Animal behavior is pretty difficult to understand. Our cats and dogs cannot speak for themselves, and we often panic when they suddenly behave differently or erratically. Janet King and Dr. Alice Jeromin unpack the common reasons behind behavioral issues with your pets with Dr. Carlo Siracusa, a veterinary behavior specialist. They delve into the right way to manage aggression, anxiety, and chronic pain, which often cause problems with pet behavior. Dr. Siracusa also explains the direct (and sometimes negative) impact of diet, environmental changes, and extreme breeding in the everyday lives of your dogs and cats, as well as why every pet owner must advocate for higher standards in animal behavior.
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Understanding The Nuances Of Animal Behavior With Dr. Carlo Siracusa
Janet, did you know that there are specialists in animal behavior in veterinary medicine?
Thank goodness, because I’ve seen some pretty bad behavior out there on my walks with Libby, who is perfect and very well-behaved.
I am so thankful that Dr. Carlo Siracusa, who is a past President of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, is joining us. Rarely do I read anyone’s bio because it seems to turn people off, but this is such an interesting bio that I am going to read it. I promise I won’t take very long. Dr. Siracusa obtained his veterinary degree from the University of Messina, Italy, and his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. His thesis was on perioperative stress in dogs and the effect of pheromone therapy. We will talk about what pheromones are, Janet.
He completed his residency in animal behavior at the School of Veterinary Medicine at Penn, where he then stayed on to be an Associate Professor of Clinical Animal Behavior and Welfare and the Director of the Animal Behavior Service at the University of Pennsylvania Vet School. He’s board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Behavior and also the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavior.
His interests lie in canine stress evaluation and control, dog and cat temperament evaluation, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of behavior problems, and behavior and cognitive changes in dogs with physical changes. I find that fascinating. I’m going to shut up because we have so many questions that the audience has put in about animal behavior, which I want to get right to Dr. Siracusa and hit him up with these questions. Right, Janet?
That’s right. I want to say buongiorno.
Buongiorno.
Welcome, Dr. Sircusa. Thank you so much for taking the time to spend with us.
It is very nice to be here with you.
Thank you. I represent the voice of the pet owners.
Dr. Sircusa and I would be talking about all the people that we have as mutual friends, like Dr. Barb Simpson. Special shout-out to her if she’s tuning in.
Difference Between A Veterinary Behaviorist And Animal Trainer
How is the work of a veterinary behaviorist different from that of a trainer?
Many people, including those who approach us to ask for an appointment, don’t have an initial understanding of what the difference is. Our job is not mainly or only doing training that uses behavior modification to change the behavior of a dog. We are not always the professionals who execute the plans side by side on an everyday basis with our clients, telling them, “Do this.”
It’s a little bit like the eye doctor and the optician that makes the glasses. We work on a comprehensive evaluation of a dog, a cat, or other species if you work with other species. First, we try to understand what the undesired behavior is. Is it a behavioral problem in the sense that it’s something that the owners do not like, but it’s not necessarily an abnormal behavior, or is it an abnormal behavior? Once we have determined this and formulated our diagnosis, we discuss the prognosis and the treatment.
One of the components of the treatment is the behavioral modification, the training. We said in what circumstances, for example, would it help to use this type of training, and how to use it. We pair it with changes in the environment. We make these changes in your household or make the environment more comfortable. We create a safe haven for the animal.
The third component, which is the one that only veterinarians can do, is to see if there is a physical disease component. That is if the dog is behaving in a certain way or the cat is behaving in a certain way because it’s not feeling well. This is becoming more relevant. It’s the same thing in human psychiatry. We understand that a lot of behaviors that we as people or our pets show are due to an imbalance in our body. It’s something that is causing some form of disease, and this disease also shows up with a behavior change.
A lot of behavioral changes shown by people and pets are due to an imbalance in the body. Share on XThe other aspect that only veterinarians can do is drug prescription. Depending on what the underlying cause is, it can be a behavioral drug prescription or another type of drug. For example, if we think that the behavior change is mostly due to pain, then in that case, I would better prescribe an analgesic rather than a behavioral modifying drug. There are many medications that are at the intersection of all this. They not only have, for example, an immune-mediating component, but they also have behavioral effects.
