Did you know that animals struggle with anxiety and depression as well? Depression, sadness, and heartache are all emotions our animals can feel.
Animals are susceptible to life changes. Major life changes can have a significant impact on our animals. Even if the changes seem minor, our animal friends may view things differently.
What we might see as “behavioral problems” can actually be our animal friends trying to communicate that they aren’t happy.
Is your cat suddenly peeing on the furniture? Or is your dog showing destructive behavior by digging up the yard or chewing furniture? Or is your new adopted friend not settling in as you had hoped?
A life change may have affected your animal friend, causing them to act out.
Just as humans are sensitive to change, something as simple as a family member changing their routine or the arrival of a new baby can trigger troubling behavior. Even heading back into the office after working from home during the pandemic can be a significant change for your animal.
What are life changes exactly, and how can they affect your animal? Read on to find out more.
What Are Life Changes?
Life changes can be anything that disrupts your animal’s normal day-to-day routine. These changes can be as simple as a change in your routine. Or you decided to enroll your dog into a doggy daycare center.
Maybe you have added going to the gym to your daily schedule, so you get home later. Or perhaps you have moved your horse to a new stall in the stable.
They can also be something major like losing a loved one, moving house, or adopting a new animal friend. Even being adopted by a forever home can be a drastic change for a shelter dog.
Sometimes we make these life changes with our best intentions. For example, maybe the new stall for your horse is less drafty. Or you thought your dog was lonely and needed a friend, so you got a new animal. Or took them to doggy daycare.
But even though we have our animal’s best interests at heart, they may not see it in the same light. We might feel like we are helping them, but our animals may feel traumatized by the change.
How Can Life Changes Affect Our Animals?
Every animal will react differently to changes in their lives. A major change or traumatizing event in an animal’s life can sometimes bring on symptoms of anxiety or depression.
The symptoms of depression and anxiety in animals look very similar to those experienced by humans. Normally an animal will show low activity levels, a loss of interest in activities they enjoyed, and even a change in eating or sleeping habits.
Dogs can display their anxiety with trembling, tail-tucking, and hiding. They can also show signs of panic, including sudden biting, panting, or pacing. Dogs can also show other destructive behaviors and aggression toward people or other animals.
Cats show their emotions less than dogs and are more likely to withdraw than act out. That isn’t to say they won’t. Some cats will start eliminating outside of the litter box, on furniture, on piles of clothes, in shoes, or just on the floor if they struggle with anxiety.
Other signs of anxiety in cats can be overgrooming, so you might see bald patches start to appear on your cat. A cat might overeat if it feels a new animal threatens its food source.
A cat might feel insecure in its environment. They can display increased facial rubbing or scratches on surfaces. This is how cats mark their territory due to the scent glands on their faces and paws.
Over time, if your animal’s stress and anxiety become a chronic problem, they might start having other health issues. These health issues can be problems like urinary tract infections, chronic diarrhea, stomach ulcers, and more.
How Can You Help Your Animal Friend?
Because we love our animals, if they suddenly start misbehaving or not eating, we naturally want to find out what is wrong so that we can help them. By picking up on their signs of stress and anxiety, we can see that their behavior problems are just them trying to communicate with us.
An animal communicator can also help in these situations. You might not realize that the small change in your routine has affected your animal friend. Or that your long-term house guest is upsetting them. Or they just don’t like the new animal friend you brought home to keep them company.
What an animal communicator can do is they can come and speak to your animal friends and find out how they feel about the situation. An animal communicator can speak to them and help you find a solution that best suits your animal.
With the help of an animal communicator, you can build a stronger, more intimate bond with your animal friend. You can learn to communicate better with them to help them prepare or face life changes.
This communication can help reduce stress and anxiety in your animal friend and reduce the “behavioral problems” that they display. Leading to happier and healthier animals.
Does Your Animal Friend Need Help?
Is your animal suddenly misbehaving, and you have no idea why? Or have you and your animal gone through life changes, and your animal is showing signs of anxiety or depression?
Reaching out to an animal medium or animal communicator can help you understand your animal’s behavior. An animal communicator can also help you help your animal friend cope with life changes.
Visit Ani Animal Intuitive’s site to book a session and deepen the intimate connection between you and your animal friend.
