Separation anxiety is very common in dogs.  And, the dog symptoms are very unique.  The behaviors associated with the distress of being in the absence of their pet parent or not having adequate access to their pet parent can manifest in the destruction of property, chewing, peeing, pooping, barking (and the subsequent law enforcement officer showing up at your door), and more.

It is estimated that 14% of dogs have separation anxiety in some form.  Although dogs are the main patients who usually start showing signs at the age of 12 to 36 months, cats are also affected but at a slighter older age.  My sister’s cat has separation anxiety manifesting as self-mutilation. Unfortunately, she spent a lot of money at vet offices trying to figure out why her cat chewed on her nipples before driving a far distance to have us check her out.  Her cat got very attached to her when she was at home with an illness for over a month, and when she went back to work, the separation anxiety ensued.

That is not uncommon… when a pet has exclusive access to a person and they are suddenly cut off from them, they feel abandoned, their stress increases, and they try to cope with “abnormal” behaviors – like nipple licking in my sister’s cat’s case.  Other contributing factors to separation anxiety (SA) include traumatic occurrences in the absence of their pet parents (lightning strike, a break-in, or a fire), or severe illness that decreases the pet’s ability to cope.

One of the most common misconceptions is that pets that have separation anxiety have been spoiled or have been coddled.  This has been disproved in the behavior literature.  Explain how your pet is behaving and ask a vet if your pet may have signs of separation anxiety.

Buffy, The Moonwalker

Here is an example of a dog that had acute onset of SA after a traumatic occurrence while their pet parent was not home.  Buffy is a 13-year-old Shih Tzu who was brought to my office for destroying pillows and pooping on the carpet.  Buffy never did this before, but the strangest thing was that her behavior changed after a thunderstorm and that she suddenly began to walk through the sliding door to the sun room backwards – only when leaving the sun room to go back into the living room. She also had disappeared in the basement for several hours until she was pulled out from behind the drier after a thunderstorm.

Walking backwards- I wanted to see this so the client took a video.  I should have kept that video. Turns out, after Buffy was done sunning, she would walk to the sliding door, do a 180, and then walk backwards for four feet, turn around and run.  It turns out that lightening struck while her back was turned during a lightening storm, so she had to be sure to “watch her back” and destroy things to cope. Read the rest of this entry »