This is becoming clear and prevalent also in other specialties, not just in behaviors. There are, for example, many immune modulators that are also used for the treatment of some immune problems, including in human medicine. There is a lot of media attention for these new drugs that people take mostly for weight control, but they also have all other series of effects. In fact, the behavior-modifying components of these drugs, for example, for the treatment of addiction, are under investigation. It’s a complex system.
To go back to the original question, the difference between the veterinarians and the trainer is that the veterinarian can appreciate all these intersections and all this complex environment. While the trainer is more focused on the execution of their behavior modification. There are some veterinary behaviors that are also great trainers, but that’s a separate thing.
Common Behavioral Issues Among Cats And Dogs
In cats and dogs, quite frankly, cats do their own thing. What are the most common behavioral issues with cats and with dogs? For cats, I’m going to vote for peeing outside the litter box.
You’re right. It depends on what data you look into and who you ask this question. For example, for us as a referral service, we see a lot of complicated cases. They’re not just complicated from a medical standpoint but also with another complication, which is liability. This means a lot of aggression cases. These are cases that come with a risk for the owner and the doctor.
They usually refer to a specialist because many times, we are involved in court cases. We have to testify as expert witnesses if the dog, for example, bites someone. In our service, we see a lot of dog aggression and complicated cases of other problems, such as separation anxiety and aggression between dogs. For cats, it is inappropriate elimination, in general, as the most frequent problem. We don’t see a lot of cases of inappropriate elimination because primary care veterinarians are very good at treating these types of problems.
Also, it is because there are some drugs that are helpful. Specifically, inappropriate elimination in cats is one of the problems that responds best to drug treatment. We don’t see a lot of this. Usually, people are able to treat this before reaching out to us. For cats, one thing that we are seeing more is abnormal repetitive behaviors, such as self-mutilation. That’s excessive chewing, for example, of the skin or what we commonly call psychogenic alopecia, but there’s way more there than just a behavioral component.
We also see cases of aggression in cats. These are our most common problems. If you look at the general population, inappropriate elimination for cats and separation anxiety for dogs. Those are probably the big two, together with all the rainbow of different types of aggression. Some of them are mild and are treated by the general practitioners or a trainer. Some others are more complex and require our intervention.
Inappropriate elimination and separation anxiety are the two biggest behavioral issues in cats and dogs, respectively. Share on XI remember having a six-month-old West Highland White Terrier. It was brought in for a skin disease of some sort. We had it on the exam table. I was on one side, and my technician was on the other. It was a young father who owned the dog, and they had children. I opened its mouth because I was doing a physical, and it went for me. I had a very quick technician who clamped down on the dog. The owner was horrified because he has little kids. I thought to myself, “At six months of age, this dog is doing this.” In a case like that, can that be remedied? I worried about that dog after that with those children.
The time of the first onset of symptoms of aggression makes a difference. We typically see the first signs of aggression between 1 and 2 years of age. This is when dogs start to approach social maturity. They go from a puppy-like behavior to a more adult-like behavior. An earlier onset, typically, not always, but in many cases, is also associated with a worse prognosis. The fact that happened early might already be an element for concern.
I will not say that there’s nothing we can do for that dog, but the fact that this happened early is already something that I will keep in mind, considering that the signs tend to get worse with time, around 2 years of age or 3 years of age. If at six months, the dog is already attempting to bite, is this going to get worse right around 3 years of age? Whether this transfers to other contexts, for example, if there are kids in the family, it depends.
There’s no immediate transfer between aggression, for example, towards unfamiliar people and members of the family, or even less aggression towards other dogs and people. That said, what is important to find is the underlying temperament of that puppy. To begin with, it is a very nervous and anxious individual. If we see that an animal is anxious, nervous, and there are problems coming down and settling, then I would be more worried that the aggression is going to show up in different contexts.
