Some Animals Can Suffer From Mental Illness, Too

Maybe you’ve had or heard about a pet cat on Prozac, or a dog that doesn’t quite seem like itself in the weeks following the death of another animal in the home. On the one hand, it’s hard not to question whether there is some owner-projection or anthropomorphism happening here. But on the other, as the BBC reports, some scientists are starting to seriously investigate the inner lives of animals, including potential signs of mental illness.

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Parrots sometimes pluck their feathers in distress. See here:

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A cat taking Prozac seems very strange. Is that even ethical?

Maybe if they tested it on cats.

My cat is on Prozac. I was extremely resistant to putting her on it, but it was more unethical to not do so. It has a long history of off label veterinary use.

When she got to be about six months old, she started becoming frightened of everything. She started hiding under the couch in her room. She became frightened of the walls and windows. She stopped eating. She cowered when anyone entered the room with her. I tried calming treats, calming collars, calming diffusers, anything anyone suggested.

The vet had suggested fluoxetine a few times but I hadn’t wanted to do that. Eventually I came home one afternoon and found her huddled on my bed, shaking, a pile of poop on one side and a puddle of urine on the other. Her food was six feet away untouched, and her litter box was eight feet away in the other direction, also untouched. She was afraid to move from my bed.

She’s on a very small dose - .75 mg a day, she’s a very small cat. But this has been very effective for her. She is happy and bossy and brave and snuggly. Before it, she was suffering terribly.

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I’m so glad that you were able to help her. You get my nice person of the day badge. :sunny:

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thank goodness you found out what was wrong !! I had a black cat Yuki that had liver enzymes real high and we had to force it pills and fluid every day for thirty days…got her fixed. I lost the cat in the divorce but she was a sweet cat.

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animals are more clever than we think. I know scientists agree that they have feelings, because of the way they mother their offspring. It is a shame if we eradicate all wild life to satisfy mainly the chinese market for superstition in traditional medicine.

For example I believe there is less than a 1000 wild tigers left in the world. Wild animals these days are more like novelty, not the everyday sight it used to be. A shame.

No its not. In my opinion.

I heard they are in the process of turning your dog’s (and cats possibly) thoughts into audio English.

SzAdmin -Some Animals Can Suffer From Mental Illness, Too.

Me - Maybe but not sz

It’s funny, if you read the story, it links to a BBC article that says:

Study referenced is here:

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Once you had a pet that throws up or craps timed with the voices, this makes a lot of sense.

We had a German Shepherd who was edgy, snappy, fearful and often listless. He may or may not have been abused. But we had the vet blood-test him for various disorders. Turns out he had a weak thyroid gland. So he went on thyroxine in his food every day. In a few days he was much, much better.

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