Pets Can Have Depression,Too

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When Sara Palmer’s Yorkie Kingston suddenly stopped eating or drinking,she feared a serious medical condition.Although relieved when he was cleared of anything immediately life-threatening,a diagnosis of doggie depression threw her for a loop.Her family had recently moved to another state,and the poor pooch was simply unequipped to communicate or handle the stress fallout.“He was given an IVand meds to take for a while,” she recalls.“He got better but still acts strange when he knows we’re going on a trip.”

莎拉·帕爾默的約克夏犬金斯頓突然不吃不喝，她擔(dān)心愛犬患了重病。雖然檢查后排除了即刻危及生命的重疾，這讓莎拉松了口氣，但一紙抑郁癥診斷書卻讓她大吃一驚。莎拉一家不久前搬到了另一個(gè)州，而這只可憐的小狗根本無法傳達(dá)，也應(yīng)對(duì)不了新環(huán)境帶來的焦慮。“給他輸了一次液，也喂了一段時(shí)間的藥。”莎拉回憶道，“情況有所好轉(zhuǎn)。不過，知道我們要去旅行時(shí)，他的行為還是有些反常。”

2 When it comes to mental health issues,domestic pets like cats and dogs aren’t as different from us as we once thought.“We have recognized many different types of mental illness in pet animals,” explains Dr.Franklin D.McMillan,a veterinarian and director of wellbeing studies at Best Friends Animal Society.“The parallels between human and animal mental illnesses have been demonstrated by several types of evidence,such as similarities in behavior,physiological measures,brain scans,and response to medications.”

2 說到心理健康問題，貓狗這樣的家養(yǎng)寵物并不像我們?cè)?jīng)以為的那樣會(huì)有別于人類。“我們已經(jīng)在寵物身上發(fā)現(xiàn)了多種不同類型的精神疾病。”動(dòng)物之友協(xié)會(huì)的動(dòng)物身心健康研究主任、獸醫(yī)富蘭克林·D.麥克米倫博士如是說道，“有多種證據(jù)證實(shí)人類精神疾病和動(dòng)物精神疾病之間存在相似性，體現(xiàn)在行為、生理指標(biāo)、腦部掃描和藥物反應(yīng)等方面。”

3 He adds that the most commonly seen mental illnesses in pets include phobias,compulsive disorders (like constant tail-licking),post-traumatic stress,depression and separation anxiety.

3 他補(bǔ)充說，寵物最常見的精神疾病包括恐懼癥、強(qiáng)迫癥（如不停舔尾巴）、創(chuàng)傷后應(yīng)激障礙、抑郁癥和分離焦慮癥等。

4 Some mental-health triggers are unavoidable—reaction to noise—or due to life changes.Other triggers are the result of abuse,excessive loneliness,neglect or poor living conditions.Still others are head-scratchers.

4 有些誘發(fā)精神健康問題的因素是不可避免的，如噪聲引起的應(yīng)激反應(yīng)或者生活中的變化。有些誘因則是虐待、過度孤獨(dú)、被忽視或者糟糕的生活環(huán)境。還有一些因素尚未明確。

5 “Some of the mental illnesses we see in pet animals can occur for no identifiable reason,” McMillan says.“We know that genetics plays a role in certain psychological conditions.For example,studies have shown that fear of humans can be increased in dogs through selective breeding.”

5 “寵物患上某些精神疾病可能沒有明確的原因。”麥克米倫說，“我們知道遺傳會(huì)影響某些心理狀況。例如，研究表明，通過選擇育種出生的狗更加恐懼人類。”

6 Certain breeds have a predisposition to mental health problems,although it’s hardly set in stone.McMillan notes that some compulsive behaviors are seen more often in Dobermans and bull terriers than in the general population of dogs.But the reasons for this are a mystery.

6 盡管很難下定論，但某些犬種更容易出現(xiàn)精神健康問題。麥克米倫指出，與普通犬種相比，杜賓犬和牛頭?更常表現(xiàn)出強(qiáng)迫行為。然而其中的原因還是個(gè)謎。

7 “Overall,any dog can be at risk for developing these types of mental disorders.However,when an animal’s environment is far removed from that which they were bred for,such as herding or working breeds in dogs or wild animals living in captivity,the chance for acquired mental disease is far greater,”emails Dr.Richard Goldstein,a veterinarian with Animal Medical Center in New York City.

7 “總的來說，任何狗都有可能罹患這些精神疾病。然而，如果動(dòng)物所處的環(huán)境與曾經(jīng)的成長環(huán)境相差甚遠(yuǎn)，如圈養(yǎng)牧羊犬、工作犬或野生動(dòng)物，那么它們患精神疾病的機(jī)率就會(huì)大得多。”紐約市動(dòng)物醫(yī)療中心的獸醫(yī)理查德·戈?duì)柎奶共┦吭卩]件中寫道。

Making the diagnosis

診斷

8 Diagnosing a nonverbal furry friend’s mental illness is challenging.Lynn Frye discovered this the hard way when her once-spunky golden retriever died following months of treatment for depression(suspected because she started vomiting intermittently during and after a home move).

