News item: Pfizer announces a canine diet
pill that will hit the US market next month.
News item: Eli Lilly launches a division to develop six drugs
exclusively for pet psychological ailments.
News item: The New York Times Magazine releases an upcoming 8-page
expose on pill-popping pets.
What are we doing?
We first started this madness with ourselves, looking for just the
right drug to help us through life's challenges. Now we're looking for
the same "quick fix" for our pets. The tragedy is that in many cases,
neither we nor our pets need these drugs. In the case of the dog diet
pill, the question begs: who's opening that can of food? Who's handing
out the treats? For dangerously obese pets, perhaps a pill will help
get them out of the danger zone a bit more quickly, helping to get them
back to a more healthy weight and life. Other than that, I don't see a
justification for such a drug.
As for the psychological drugs for pets, it saddens me that we are
(significantly) dipping into our wallets to buy these medications
instead of carving out time to ensure our pets get the exercise they
need to keep psychologically healthy. For a cat, playing with a ball,
string, or catnip can do the trick. For a dog, a good long walk or
ball/frisbee play can benefit both us and them.
The NYT article is pretty lengthy, but there are two quotes that completely resonated with me:
[Dr. Nicolas] Dodman [founder of the Tufts University Animal Behavior Clinic], leaning back in his chair, launched into a story about a human obsessive-compulsive-disorder sufferer he had met — a man who repeatedly tugged at his beard. Dodman asked him if he had ever stopped, and the man said he did during a hitchhiking trip across Canada. Dodman thought he knew why: “He went back to being a human being. He was watching out for real dangers. He was trying to go to real places. He was concerned about his next meal. He was thinking about where he was going to sleep. And he wasn’t concerned about the stupid beard pulling, because now he had a real life. When did the problem start again? The minute he sat back in front of a flickering computer screen.”and...
If I were locked inside the bathroom all day, I’d swallow the shampoo, too. Although most animal-behavior problems are believed to have genetic roots, their expressions are typically triggered by the unnatural lives that people force their pets to lead. “A dog that lived on a farm and ran around chasing rabbits all day would be more prone to being stable than a dog living in an apartment in Manhattan,” Dodman says. Undomesticated canids, neither confined nor excessively attached to people, don’t suffer from separation anxiety. Some captive horses endlessly circle their stalls or corrals — a compulsive behavior similar to Max’s tail chasing — but such purposeless repetitions have never been observed in the wild.
The counterpoint in this article is that if the choice is between medicating a pet to eliminate a destructive behavior or surrendering them to the local shelter, it's better to medicate. I actually agree with this, but would like to see any psychological drug administration accompanied by a commitment to get the necessary training to wean the pet off the drug as quickly as possible. Otherwise, this "better living through chemistry" will prevent our pets from living their lives to the fullest. Not such a great thing for them or for us. We both deserve better. Now go play.
