Seemingly Funny Pet Behaviors May be Caused by Serious Compulsive Disorders
An article in the June 1, 2008 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) made an interesting point about a YouTube video.
A popular YouTube clip features a dog growling and biting at a potential threat to its chew bone. The punch line is the threat is actually the dog’s own hind limb. To the untrained eye, the clip is hilarious. Veterinary behaviorist Dr. Terry Marie Curtis sees it differently, however.
Sadly, the author of the article was not kind enough to offer a URL that would direct readers to the clip in question. However, I believe I have found it. Click here to watch the video. (Sorry, the user who uploaded the video forbid people to embed it in their blogs.)
The JAVMA article continues.
Dr Curtis, in fact, believes the dog is suffering from an obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD] on par with the teenager who washes her hands so much they bleed or the adult who stays up through the night repeatedly locking and unlocking the front door.
“People laugh about that clip, but it makes me very sad to see the dog that upset and worried about itself,” said Dr. Curtis . . . Animal OCD is a serious welfare issue . . . Compulsive behaviors in animals show themselves in a variety of strange ways. A cursory list includes tail chasing, pacing, excessive grooming, overeating, vocalization, self-directed aggression [such as the behavior in the video clip], staring, and hunting imaginary prey.
In my practice, I often see animals that display these sorts of behaviors. As the article points out, many people don’t realize when their pet engages in these sorts of behaviors that the animal may be suffering or unhappy. The people who filmed the video can be heard laughing riotously. To me, the video is depressing. The dog is in distress.
What can be done for pets with OCD? Animal OCD, like the human form, has no cure. But it can be treated. Behavioral modification (the veterinary equivalent of counseling or therapy) is the best place to start.
[B]ehavioral modification involves highly structured interactions, and owner-administered punishment is to be avoided. Environmental changes, such as removing sources of conflict or distress, are also necessary.
Animals with severe OCD may also respond to medications such as Prozac.
Talk to your vet if you suspect that your pet may be suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
You have questions. 
My dog Wylie “tips” (earning himself a nickame ‘Tipper’). He tips over wastebaskets, lamps, vases on the floor, anything he can get his little 14-year old paws on. He’s very quiet about it all and does not seem agitated at the time. He does get up and tip things over in the middle of the night, too. I mostly think it’s a quirk but maybe it’s OCD…?
i have two kittens, rescued from a hoarder who have a variety of what i thought were “quirks” but now concern me. one grooms herself to the point that she is just soaked, and grooms her littermate to the point that her ears are now bald…looks rather funny, but it’s not amusing to me. the balding kitten visits the litterbox just to…i dunno…say hi and make sure it isn’t lonely? then she scratches the air, the wall, the box…gets out, paces, and gets back in to repeat the cycle. this will continue for a half hour or so or until i intervene and distract her with a wand or bell toy. the balding kitten (kaya) has also been known to face the wall and just…stare. sometimes she’s staring at a picture of the earth from space, which might actually be visually interesting…but the blank wall? the overly-aggressive groomer (shyloh) tends to gorge herself on food, and will attempt to run the other cats away from their food.
we’ve talked to the vet…he says most of it’s normal and the rest there’s nothing to be done about. i don’t agree, but i’m not a vet. he says they’ll grow out of it, but they’re ten months old now (littermates) and if anything are getting worse…i’m concerned, but clueless…
I have a Jack Russell terrorist who is the smartest, sweetest dog I’ve owned. However, he paces across the back of the couch under the living room window and barks at strangers, bicycles, yellow trucks, and anyone in a uniform. I’m sure a lot of dogs have similar behaviors, but Stevie’s is excessive. We’ve been told that the best treatment is to move the furniture around so he can’t pace (he has literally worn a huge hole in the back of the couch) and make sure he gets a LOT of exercise. While this does help marginally, I still worry that he may be unhappy or stressed. He’s only 4 years old and he already has gray hairs on his snoot. I am a little reticent to give him “doggie prozac” because we have other dogs and I don’t want him to feel like he’s different.
Susan, exercise definitely is in order–JRTs are high energy dogs. But check out the upcoming September 13 post as well. It discusses a simple technique that I would recommend before placing Stevie on psychotropic medications.
I have a kitten (Tucker) who has some similar quirks to Terrie’s two kittens. We adopted him from a shelter and were told he was about 8 weeks old. When we took him to the vet, she told he was probably only about 4 weeks old when we adopted him and he exhibits obsessive compulsive behaviors. Tucker obsessively licks hard surfaces, in particular our basement cinder block wall and the concrete between our front door and screen door. When we pull him away from the area he runs right back to it. He loves to sit on our laps but will lick our hands and arms until we have to sit on them to hide them from his view. Tucker also stares into space or at walls for long periods of time. I have another cat who is over a year old but Tucker can easily out eat her. He acts as if he hasn’t been fed in weeks! Using the litterbox has become a problem over the last month as well. He refuses to pee in it. We even added another litterbox to the area where he was peeing but he will pee beside it still. He will poop in the box though. We have been using the same litter since we adopted him. I really don’t know what to do for the poor little guy. I love him to death and it would crush me to have to give him away. But if I can’t get him to at least pee in his litterbox, we’re going to have to find him a new home.
My 11 mth old is constantly licking our feet and hands. It seems like its a compulsive behaviors lol