The dog is acting sad. What does it mean to be sad? The age-old sadness in the eyes of our friends - why are dogs sad? (15 photos)

Absolutely everyone veterinarian will tell you that it is necessary to properly monitor the health of your pet.

Regular feeding, walking, training, training, and games that develop the animal’s muscles lead to remarkable results.

Your pet is cheerful, alert, active, sleeps without interruptions, and has an excellent appetite. This is wonderful. But there are different states in a dog’s life. A painful move, giving up a favorite toy, fright, or the development of any disease can cause stress in an animal.

It is a stressful state that can provoke inappropriate and apathetic behavior in a pet. Therefore, it is necessary to find out why the dog is sad immediately. First, try to distract the animal from the “depressive” state. Amuse her with her favorite toy and interest her in playing with you. Go outside (weather permitting) and go jogging, play active games, using different objects: throw plastic “plates”, tree branches (quite massive).

On a note

Remember your pet's favorite game. Show maximum interest in the animal's behavior. If your pet is in good health, then such activity should benefit him, and he will be interested in the processes taking place. You will see that there is no trace of sadness left.

If you find out that it is not stress, not a passive state that causes the pet to be sad and unwilling to do anything, then another assumption why the dog is sad may be the presence of an injury to the animal or an incipient disease.

Examine your pet carefully. Check your pet's nose, it should be cold and wet. The eyes are lively, clear and clean, and the teeth white(it is necessary to brush the animal’s teeth once a week special pastes). The mouth is pink, but black can also be observed dark spots. The main thing is that there is no plaque, bleeding, burns, tumors, and also unpleasant odor, which may indicate a disease gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and digestive system organs.

Pay attention to your pet's breathing. Smooth, without delays or wheezing - everything is fine. Continue inspection. Feel your pet's ribs and belly - there should be no irregularities, pits, furrows or pimples on the skin. Walk through your pet's fur several times, look at its condition - smooth, shiny, without bald patches or areas of focal alopecia.

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Signs of sadness and depression in animals are similar to those you might see in people. For example, signs such as increased sleep duration, reluctance to play or exercise physical exercise, attempts to hide from the owner, spending most of the day in a lying position, complete or partial loss appetite, reluctance to accept affection, restless wandering around the room, aggression and whining indicate that your dog is sad. The most common causes of sadness in dogs:

• Disease
• The difficult experience of losing someone (family member or pet)
• New addition to the family
• Moving to new house
• Clinical depression
• Abuse

Sadness is rarely a serious problem unless your dog is sad due to illness or injury. In some cases, sadness can be one of the symptoms of health problems, so it is always worth looking for its cause. If you can't figure out what made your dog sad and he continues to be sad for several days, you should seek advice from your veterinarian.

Some dogs are simply not as emotional as others. However, if your dog is usually active and happy but suddenly becomes moody and sleepy, he may be feeling sad and depressed. There are many reasons for this, including:

Disease

When your pet is not feeling well, he may appear sad and depressed. Dogs, like people, tend to sleep when they are sick or injured. The animal may simply lie and stare at one point or sleep more than usual. Some of the symptoms you may not have noticed are more significant when it comes to... sad dog. These are signs of the disease such as:

• Loss of appetite
• High body temperature
• Diarrhea
• Vomit

Difficult experience of loss

This happens when someone leaves family and home, such as a child going to college and moving away from you. But even the fact that you spend less time at home or go back to work after a long vacation can upset your pet. There are other reasons for the painful experience of loss:

• Death of a family member or other pet
• Breakup or divorce of the host couple
• Selling or giving away puppies

New addition to the family

Changes in the family are one of the main reasons sadness in dogs. Getting married, having a baby, or having a house guest for a while can cause your dog to think he's been replaced, which can make him sad or jealous. This can also happen if you get another pet, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a dog, a cat or even a hamster - in any case, when you pay less attention to the dog, it will begin to feel sad.

Moving to a new home

Any time you change your dog's routine, he may become unhappy and anxious. In any case, some dogs can become very sad if they leave a home they have lived in for a very long time. Your pet may be surprised and not understand why he was taken from his home. He may hide somewhere and avoid communication. In most cases, this is temporary and dogs get used to their new home, but sometimes your pet may need help.

Clinical depression

It may be hard to believe, but just like people, pets can suffer from clinical depression. Clinical depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain that is usually treated with medication. Most often, veterinarians prescribe the following medications to dogs:

• Buspirone
• Diazepam (Valium)
• Fluoxetine (Prozac)
• Gabapentin (Neurontin)
• Phenobarbital

Violence

It is possible that before your pet came to live with you, he was abused and you do not know about it. Experiencing episodes of violence can lead to depression, even many years after the event. This happens to people too. This is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which dogs experience very difficultly.

