Why am I treating more pets for anxiety?

Hint: it has nothing to do with the animal.

Anxiety isn’t an ailment I can say I’ve ever seen uncommonly.

Indeed, of all the different behavioral conditions that we see in pets, anxiety is diagnosed most frequently. Be it White Coat Syndrome or hospital-associated anxiety, firework anxiety, or separation anxiety, I’ve been prescribing anxiolytic medications from the very first day I set foot on the clinic floor. These days, however, it seems that I’m seeing more anxious pets than ever.

Likewise, the number of patients presenting to me primarily for consult and pharmacologic intervention of behavioral issues is clearly on the rise. But why?

One of the major players in the rise of pet anxiety over the past few years were the circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation, a lack of novel experiences outside the home, and abrupt changes in owner presence/absence all played a role. A recent study on pet anxiety in the US showed that up to 50% of all household cats exhibited signs of anxiety, and dogs showed an astounding 700% increase in separation anxiety from 2020 to 2022.

Woof.

While the impact of the pandemic is not to be understated, it doesn’t speak to the anxiety of pets born into a post-pandemic world, nor does it speak to other manifestations beyond the well-described pandemic-associated separation anxiety. There’s clearly more to the story here.

The impact we have on our pets

Anyone with a pet can testify to the impact that the animal has on their mental and emotional state, but we tend to underestimate the impact that we, in turn, have on our pets.

Take, for example, my dog Luca. If I become emotional for whatever reason, he immediately jumps up and places his head on my lap — tail wagging nervously, eyes large with worry. Through this immediate consequent reaction, it’s clear to see that the acute change in my emotional state triggered an acute emotional response in my dog — an incident of emotional contagion.

But what happens to a pet’s mental and emotional state when exposed to an owner’s stress or anxiety chronically, over time?

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the animal might develop anxieties and maladaptive responses of their own. And indeed, that often seems to be the case. When an animal presents to me for anxiety or behavioral issues, more often than not, a human member of the household is dealing with some heightened stress or anxiety themselves.

This heightened stress or anxiety typically goes beyond the secondary stress experienced by the owner due to the animal’s misbehavior.

One study published in 2020 by researchers at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, showed that dogs which display aggression — a common manifestation of anxiety — are more likely to be associated with anxious or neurotic owners. Though the data indicates association and not causation, there is a wealth of data to support emotional state-matching between humans and dogs.

Unfortunately, anxiety is highly prevalent among people in society today, with well-documented increases over the past few years.

In the Netherlands, upwards of 33% of adults will be diagnosed with an anxiety condition at some point in their lives. In the United States, that number is approaching a staggering 70%. It should come as no surprise then that our animals — highly intelligent and emotionally attuned — should suffer heightening levels of anxiety in tandem.

More anxious people means more anxious pet owners. And more anxious pet owners means more anxious pets.

But the chain of influence doesn’t necessarily stop there.

Just as the mental and emotional state of our pets can be influenced by us, so too can the emotional contagion be passed from one pet to another.

The situation at the home of one of my clients is a good example. Seven years ago, my client adopted her first dog, Hayden, who suffered from mild general anxiety. The mild and static nature of her anxiety did not affect her quality of life nor have any impact on her ability to form a healthy bond with the owner.

My client then later rescued a second dog, Miles.

This dog, unfortunately, suffered from very severe anxiety, which often manifested in the form of aggression. From the time Miles was brought into the home, Hayden’s anxiety advanced substantially. She became extremely reactive to stimuli, avoidant of new people, hyper-alert, more vocal, and more aggressive, especially towards other dogs. When triggered, Hayden’s elevated response would then further provoke Miles — the two of them hyping each other up in an anxious feedback loop.

During a period of marital issues, the aggressive behavior of both dogs acutely progressed.

While the tension in the home wasn’t the initial source of either dogs anxiety, it’s clear to see how the tension and anxiety between the human members of the household exacerbated the anxiety experienced by both dogs. The nerves of one animal affects the other, human or non-human. In this sense, the minds and bodies of each member of the household - human, canine, feline, or otherwise — truly are interlinked.

The family in my example didn’t have a cat, but if they did, I imagine it would have been urinating outside the litterbox or hiding in the closet.

The way forward

As children are of their parents, pets are a reflection of their owners. And our pets are experiencing more anxiety today than ever. This isn’t to suggest that we are the sole or primary source of our pets’ anxiety. Behavioral cases such as these are often complex and multifactorial.

Yet, regardless of its source or manifestation, we may underestimate the hand we have in it all — how interconnected the emotional wellbeing of the entire home truly is.

When developing a comprehensive treatment plan for the management of canine or feline anxiety, the management of the owner’s mental health is the component that is perhaps most frequently overlooked. But as I’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times before, you can’t take good care of anyone if you’re not taking good care of yourself.

Give your pet a hug from me.

Dr. Sami