Animals with issues...

[Chris Elliott]

I think this TED talk could have been distilled down to 5 minutes or so, but it still has some great points and hits on areas that many of us are dealing with with our Savannahs and other animals:

http://www.npr.org/2014/08/15/339607462/what-does-animal-madness-teach-us-about-our-own

I really like the point about anthropomorphizing well.

 

[Tort518]

Nice talk. Thanks for posting the link.

Live around animals enough as companions and this is easy to recognize.

 

[Patti]

Interesting talk, especially the part about the soon to be 7.5 billion dollar animal pharmaceutical industry...

 

[admin]

Great talk, thanks Chris! With all the talk of OCD cats and dogs as well as PTSD, I'm not surprised that the animal pharmaceutical industry is a billion dollar+ one...

 

[Kristin]

I'm not sold on medicating pets as we do humans as I think it could become a cop out for 'lazy' pet owners, but I love that people are starting to better recognize animals as beings with feelings, and they can have problems as well. The one thing with animals is they don't hold onto the past like we do, but behaviours can keep coming up from small details we don't notice, or don't recognize as being 'harmful'. Animals love to be included in decision making, or know what is going on. They may get anxious when you leave, but if you consistently tell them where you are going and when you will be back, often you will see a huge difference in their anxiety levels.

With ongoing problems, I believe there is no 'easy' fix. Medication has its place, but I would rather see the issue resolved than medicated.

 

[WitchyWoman]

The cynic in me says it's another way for big pharm to make money equivalent to the "healthy natural" food sold by pet food manufacturers that caters to human taste, not animals. I shudder to think where this new drug focus will take us.

 

[Tort518]

The cynic in me says it's another way for big pharm to make money equivalent to the "healthy natural" food sold by pet food manufacturers that caters to human taste, not animals. I shudder to think where this new drug focus will take us.

Big Pharma knows that eventually the consumers will push the government to take some action on pricing, etc. They are going the animal route to expand revenue streams and keep the cash river flowing.

Can meds be helpful for some animals? Probably, but as was mentioned above, animals would benefit more from greater attention paid to them by their owners.