8 診斷不會(huì)說話的“毛孩子”是否罹患精神疾病具有挑戰(zhàn)性。林恩·弗賴伊經(jīng)歷了傷痛后對(duì)此深有體會(huì)。她曾經(jīng)活潑好動(dòng)的金毛尋回犬從搬家開始就出現(xiàn)間歇性嘔吐，疑似得了抑郁癥，接受幾個(gè)月的抑郁癥治療后還是去世了。

9 However,the true problem was a towel,left inside the pup when she was spayed,that eventually blocked her intestines.“I warn others not to take a depression diagnosis at face value,especially if their dog has recently had surgery,” Frye says.“It didn’t feel right at the time and I’ll always wonder if I could have done more.When she was officially diagnosed with the blockage and died,my immediate thoughts went back to how she was so sick shortly after the surgery and they said she was depressed.It made me sick to think that had I pushed for a different diagnosis we might have caught it.”

9 然而，真正的原因是這只小狗在做絕育手術(shù)時(shí)有塊手術(shù)巾落在了她體內(nèi)，最終堵塞了她的腸道。“警告其他養(yǎng)狗人士，不要輕信抑郁癥診斷結(jié)果，尤其是在狗狗近期做了手術(shù)的情況下。”弗賴伊說道，“當(dāng)時(shí)我就感覺情況不對(duì)勁，我一直在想，要是能多做些什么就好了。她正式被診斷為因腸道堵塞而離去的時(shí)候，我立刻回想起做完絕育手術(shù)后不久她無精打采的模樣。醫(yī)生說她得了抑郁癥。如果我堅(jiān)持要求醫(yī)生重做診斷，興許就能發(fā)現(xiàn)問題。想到這一點(diǎn)，我就懊惱不已。”

10 Although Frye’s case is pretty rare,it highlights the difficulties with pet diagnoses.“Because we can’t ask pets what they are thinking or feeling,the only clues we have to determine whether a pet’s mental status is good is by assessing their behavior,” says Dr.Jessica Vogelsang,a veterinarian with Pawcurious,a pet-centered website.Some of the hallmarks of canine depression,she says,include decreased appetite,acting disoriented or lost at home,a sudden onset of aggression,lack of interest in exercise,sleeping more than normal and regression in housetraining.

10 弗賴伊的情況極為罕見，卻說明寵物疾病診斷并非易事。“我們沒法詢問寵物的想法或感受，所以判斷它們精神狀態(tài)好壞的唯一途徑就是評(píng)估其行為。”寵物網(wǎng)站“好奇爪”的獸醫(yī)杰茜卡·福格爾桑博士說道。她還指出，犬類抑郁癥的典型癥狀包括食欲減退，精神萎靡地待在家里，突然變得有攻擊性，懶得活動(dòng)，嗜睡，家庭行為訓(xùn)練能力退化等。

11 But just because your pup is exhibiting these signs doesn’t mean it is depressed.“The first step is to visit the veterinarian and make sure there isn’t a medical condition that is causing the change in behavior,” Vogelsang says.“You’d be astounded at the number of‘depressed’ older dogs who were actually arthritic,and pepped up with proper pain management.”

11 但是僅憑愛犬表現(xiàn)出上述癥狀，并不能說明它得了抑郁癥。“首先要帶它去看獸醫(yī)，確保不是生理病況導(dǎo)致的行為異常。”福格爾桑說道，“很多‘抑郁了的’老年狗其實(shí)只是患上了關(guān)節(jié)炎，適當(dāng)?shù)乃幬镏委熀筇弁淳湍芫徑猓鼈儽銜?huì)恢復(fù)活力。這種病例的數(shù)量之多，可能會(huì)讓你大為震驚。”

12 If your pet has been given a medical all-clear and is still having behavioral issues,then behavioral modification,medication or a combination of both might be the solution.Some of the prescription labels might even sound familiar.“Most medications are similar to those used to treat humans with parallel disorders,” Dr.Goldstein says.For instance,the antidepressant Prozac has been used to treat people,dogs and cats—the pet version just has a different name.■

12 如果體檢顯示寵物身體并無大礙，但其行為仍然失常，那么行為矯正、藥物治療或者兩者結(jié)合可能會(huì)是解決問題之道。一些處方可能聽上去會(huì)很耳熟。“對(duì)于相似的精神疾病，大部分用來治療寵物的藥物和用來治療人類的相差無幾。”戈?duì)柎奶共┦空f道。例如，治療人類的抗抑郁藥百憂解也已用于治療狗和貓，寵物用的只不過換了個(gè)藥名而已。 □