.
What is Anxiety?:
- Anxiety is not a training problem. Anxiety is out of your pet's conscious control.
- Clinical anxiety is a medical condition involving anatomical and chemical abnormalities of the brain, nervous and hormonal system.
- Anxious pets are mentally unwell. They are not naughty or disobedient.
- Anxious animals are living in an elevated reactive zone and they feel the need to constantly monitor and assess the environment for potential threats.
- They perceive threats when they are not legitimate ones.
- They have difficulty relaxing normally.
- Animals suffering with clinical anxiety often have poor impulse control.
- The animal has difficulty inhibiting the behaviour because the logical centre of the brain is unable to function while the emotional centre is firing.
- Anxious animals may have difficulty learning new skills or training due to the interference with the logical processing of information.
- Clinical anxious animals can have very different behavioural responses from day to day depending on their emotional brain state.
Treatment of Anxiety:
- Management to prevent exposure to anxiety inducing events, especially in early treatment stage. Each trigger will be different for each animal.
- Environmental enrichment activities to ensure the animal is engaging in both mentally and physical activities that reduce anxiety. These have to be selected carefully so they don't trigger the anxiety.
- Medication to normalise neurochemical imbalances - so the animal becomes able to learn effectively & reduce reactivity.
- Medications may include a short acting and long acting option depending on each unique case.
- Behaviour modification training appropriate for each individual animal, this needs to be carefully taught using positive reinforcement techniques.
- Behaviour desensitising training appropriately selected, implemented, managed and reviewed.
- The behaviour modification and desensitising work should be carefully done using a dog training professional skilled in positive reinforcement techniques.
Help is Available:
Living with a pet suffering with an anxiety disorder can be very distressing for both the animal and yourself and extended family. We will assist you during this difficult time to treat and manage the anxiety disorder.