What to do if your dog is sad?

If your dog is acting strange, sleeping more than usual, or has lost his appetite, you should call your veterinarian to talk about whether you should come in for an appointment. Your doctor can tell you what to do if your symptoms are not very severe.

However, if you think your dog may be seriously injured or ill, you should make an appointment or go to a veterinary hospital.

Preventing Sadness

It often happens that it is impossible to prevent your pet from becoming sad, since this usually occurs under the influence of factors beyond your control. If you can influence the reason why your dog is sad, then you can try the following tips:

• Spend more time with your pet, play with him or simply show attention and affection if he does not want to play;
• Try to get him active again by calling him for a walk or going to the park with him;
• If your dog misses a person or another pet, consider getting another pet;
• If this doesn't work for your family, just try spending more time with him;
• If your dog has lost his appetite, feed him a new food or give him a treat;
• Try the music method: some dogs enjoy listening to it as much as humans, and some experts say it can improve your pet's mood.

The cost of getting rid of the problem

To ease your dog's sadness, you may need to: drug treatment, and nothing but the time spent with her.

Every veterinarian will tell you that you need to monitor your pet’s health and respond to any changes in the animal’s behavior. The minimum a dog needs to full life, This proper feeding, regular walking, training and educational games.

When a pet feels comfortable, he is cheerful, alert, active, sleeps soundly and eats with appetite. But serious changes in life can cause stress in a dog: moving to a new home, parting with the owner for a long time, losing a favorite toy, severe fright, etc.

A stressful state provokes a state of apathy and inappropriate behavior pet. Therefore, it is necessary to find out why the dog is sad immediately. First, try to distract the animal - it is possible that apathy and sadness do not indicate illness, but are a consequence of fatigue or bad mood. How to entertain a dog?

Offer a favorite toy that the dog usually plays with with pleasure. Take it with you for a walk in the park or forest. Let the pet frolic in a pond. Play Frisbee with the dog or practice the “Fetch” command.

The dog is sad because he is sick

Remember your pet's favorite game. Show maximum interest in the animal's behavior. If the animal’s health is in order, your participation and games will benefit him, and he will be happy to get involved in the process. If there is no trace of sadness left, then apathy is not the result of the development of the disease.

If the dog does not respond to the entertainment offered or is reluctant to do what he was previously happy with, he may have health problems. Perhaps he was injured or has a hidden illness.

Examine the dog carefully. Check your pet's nose, it should be cold and wet. The eyes are lively, clear and clean, and the teeth are white (they are cleaned once a week with special pastes). The mucous membrane of the mouth is pink or with dark spots that do not indicate disease. It is important that there is no plaque, bleeding or ulcers on the teeth and mucous membranes. An unpleasant odor from the mouth indicates diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, kidneys and digestive system.

Pay attention to your pet's breathing. U healthy dog it is smooth, without delays or wheezing. When palpating the ribs and sternum there should be no pits, swellings, grooves or pimples. Assess the condition of the coat; ideally, the animal’s coat is smooth, shiny, without bald spots or areas of alopecia.

You woke up in the morning - it’s a beautiful sunny day outside, and your pet is not the same as always. He does not run joyfully towards you and does not wave his tail as a sign of greeting; the dog lies on his mat, sadly looking at one point. What happened to the dog and why is it acting so strangely? How to cheer up a dog if it's sad.

How to tell if your dog is sad

If a dog is sad, its behavior changes dramatically. She stops showing positive emotions, becomes less mobile, and reacts to a minimal extent positively to what previously brought her joy. Typically, an animal shows positive emotions as follows:

• Wags his tail.
• When given the command “to walk,” he begins to behave very actively, he may even squeal with pleasure and look forward to going outside.
• He is highly active outdoors and enjoys interacting with other dogs.
• Expresses joy before the next feeding, and when she is offered some tasty treat.

The main causes of bad mood

If the usual manifestation positive emotions muted or completely absent, you should understand the reasons, which may be the following:

• the dog is sick;
• the day before she had been punished, perhaps not even entirely fairly;
• During her last walk she didn't get along with some neighbor's dog.
• the day before you moved to a new place of residence, and she misses her previous home.
• the person the dog is attached to is missing.

How to cheer

First of all, make sure that your four-legged friend didn't get sick. Check your nose - it should be damp and cold. Measure the temperature - maximum normal temperature for dogs it is 39 – 39.5 degrees.

If the dog is healthy, remember what events that happened the day before could have provoked his sadness. Perhaps he was unfairly offended, or a person to whom the dog was very attached disappeared. In this case, try to caress and encourage your friend, play with him. Treat him with increased care and tenderness so that he constantly feels needed and loved by you.

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