Identifying Depression in Your Pets

The boss wasn't benevolent enough all day. Umm, nor was your partner. It was a hard day and on top it, it rained heavily, drenching and disgusting you to the core. But, the moment you step in your house after a long day at work, you see a pair of those luminous eyes sprinting towards you to ask you about your day, in a way that only you two understand.

Those cuddly licks on your face bear off all tensions magically and you look ahead to dinner with ease now. How on earth did you forget the hard knocks you faced at work in a jiffy? Perhaps, it's your fur-ball that brings out the best in you every time you're with it. You sigh in relief and pour all your love onto the four-legged cutie resting on your lap.

But from quite some time, you find something strange in your pet. It doesn't run to you the way it used to after you came back from work. Instead, there it lays, in a lonely corner, with its eyes expressing all the plight. Too bad, you take time to figure out what's wrong. But you don't leave your family and loved ones alone in misery, do you?

The moment you notice the slightest change in your pet's behavior, it's time you do something about the aching emptiness that has made your pet's life difficult. Sometimes, you just have to look for the most obvious signs of depression in pets. Let us take a look at some of the indications of stress and despair are worth mulling over.

At how many instances did you knock your pet out for creating a ruckus around the house! No matter how much of a hullabaloo your sweetheart created, you loved it. But things changed, and so did your pet's emotions.

The uproarious brute all of a sudden became a loner, resting alongside the door-sill all day, greeting no new guests with its usual acts, and making no sounds that mark a cheerful lifestyle. It's disturbed.

Maybe your pet lost a mate, or isn't able to cope up with the new environmental settings? Who knows. All that's known is, this unexplained lethargy and involuntariness to savor life can be fatal to your pet's health.

Anything below or above normal behavioral conduct is a sign of stress for your pet. Your pet, which had always been a trouble-free brute, has started wailing at a high pitch, has become inexplicably aggressive in nature, wants to hurt every second person that passes by, and has become point-blank abnormal in nature.

This may be due to a sudden change in the surroundings, chemical imbalance, or a strange sense of uneasiness, that leads your furry loved one to behave unbelievably unnatural.

Yet another symptom of depression in your pet could be a sudden change in its eating habits. Out of sadness and stress, pets lose their appetite, leading to starvation and dehydration. Loss of appetite could also be a result of a chronic ailment in your pet that you might be unaware of. Such signs and symptoms in pets are similar to that in humans.

It's advisable to take your fur-ball to a veterinarian at the earliest, so that you successfully avoid further complications in your pet's health. On the other hand, some pets start overeating out of depression, and create a nuisance when they don't get enough food. This sudden abnormality in eating habits should instantly be discussed with a specialist.

Where did its only friend at home vanish? Why do you witness a feeling of misery in your pet's eyes every time you make eye contact? When social contact is lost, any living being feels their self-worth vanished. Soon, the feeling of loneliness overpowers them, and they become a victim of desolation.

You might not be able to spot the symptoms of a lost inner self in your pet, but in your surroundings. Find out what or who was your pet most attached to at home, and what made your pet extremely happy. When you see that the very reason for your pet's happiness is to be found nowhere, you know your pet is depressed and unhappy.

Whatever made your furry ally cheerful is nowhere. It's time you connect with your pet. Take it out for a stroll, let it breathe the fresh air and introduce it to new friends. Pets need attention and immense love. You need to make time for yours, understand its problems, keep it healthy and happy. After all, your pets represent the best in you, don't they?