Can Pets Suffer From Depression?
I had two Dachshunds and one passed away in May.
Over the last two months since Oliver is gone,
I’ve noticed that Pepper isn’t acting the same.
He is sleeping more, doesn’t eat as much, and is
generally not as excited and fun as usual. I have
heard pets can go through depression, and I am
assuming he misses his “brother”. I try to take
him out more often, but it’s not
enough. What can I do and will he ever be normal
again?
Michele
Orlando, FL
Dogs and cats are renowned for their ability to bond with humans–and with each other. Clearly Oliver and Pepper were very close. It is not surprising that Pepper’s behavior has changed since Oliver passed away.
Although pets may experience periods in which they exhibit behavior similar to humans in mourning, these periods generally do not last for very long. Dogs and cats are quite good at living in the moment.
Therefore, if Pepper’s depression has lasted longer than a week or two, you should investigate to make sure that nothing else could be causing the abnormal behavior. Two major possibilities come to mind.
First, there is the chance that the stress of losing a friend has uncovered a pre-existing medical condition in Pepper. I recommend that you have a veterinarian assess him to rule this out.
Second, Pepper may be responding to your grief over the loss of Oliver. It is natural for people to be depressed after the loss of a pet, and that depression can last a very long time. Dogs are phenomenally good at reading our emotions. And they often reflect those emotions back to us.
Your grief over Oliver’s passing is natural. If a veterinarian gives Pepper a clean bill of health, then I recommend that you continue to work on developing new routines with him. Over time, the situation should improve for both of you.
You have questions. 
Dog depression: We had two Dobermans, brother and sister, who we use to say, “were attached at the hip”. You’d say sit and they would first look at each other and then at us and then and only then would they sit. The two dogs had really been great house dogs so it was hard for the male after the loss of his sister was. At the time we had to have the sister put down (she was 8) we took the male with us as we had been told that this would help the remaining pet to adjust and accept the fact that the other dog was no longer alive. Now I’m not so sure that philosophy is so true. After her passing we noticed a huge change in the male. He would only pick at his food, would sleep a lot and didn’t want to run and play in the yard any more. He really missed the competitions. He started to loss weight and with that we started a new routine for him. We started to feed him in a different place in the house and with a different food. Next we started to take him with us more often in the car and boy did he love that. Just spending more time with him seemed to make him feel more important again. Then after sometime had passed he started to realize he was the most important dog in the house along with our eleven inside cats. We lost Bucky at age thirteen of heart failure. We have found that dogs seem to show more emotion over the loss of their buddies, where as with the cats, loss doesn’t seem to effect them nearly as much.
Thank you for the comment on your beloved baby. My oldest Golden(Bailey), passed last week and with my younger Golden(Baxter) I am really trying to keep him going and having a good time. It was so hard and still is and will always will be for my husband and I. I just have peace of mind knowing all of the wonderful memories I will treasure.We are taking him more and as you have said he loves it. I will try and move his dish and see if that makes a difference.I tried to grieve away from Baxter because he is in tune with emotions, I truly believe that.
Thanks for the hint.
Patricia
Hello! Thank you all for sharing your stories!! I have a similar situation, but a little different. Has anyone had an animal grieve over something other than the death of another animal in the household? I recently moved into a new home, but had to stay with my parents for a long weekend before the closing. During the stay at my parents (I kept thinking she was confused as to why we hadn’t returned home – to the apartment), my three year old pit went calm on me. It was like someone turned a switch. She is typically a very energetic, spunky girl. Her appetite has not changed, but she just seems to sleep all the time and doesn’t pull me (I’ve actually found myself having to give her a tug) on the leash. I am, of course, terribly worried about her and I hope as we are in the house longer this will change, but I was just hoping you had some advice. Would you go striaght to the vet just in case? Am I being paranoid?
Cats grieve too. I had 3 mini doxies that just love playing with my cats even to the point of running up the cat tree. My one cat especially JD love playing and grooming and even sleeping in the crate with them. We said he thought he was a dog and the dogs thought they were cats. I came home one day and they were gone all 3. Since they loved everyone I think someone took them. I searched for weeks calling every vets office and shelter from Jax, FL to Charleston SC, I live in Savannah. They were chipped & fixed. After they went missing JD was so lost he stayed in their crate for days sleeping and waiting for his buds to come home. He really did just mope around the house. I really felt sorry for him.
We lost our 14 year old cat, Norman, to kidney disease over a year ago. Our 7 year old cat, Tobias, and Norman were inseperable. They slept together, groomed each other, followed each other all over the house. When Norman passed, Tobias got really weird. He went up in our bedroom, under the bed and up inside our mattress. He would not come out for two weeks and if we tried to coax him out he would hiss and yell at us. I believe he was grieving over the loss of his best friend and brother. I can honestly say he is the first cat I have ever seen grieve but I really do believe he was in mourning. After the two weeks he came back downstairs and acted as if nothing had ever happened. He has been unbelievably friendly ever since where before we barely saw him.