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I also have an idea she may have canine ocd.
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Deciding on euthanasia due to behaviour :(
- Thread starter Doghelp1
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Severe anxiety often manifests as compulsive behaviors - in humans as well as in many other species. Boredom can also inculcate stereotypies, which are a specific form of compulsive behaviors, such as pacing a pattern in a lavatory cage, paw-sucking, endless bouts of masturbation in primates, etc.
Science-y folks don’t want to use the term “OCD” to refer to nonhuman behavior problems, as the “obsessive” in OCD refers to thoughts, & we would be assuming that the nonhuman has obsessive thoughts; we cannot prove it.
We can clearly see the compulsive behaviors; the possible obsessive thoughts are invisible.
But IMO if it quacks & waddles & paddles like a duck, then i’m gonna call it a duck until proven otherwise - & since the compulsive behaviors in dogs are successfully treated with the selfsame Rx drugs which treat human OCD, we might as well call the suite of compulsive canine behaviors OCD & be done with it, b/c it’s a familiar term that requires no translation; ppl are already familiar with compulsive handwashing, checking to see if the door is locked exactly 18 times b4 U can go to sleep (never 17, & 19 is overkill), & the other OCD syndromes in humans.
Anti-anxiety meds in dogs are also the same meds as are prescribed for anxious ppl.
SSRIs take a couple of weeks to begin to take effect.
- terry
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Severe anxiety often manifests as compulsive behaviors - in humans as well as in many other species. Boredom can also inculcate stereotypies, which are a specific form of compulsive behaviors, such as pacing a pattern in a lavatory cage, paw-sucking, endless bouts of masturbation in primates, etc.
Science-y folks don’t want to use the term “OCD” to refer to nonhuman behavior problems, as the “obsessive” in OCD refers to thoughts, & we would be assuming that the nonhuman has obsessive thoughts; we cannot prove it.
We can clearly see the compulsive behaviors; the possible obsessive thoughts are invisible.
But IMO if it quacks & waddles & paddles like a duck, then i’m gonna call it a duck until proven otherwise - & since the compulsive behaviors in dogs are successfully treated with the selfsame Rx drugs which treat human OCD, we might as well call the suite of compulsive canine behaviors OCD & be done with it, b/c it’s a familiar term that requires no translation; ppl are already familiar with compulsive handwashing, checking to see if the door is locked exactly 18 times b4 U can go to sleep (never 17, & 19 is overkill), & the other OCD syndromes in humans.
Anti-anxiety meds in dogs are also the same meds as are prescribed for anxious ppl.
SSRIs take a couple of weeks to begin to take effect.
- terry
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Can you update us? Have you found a way forward? It's quite an upsetting thread to be left hanging.
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