My dog is depressed – how to treat dog depression
Narrated from: Dog HealthDog depression is an important issue. It is often said that with their busy modern day schedules, people often get depressed. However, dogs can get depressed too, and it is harder for them to take care of the problem – not to mention that depression may result in a severe weight loss, which is a bad thing for a dog!
If you believe that your dog is depressed, you have to take the dog to the vet – quite often symptoms attributed to depression may be caused by an illness such as diabetes or kidney disorder. However, if the veterinary doesn’t find a problem, then your dog suffers from doggy depression and the sooner you cheer your buddy up, the better.
If your dog is depressed, you should try to find the reason for the depression. If the dog feels neglected for instance, then the solution is simple – you just have to show the dog that you still love him/her. Same goes with boredom – finding some time for a depressed dog is always important for the dog’s recovery.
However, sometimes your love might not be enough – especially if your dog grieves the loss of a loved one.
Many people say that a change in routine helps – find a new playground, or a new route for the regular walks. Another effective “medicine” is finding a new playmate for your dog – the best solution is to adopt another dog for a week or so. A listless dog would probably respond very well to a little canine company, and quite often other dogs will know the best way to cheer your dog up!
However, if your dog doesn’t recover and keeps showing signs of depression, you may have to consider introducing some medicine. Researchers of dog depression claim that medicaments that work with human depression work with dogs too - Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft; there is also Clomicalm which is used to treat separation anxiety.
It usually takes a month or two for antidepressants to work, but after that dogs usually get better a lot faster than humans and can be taken off the drugs within a year.
However, there are also different homeopathic alternatives. There is Ignatia for instance, which is very helpful for soothing grieving dogs – however, be warned, as homeopathic remedies also have side effects; Ignatia must be introduced in small doses and your dog would probably sleep more than usual.
Flower essences are another natural, gentler remedy. They include Gentian (also good for grieving, listless dogs), Gorce (for dogs showing more extreme symptoms), Honeysuckle (if the dog is having trouble in adjusting to a new environment), and Star of Bethlehem (for dogs that have suffered some kind of a shock). If it hard to tell why your dog is depressed, you could always try Mustard – it often helps lethargic, gloomy dogs!
Finally, if all else fails, you may want to try an unorthodox approach. There are different recordings that are considered very soothing for dogs – doggy music compilations, dog laughter therapy, etc. Surprisingly, such recordings work well in animal shelters and many people use them at home!
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