Can human-animal relationships be mutually beneficial?

So, I know that it has been a while, lets just say I have been away overcoming life's challenges and learning from them.

I have gone about starting this blog once more, this time with a focus not only on animal welfare and training ideas (although the theme will underpin all that is said) Instead I want to engage with you through an exploration of the therapeutic benefits that we all receive from the simpler things in life.

As an animal behaviourist, I began my career with a slightly narrow-minded belief that my life-long ambition would be to make sure humans stop destroying the well-being of the animals on our planet. Hhhmmm, well, I now cringe when I admit to this!!

There is just so much more to consider within the dynamics of the relationships that humans and animals have in our society, can we work together instead to promote a more positive attitude, simply helping to balance the well-being of both the human and the animal?

Since starting out, I have seen how relationships can be out of balance, whether it is the well-being of the animal at risk, the well-being of the human at risk, or of both. What I really love, what really truly inspires me, is when I see both human and animal flourish in a happy, healthy dynamic.

To end this little starting blog, I just wanted to let you in on an experience that I have had earlier this year. With a series of unfortunate events, including the untimely death of a close friend, the sudden passing of my beloved stallion Zachery, and a marriage breakdown (well - breakdown on his part with a 21 year old! but lets move on) I took my two dogs for a walk on the beach. Whilst considering who I am, where I am going, and many more deep and conflicting thoughts, I spotted my beautiful Boxer x SBT Sheba living in the moment. Within that moment I left my irrational mind behind, and laughed out loud, not stopping to look backwards. Surely this moment in my relationship with Sheba could be considered mutually beneficial?


https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkx5w80ko1mi8us/2014-04-13%2013.10.26.mov 

Nature v Nurture: The Case of the Nervous Cat

Are some cats just born nervous? Can we teach them to relax around other cats of the household? Can we help anxious cats become confident? How do we ensure our cats grow-up to be well-adjusted, stress free and healthy? Well the ongoing nature/nurture debate can help provide the answers.

We are all born with the ability to feel anxious, it is indeed a survival mechanism to steer us from danger[1]. But why do our cats respond so differently to particular stressors?

We have all noticed that some cats are more timid than others when put in certain situations, some cats will struggle to get out of the hands of the vet, others will close their eyes and submit. Some behave aggressively when taken to a show, others hide away. We have witnessed some timid cats learning and developing over the years to become more confident, whereas others of the same lineage remain fearful.

Timid cats are at risk of a number of stress-related behavioural difficulties, affecting both health and welfare of that individual. Experts have correlated stress with urination around the home, over-grooming, eating disorders, aggression, depression, re-occurring infection and inflammation and maternal rejection[2]. So how can we avoid these potential difficulties? First we need to understand where the core issue lies.

The study of the genetics in reference to complex behaviours such as anxiety, has evolved dramatically from the old nature vs. nurture of the past century. Researchers highlight the importance of specific gene-environment interactions during critical periods in development and their role for the onset of stress-related behaviours in the later stages of life[3]. So although no single gene has been identified to account for these exaggerated arousal levels, it is acknowledged that nature plays a part in the onset of anxiety-related disorders, a predisposition rather than full cause[4].

The nurture element comes in to play during the development of the cat within our domestic environment. We regularly witness this as we see two littermates develop to adopt differing behavioural strategies to certain situations. These environmental elements to cats' developing anxiety-related behavioural issues, includes the age that they have been weaned, previous learning about humans and their world, being ‘overloaded’ with new learning, e.g. moving house, to name a few.

Environment is always an issue that I come across with my work and indeed is the simplest for us to alter to avoid behavioural problems with our cats. The feline has evolved to develop certain essential behaviours for survival. Our domestic cats maintain these behavioural needs, they have internal drives to eat a variety of meats little and often, to sleep for around 18 hours a day, to climb up to higher vantage points, hide or flee from danger, maintain social company, and so on, these behaviours are ‘hardwired’ deep inside the brain.

If these behaviours are restricted, just as we do, our cats suffer an element of stress. So to eliminate this factor we simply allow more natural eating patterns, i.e. eating little and often throughout the day, having meat to tear at, increased nesting sites for all cats of the household, scratching posts and horizontal scratching surfaces, hideaways, look out posts, access to the outdoors (even if only a pen to allow secure access) to get you started.

Due to the complexities of this topic this is all rather brief, but provides a good starting point. Please feel free to contact me for further reading suggestions, I am always happy to help.


Take care


Katie


07841 517543

www.animalminds.co.uk



References

[1] Cannon, W. (1929) Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage. New York, Appleton

[2] Landsberg, G., Hunthausen, W. And Ackerman (1997) Handbook of Behaviour Problems of the Dog and Cat, Elsevier Limited, United Kingdom

[3] Leonardo E. D. and and Hen, R (2006) Genetics of Affective and Anxiety Disorders, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol.57:, pp.117-137

[4] Donner, J. et al (2008) An Association Analysis of Murine Anxiety Genes in Humans Implicates Novel Candidate Genes for Anxiety Disorders, Biological Psychiatry, Vol.64, No.8, pp. 672-680