Strategies for identification of depression in dogs

Abstract

The exagerated appeal from men to dogs can represent in same cases danger to the welfare and healthy of the animal resulting in a depression which is quite few discussed by the Veterinarian professional and still ignored in so many clinics. When the depression on dogs is installed it shows particular characteristic that can be seeing through the animal’s syntoms and signs. Therefore, until this moment, any type of standard clinical protocol to identify of this disease was defined for veterinarian doctors. This studies had the objective of test a protocol that could be utilizate for veterinarian doctors in order to identify the depression in dogs and help in an efective way the animal diagnosis. The metodology used was based in elaborate a specific form named MEDIDEC – Dog’s Depression Diagnosis Method - which content many kind of questions related to the animal behavior in order to diagnosis depression on dogs. The questions were elaborated as a multichoice ways and the forms were applied into a dogs owners that consulting their pets – for any different reasons - in clinics and hospitals located in Campinas city and Jaguariúna town both in the state of São Paulo, in the period of May and December in 2011. This owners answered questions related to their dog’s behavior that include aspects relation through feeding, social interactios and behavior pattern (fear, sadness and others). Using the statiscal analyse originated by the Bartellet’spherecity test and ACP - for forms avaliation applied to 178 dog’s owners that participate of the reasearch it was possible to observe that there was significance (P>0,005) between the animals’ life style (free life and tied up), social isolationism, joined life with other animals and lacked of environment freedown acquaintanceship just inside ou outside home), appetite, not to avoid touch, sadness, apaty and low interactivity linked to existance of depression. The resulting of this studies could be possible to conclude that the first items related into the depression developing in dogs are linked in a issues of social’s animals factors, therefore, with the recommendation that another phsic manifestations has been ignored that might be presented could contributet to the frame of depression the animal or not.