If that one was an incident in which the puppy felt, “I’m in trouble. I don’t know if I’m going to survive,” and acted defensively in that context. Outside of that context, things are fine and I don’t see the dog being worried, then my prognosis will be better. If that puppy is very anxious in general, then I will be a little bit more concerned. It’s on a case-by-case basis. What can we do? It depends on the case.
Most aggression is associated with negative emotions like fear, anxiety, and stress. A lot of aggression can be managed but cannot be cured. We try to work with the family by creating a safe environment and minimizing the possibility that a bite may occur again. However, there are cases in which we can completely remove the aggression if we identify a specific trigger.
Let’s go back to the example that you shared with us. Instead of being a six-month-old puppy, it’s an older dog, where we have the possibility of having some tooth decay, for example. If this is related to pain, and we can treat that where the pain is removed, aggression is not back. The prognosis is variable, but when it is associated with temperamental anxiety, fear, or stress, we usually manage the aggression. We don’t cure the aggression.
Can Neutering Decrease A Dog’s Aggression?
What about neutering? Old-school was, for a male dog, “If you get him neutered, he won’t be as aggressive.” Is there any truth to that?
No, or there is a very small part of the truth. Most aggression, like the one that we discussed, which is related to anxiety and fear, is not influenced by neutering at all. For a very specific type of aggression, if they are related to sexual arousal. For example, being aggressive with other male dogs. This might be affected, but in general, this is not the case.
Does it stop him from marking everything? Does neutering help with that?
Neutering is good for marking and roaming if you have a dog that tends to escape. For example, if your dog has a problem because he escapes and while he’s out and not under your control. He shows some aggression to other people or animals, the neutering would help. It’s not because it eliminates the aggression but because it decreases the roaming. The probability that your dog will escape is lower.
In some cases, it can help, but for the majority of the time, it does not help. However, if a dog has what we call affective aggression, aggression that is associated with negative emotions, because negative emotions also have a heritable component, we do recommend neutering in Spain anyway. Especially for male dogs that can reproduce many times and generate a lot of puppies.
Many times, you have these gorgeous-looking dogs that people don’t want to neuter because morphologically, they meet a superb standard for the breed. They will generate puppies with a propensity to be prone to stress, fear, or anxiety. This is a problem, so we usually do recommend neutering in any case.
How To Determine If Aggression Is Caused By Pain
As a pet owner, if a dog has aggression or misbehavior, if you will, how do I know if it’s caused by pain?
That’s a complicated question. Traditionally, as veterinarians, we have been trained to think of pain as something that is very evident. We pull the leg. We do a little bit of a hip extension, and we hear some yelping, screaming, or turning around and trying to bite. First of all, not all dogs, even when they are experiencing acute pain, react this way. They might think, “If I show my pain, I’m even more vulnerable. I might freeze and not show anything. In a certain sense, I’ll play dead and see if I can survive this challenge.” A lot of dogs would freeze, become stiff, and not show us if they are in acute pain. Even worse, a lot of aggression is associated with chronic pain, not with acute pain.
I always think to myself that as an aging human, you start to have a lot of crankiness here and there. The back some days doesn’t help. Another day, the knees are not helping. However, I’m not in such a great amount of pain that I cannot do my job. I will still come to the office and do my work. If I apply pressure on my lower back, I don’t scream. I feel better. Pressure will help me with the pain. This type of pain is more difficult to detect.
In fact, there are all types of scales. Rather than relying on what we can do during the vet appointment, we rely on what the owner sees at home. We do ask a lot of questions to the owner. We ask how mobility is affected. Is the dog able to change position effortlessly at night, for example? Does it go up and down the stairs quickly? Does it jump on and off the bed? These types of behaviors have been found to be more important than our traditional idea of high-pitched vocalization or aggression in detecting pain in both dogs and cats.
This is why I’m very convinced of the importance of behavior. Not just as a specialty in veterinary medicine, but as an approach in general. A lot of science will show us mild to moderate behavior changes, not something spectacular. We have to actively question the owner because many people think, “It’s normal. It’s getting old.” We have to ask.
