DEPRESSION IN OUR DOG AFTER DEATH OF HER PARTNER
Our German shepherd dog past couple of days, vocalized throughout the nights in a mild mourning fashion - not howling like dogs generally do. Over the past week she had some loss of appetite and ate very little. Even during the day, over the past few weeks, she used to come and mourn a lot to all of us in the family. This was quite different from her normal reserved self.
USED TO BE A RESERVED GSD
She started to dig out the garden a great deal and recently used to come closer and lie down. Before that, she was a typical German Shepherd Dog (GSD) who used to keep a distance between her and me even while walking. But now her behaviour is more clingy and more docile to me. To outsiders, her behaviour is still the same.
She had lost her partner, an affectionate GSD about 3 weeks ago. Both of them had been with our family as pups . They used to hang out together all the time, eat together and play together.
HER PARTNER WHO PASSED AWAY
I examined her - no lumps or tenderness. Her temperature was also normal. The veterinary surgeon who examined her thoroughly also did not find any physical abnormality.
Depression in dogs occur for various reasons - one of them being the death of another household dog / pet.
The symptoms of depression are decreased activity, refusal to feed, changing the place of sleeping, vocalisation as seen in our dog who normally is very quiet. Some dogs become more quiet. Some lose interest in taking a walk outside.
Treatment consists of taking more time to spend with the pet, and speaking to her. Generally with a lot of TLC, the depression is taken care of after a period of time - duration varies on the particular dog - days, weeks.
LOT OF TLC
If nothing of the above works, medication may help. As always, vet surgeon has to rule out physical disorders and prescribe the medication.
Depression in dogs may sometimes take as long as a year.
