Can animals get mental issues?

[o0BigDave0o]

Now I know this is a random question but its something that has been pondering me for ages. I studied psychology for a year so i understand the basics of abnormal behaviour and psychiatric problems in people.

I used to have a cat which seemed to lose its memory on a regular basis, she showed signs simular to those of alzheimer, often found in older people. she lived to the age of 22 and passed away last month (RIP Rosie). She would hardly go outside and whenever she did, she didn't seem to know where she was.

Another example is my lizard, she is a Sudanese Uromystyx from Sudan. Ive had her for nearly 5 years now, however, for the first 2, i had another lizard, her mating partner. Sadly, the male died of a gastric infection 3 years ago. Originally, the female was very active and curious, she would watch me hoover and tidy my room on a regular basis without being disturbed. However after her partner died, she changed; she rarely comes out of her rock home, she runs at the first instance she seems someone, and shes not been active or eating properly ever since. She seems to be suffering from anxiety and depression in my view.

However, is any of this possible?

 

[Heronblade]

I worked with animals for a living for a time. In short, the answer is yes. Most higher order animals have both emotion and personality, and with those two attributes come various problems. I do not think that they can develop some of the more complex mental issues human's can face, but after dealing with a horse that had a behavioral condition almost identical to moderate OCD in humans...

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Where do you think psychologists get a lot of their data?

 

[snakeakaossi]

New example: my cat. Left her mother too early and has lived indoors the first 4 years of her life until she took resident in my house. Poor thing didn't know left from right and took shelter in the bathroom of all places. She had a big change of character over the last year after she went out of the house for more than 24 hours for the first time.

To answer your question: cat had a lot of mental issues until some fresh air finally did her some good. Animals are more like humans than one might think.

 

[Frotality]

well of course, animals have different and less developed minds, but they suffer much the same diseases as us, so it stands to reason psychological disorders would effect them as well.

even for humans diagnosis is often hit-&-miss though, so it would be that much harder to actually diagnose a lizard.

alot of animals have behaviours that continue to baffle human observers, doing all sorts of stuff we just cant see a logical reason for doing. instinct is simply the undeveloped version of emotion, so emotional trauma of a sort would effect them... unless some herpetologist would like to chime in and correct me, that is.

 

[wolf thing]

ive live with animals for my whole life i know they can. ive seen dogs with paranoia and many other things and it isnt uncommon

 

[Kair]

It has been found that most mental problems are results of physical injuries or defects to the brain, and not psychological instabilities as thought before. Therefore you will also find mental issues in animals, as they too get their brains injured. Most of these will die very shortly though because of natural selection.

 

[AMMO Kid]

My dog is paranoid of thunder. That's pretty mental in my opinion.

 

[rancher of monsters]

I've heared about military dogs coming back from Iraq with PTSD so I'm going to say yes on this one.

 

[Heronblade]

It has been found that most mental problems are results of physical injuries or defects to the brain, and not psychological instabilities as thought before. Therefore you will also find mental issues in animals, as they too get their brains injured. Most of these will die very shortly though because of natural selection.

For most animals we work with these days, natural selection is no longer a presiding factor.

 

[CG NUTS]

most people seem to forget that humans are animals. we are just smarter.

 

[plugav]

Of course they can. Abused dogs will become distrustful or aggressive, separated cat siblings will often refuse to eat, etc.

I'd also list the sick experiments of behaviorist psychology as documented proof.

most people seem to forget that humans are animals. we are just smarter.

Well said.

 

[Beliyal]

I have another example. My cat is now 8 years old, we got him when he was three months old (we didn't want to take him too early from his mother). However, a week before we went to pick him up, the owners gave away his little brother (there were only two of them in the litter). His little brother broke the tip of his tail during birth so the tip of his tail was a bit different than normal. So, when the first kitten was out of the house, the mother cat went through some depression time I guess and started sucking on my cat's tip of the tail (to make him look like his brother I suppose). We picked him up soon after and everything was fine with him, except the fact that he continued to suck his own tail. It's kinda funny, but he still does it, to this day. Sometimes, especially if he feels "ignored", he goes to his place and does that to his tail, so his tail is not beautiful as it's supposed to be, but all dipped in saliva and has less hair than on the rest of the tail. We sometimes wash the tail to make it representable (that quite annoys him). He did stop doing that once he reached the mating age and the hair on his tail grew back so he had a nice tail for a few months, but then we got him castrated and this habit returned.

This theory that his mother started doing this out of depression to make him look like his brother is quite fantastic and my mom still doesn't believe it, but I don't seem to have any other explanation for it. The owners (they breed these cats) told us that the mother cat did that to his tail only after they gave away the first kitten (and that they never saw that before). What's even better, this habit remained in him and he is still doing this to himself, as if he has some mother issues. So, his mom was depressed and screwed him up for life. Sounds like mental issues to me.

 

[Weskerbot3000]

yes they can. My cat has OCD

 

[Kair]

It has been found that most mental problems are results of physical injuries or defects to the brain, and not psychological instabilities as thought before. Therefore you will also find mental issues in animals, as they too get their brains injured. Most of these will die very shortly though because of natural selection.

For most animals we work with these days, natural selection is no longer a presiding factor.

And because of this we must distinguish between wild animals and domesticated animals in this case.
I suspect you will find more mental issues in domesticated animals.