"Animals, like humans, have a spiritual realm, and dogs that keep their owners going home until they die, because of their companions who died unexpectedly... These facts are beyond moving us, are there anything important to us that we can't notice? The video uses the term "mental problem".

In professional terms, this is animal depression.

What Pets also suffer from depression

, and when animals have mental problems, it will work harder than humans. Think about it, your partner or parents may not be willing to tell you the mental symptoms and problems they encounter, let alone a dog who cannot communicate with words.

It cannot describe its feelings, you ignore its problems, it can only endure it, day after day, before completing its extreme sexual rituals, it cannot sit down and have a good meal. Physical and mental health always affect each other. Bad body can make the mental state bad, and bad emotions can also make the physical state more worrying.

The main manifestations of animal depression include listlessness, lack of activity, and loss of appetite , even with a bad temper, even their favorite activities cannot make them happy.

Like humans, in addition to depression, some animals also have anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, traumatic syndrome... They will have self-harm behaviors such as gnawing things randomly and rushing hard objects with their heads. Just like some people cut themselves to seek relaxation, it is actually a kind of self-harm."

The current situation of pet depression

A friend in Germany said, "Not long ago, my cat got sick and kept shedding hair. The veterinarian said that your cat is in poor mental state, so you should see a psychologist, a cat's psychologist!"

Fortunately, most Western countries have animal psychologists, who are proficient in the psychological activities and behaviors of animals. Usually employed by zoos and owners to solve animal psychological problems or assess the animal's living conditions to identify potential problems and stress. In most cases, an animal psychologist can be able to actually help solve or at least alleviate certain animal diseases or health problems.

A friend who raises dogs in China said, "My dog ​​has been listless recently. As soon as I went to work and watched the surveillance camera, it squatted in the corner all day and ate little food. When I went to the pet hospital, the doctor prescribed some medicine and took it, but he didn't say how to solve it."

In fact, some pets with depression behave too abnormally and must be treated by taking drugs that adjust their behavior, otherwise they will face the danger of being abandoned or even humanely destroyed, euthanized, etc.

You open Baidu and you can hardly search for any topic related to "pet psychologists". Ironically, "companion animal therapy" (scientists have found that people with small animals can change their mood and reduce mental and psychological diseases. This is the internationally popular "companion animal therapy" that began in the 1970s.); "animal-assisted treatment" (Animal-Assisted Therapy, AAT, is a process of using animals as a medium to improve or maintain the physical condition of the sick or disabled through human-to-animal contact, or help them strengthen their interaction with the outside world, and then adapt to society and promote recovery. )

These examples of humans using animals to contribute to their physical and mental health are emerging one after another. Should we also reflect on whether we are really too selfish?

1/5 of Americans are taking psychotropic drugs, and we owe animals a whole psychotropic drug industry. We always treat animals as test subjects of drugs rather than treatment subjects. We always don't face their mental state and needs.

The correct way to return to love!

Pets accompany us for their lives, and should we also use the greatest care we can give to truly love them?

What we have to do is actually very simple, which is to recognize their needs and give them enough care and love.

If you love them, you must recognize their needs, not just expensive milk baths, exaggerated beauty dyeing, eye-catching collar pendants, outrageously expensive nutritional products, fancy shoes and clothes. These are just more to meet the owner's personal psychological needs. What they really need may be just company, care, communication and a joyful run.