We even found something very interesting in a couple of studies that we published. They were not specific about pain. They were more generic on chronic inflammatory diseases, like skin disease and GI disease. We found that some of the behaviors to monitor are not negative behaviors. They’re positive behaviors. Animals might even be more affectionate. They might tend to spend more time with the owner. Why? It’s because we are their secure base. In a certain sense, they are asking for support and help.
If we ask, “How is your dog or cat doing?” You’re like, “It’s great. It’s always glued to me.” This might not necessarily be a good sign for physical health. We have all these types of skills we are working on improving. Talking about Dr. Sherman, NC State is doing a lot. A lot of progress is under the leadership of Dr. Gruen. They’re making a lot of progress on this front and creating these questionnaires for pet owners that can help detect pain.
What Pet Owners Do That Negatively Affects Their Pet’s Behavior
Are there things that pet owners shouldn’t do that affect the behavior of their pets?
That’s a loaded question.
In general or more specific?
With separation anxiety, when you come home, and they’ve ripped the trim from around the door, the human is going to freak out, but that probably doesn’t do the pet any good.
The most important recommendation, which is an umbrella recommendation for everything, is let’s not assume we know what our pets are thinking or the way in which they work. We come from a different evolutionary process. We belong to different species. To understand animals, we need to study their behavior.
I’m not saying that pet owners should do science. There is also citizen science. They are involved in a lot of studies. That said, it’s more about trying to read reputable sources. There is some science, and there is some good science. Do not rely on non-documented online sources, or even a TV show. Try to go for reputable sources.
The same way in which we do for babies and very young children, we try to understand how they work. We do not assume that we know, or that they are simple creatures. In the ‘80s, it was very interesting. When I was working on my PhD, I was shocked to find that until the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, a lot of surgeries in infants were done without analgesia because it was thought that their pain pathways were not mature.
Since they were not complaining, they were anesthetized, but not necessarily mean that they had good pain control. They were not complaining. They are babies. Now, we know that this is not the case. Even before the birth of a child, we go to school to learn how our child works, what is safe, and what is not safe. The same has to be done for our pets. There is a lot of information out there that can be helpful. If you don’t know where to find this information, reach out to your vet and ask.
The vet, if he doesn’t have a source, might contact a specialist and ask for a book recommendation. That’s an umbrella recommendation. Once we’ve covered this, a lot of the problems will be easier to prevent, or at least detect early before they become too severe. For example, in the case of separation anxiety, we should think that for the ancestor of dogs, the wolf, living in a community was normal.
It’s like, “I’m always living with my group. My wolf dad doesn’t have to go to the office from 9:00 to 5:00. I’m always living with them.” What we did with selection is we twisted this social behavior and oriented it towards people. Being separated and reunited continuously within a social group might be difficult to handle for many dogs.
I never thought of that.
We have to set up the environment to make it easier for them. We need to provide them with a safe spot and minimize all the scary things that might happen to them, like the loud noises. A dog might be fine at the beginning, but one day, when there is a storm. There’s no one there to help the dog, the dog is like, “When I’m alone, I’m lost. If something happens, I don’t know what to do.” If we know this in advance, we can at least prevent part of the problem.
For cats, I have to say it’s even more important. Cats are seen as small dogs, and they are not. They are completely different creatures. In a certain sense, they are more complicated because they are not as big as dogs in communicating what they feel. Why? It’s for the same reason. Their ancestor is a solitary individual. It’s like, “If I don’t live with anyone, why should I waste time and energy complaining about stuff? I stack it up, jump on the drawer chest, and don’t say anything even though I’m pissed off.”
They look annoyed all the time.
Janet, think of this. When someone brings a cat to you, Dr. Siracusa, it’s so different from a dog with behavior problems. With a dog, you can see that it’s not confident. The tail is tucked. Cats don’t want to be taken out of that house. I can’t imagine you examining a cat for behavior issues in your office because they’re not going to act normally anyway.
