Pete the Vet: Here's how to help your pets deal with anxiety

If all else fails there is a 'Prozac' for pets

Pete the Vet: Helping pets deal with anxiety

Anxiety is a serious problem in the pet world, made worse because we humans are not very good at recognising and dealing with anxious animals. All too often, we react to the behavioural consequences of anxiety (such as aggression, running away, or barking) as if these are the main problem. If instead, we recognised anxiety as the root cause of many of these problem behaviours, we would be far more likely to have well behaved, calmer, pets.

Definitions are helpful when trying to understand a topic. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or distress which occurs as a normal response to a dangerous or stressful situation, or an abnormal response to a “normal” situation.