Many pets are not emotionally well-adjusted when they are introduced into a new home. The pets have often not been socialized, and some adopted dogs or cats may have suffered abuse in the past. When Mary Burch got married, she and her husband decided to get a border collie that, as the last dog in a litter of eleven, was on its way to a shelter. “This dog had never been off the owner’s farm, let alone in a car,’’ said Burch, “and it was full of parasites.”
Once home and physically healthy, the dog was still “afraid to walk down the street” and “scared to death of the mailbox,” she said. But instead of sending it to a shelter after all, Burch had a better idea. Having grown up with dogs, she knew this one just needed a job and some training to manage its emotions.
In giving the dog a job and some training, Burch helped it became a secure and healthy companion. And Burch decided to become an animal behaviorist. Today, she’s also director of the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen Program.
“Unfortunately,’’ she said, “emotional maladjustment in dogs is more common than we’d like. It happens when they come into this life to enjoy and explore the world around them and then something goes wrong.’’
The same holds true for cats. “When a cat’s behavior becomes deviant or bizarre, there’s a problem,” said Carol Wilbourn, a New York City–based feline behaviorist known as the Kitty Freud. She and others agree that strange behavior usually stems from something emotional, such as depression, separation anxiety, or stress.
Symptoms Are Marked by Change
The symptoms of emotional problems can be similar for cats and dogs and are typically marked by changes in appetite, sleep, and behavior patterns, such as:
- Increased lethargy or aggression
- Excessive barking or meowing for no apparent reason
- Defecating where it normally wouldn’t (i.e., in the house or outside the litter box)
Animals with separation anxiety are especially destructive when they’re left alone; they will howl, dig, chew, and scratch within twenty to forty-five minutes of their owners’ leaving, according to a report on the website of the Humane Society of the United States.
These and other symptoms are often the manifestation of deeper issues. Cats may act on events that took place in their kittenhoods, Wilbourn said. “A cat’s emotional barometer is largely determined by its relationship to its parents and the state it was in when it was born.’’