Contrary to what people might think, we rely less on what we see during the appointment and more on what the owner reports. This is why the appointments tend to be very long, because we have all this questioning and asking about this detail and that detail. If we don’t have the details, we recommend keeping a diary and sharing it with us.
It could be video.
Everyone goes around with a phone, so it has become a lot easier. You’re right. The cat might say, “I’ll stay in my little carrier. When I’m home, I don’t want to get into the carrier because there, I have better places to be. Here, my carrier is the safest place where I can stay. There’s no way I’m going to come out of here.”
When I have to put our cats into the carrier, I have to put long rubber gloves on.
The fireplace gloves.
I find that if I put the hatch up and I put butt first in, they don’t know where they’re going. It’s a process.
What Does Your Pet’s Breed Say About Their Behavior
Not to pick on any breed of dog, but my opinion was that, after practicing for 30 years. To me, the German Shepherd breed has gotten to be more anxious and has the inability to keep weight on. Show me one of those good older German Shepherds that comes in, and they’re like a good family dog. I have to say I’m not seeing that anymore. I’d love your opinion on that, Dr. Siracusa.
It’s very interesting that you mentioned this because there is a study. They’ve been published as two separate papers. They looked at the breed with the most behavioral problems and physical pathologies. The German Shepherd is on top of both. However, this is not replicated in other studies. For example, there are studies that show that small dogs, what people call the hippie-happy little dogs, like the Chihuahua and Jack Russell Terrier, are high in this ranking of behavior problems.
German Shepherds are a breed that comes with a lot of problems. Why? Think of what our wolf was and think of what our German Shepherd is, especially as a very fancy show animal. Look at the back. Look at the hips. Staying always in that posture, I would not be surprised if there is some of what we discussed at the beginning. There is chronic discomfort and excessive strain put onto muscles and joints, which also comes with chronic inflammation, which we know is also a cause of behavior changes.
The extreme selection that we did on some breeds is not helping. That said, we see a lot of mixed breeds in our service for behavior problems, too. A mixed breed is still not a wolf. Even a mixed breed, in the end, comes from dogs that have gone through an artificial selection process. They might have similar types of problems.
Personally, I would find it reasonable not to necessarily follow these extreme standards for beauty, but follow standards that lead us to healthy animals from both a behavioral and physical standpoint. In other countries, they do a better job at this. England is very proactive, or Belgium. Here, it’s more of a customer base. If there is demand, there is supply.
Pet owners do not necessarily have to follow extreme beauty standards. What they have to follow are standards that lead to healthy animals from a behavioral and physical standpoint. Share on XThere might be less attention to this, but things are changing. Awareness of people is improving. A lot of people now are very knowledgeable about what makes their dog healthy or sick. It’s a little bit like for humans. Everyone is becoming more self-aware, especially about aging. People are like, “What makes me live longer?” The same is happening for our pets. Hopefully, there will be more attention to this matter.
The Future Of Animal Behaviorists
What about the future of animal behaviorists? What excites you? What studies are out there that you have an interest in?
It is a very good time to be an animal behaviorist, just as it is a good time to be a human neuroscientist. There is a lot of interest in the mechanism behind our behavior, but also in how this influences our physical health. Our physical health influences our wellness in general. It’s the same for pets. There is a lot of attention now. That’s my personal interest. The interaction between physical and behavioral health is not related to the typical separation anxiety problem or inappropriate elimination. Rather to having a more comprehensive approach.
What can I do to give my cat or dog a good and longer life? It’s a good time. There’s a lot of research. Also, pharmacological and psychopharmacological research is embracing this concept that drugs most of the time don’t have a very compartmentalized effect. They have an effect on the body. There are many things that happen when we take a drug, so we should look for every drug and what the effect is.
Artificial intelligence is helping because it’s very good at finding these patterns. It was a problem before in analyzing multiple data. We were collecting data, but we were limited in our analysis. Now, AI is going to help with this. Another fascinating frontier is being able to read body language more accurately thanks to AI. What is the best way to understand what a dog, cat, horse, or cow is thinking or experiencing? Ask them.
How do we ask them? We have to watch these countless hours of videos and see how they respond to certain conditions. Before, it was very difficult. I did this for my PhD thesis, and it was a nightmare. I had 2 hours of videos for about 60 dogs to analyze on a TV and a piece of paper. We’re primitive by today’s standards.
Dr. Sircusa’s Work With Gorillas
What was the most interesting animal you’ve worked with?
I worked with gorillas. It was so cool.
Was it gorilla aggression?
They were family issues.
In the gorilla world.
There was this group of guerrillas, which is called a troop. There were some problems. There were this young individual who was very unruly and going around, slapping the adults and the group around. The females were having fights, and the big daddy was not doing anything. We were trying to understand, “Why is this happening? Is there something in the environment?” I learned a lot.
I learned, first of all, which was probably the main goal of the study at the beginning, that the methodology that we use for our pets, which is what we’re discussing. Look at the health of the pet, both behavioral and physical. Don’t think in biological paradigms standards. Don’t think, “It’s dominance,” or as this very clear explanation. The reality of animals in captivity, because they were in captivity, is way more complex.
In this troop of gorillas, for example. The Silverback, the older male, was almost 40 years old. In nature, this will be almost impossible. There are reports of very old males, but this would be very old in nature. In a certain sense, it was a complaint that a 90-year-old grandpa was not running after the 5-year-old child to stop him. The explanation is self-evident. It was an interesting experience transferring this model to other environments. It was a different species. It was fascinating to observe these animals. They’re also very similar to us.
It sounds like a human family. It’s the early teenager.
The Role Of Your Pet’s Diet In Their Behavior
Also, the old grandpa. Do you ever find that diet plays a role in behavior?
Absolutely, but it’s not always the reason that people might think of. Most diets, especially for the type of clients that we serve in my hospital, are on some type of premium diet. From a nutritional standpoint, they are covered. I will not be worried about this. What I’m worried about is the feeding behavior of an animal. Calorie consumption is not the same as feeding behavior. If this is the same, we will all live eating energy bars or those cans that you find at the pharmacy of liquid nutrition.
It’s the same for animals. They do not always have to satisfy their caloric needs, but they have to satisfy their feeding habits. Mother Nature programmed them to execute specific behavior before they could eat. Think of the cat. Before, he does all the stalking, pouncing, and then tossing the prey all around the place. Then, he comes to a human household. We put a few kibbles in a bowl, and he does nothing. He’s like, “What’s this?”
I did a little research because I was hearing this, but I could not find data to confirm that. I can now confirm that in a mouse, there are about 30 to 40 kilocalories. That means that to satisfy the need, a cat should get a lot of mice throughout the day. It can be 10, 12, or 20, depending on the size of the prey and the level of activity. We have commercial food, which packs a lot of calories in a very small amount of food. Commercial food is designed with people in mind, not with animals in mind.
It’s designed so I can have a month’s worth of meals in a little bag that I can easily carry around. This is what worries me the most. We deprive animals of a significant chunk of their natural behavior. This is what they will do in nature. They will rest in between meals, and then they will show the behavior that allows them to get their food. We are completely eliminating this. Some problems come from this.
When out in nature, animals will rest between meals, and they will show the behavior that allows them to get their food. Pet owners are completely eliminating this. Share on XA lot of abnormal behavior patterns that we see in cats or abnormal activity levels of self-injurious behavior, the first thing that we recommend is to reestablish a normal feeding pattern. Something that’s more typical for the species. This is how I think diet is influencing behavior. There are also some nutrients and micronutrients that can have an effect. We know that, in general, every substance that has antioxidant power helps with joint health, but also with brain health. Gut health is also related to behavioral health.
I’m glad you said that. Getting back to those German Shepherds we talked about, a lot of them had GI issues. I always wondered, are they not feeling well, and that’s why they’re acting the way they are? For a lot of them, Dr. Siracusa, the owners couldn’t keep weight on them. They were very anxious and stressed, if you will.
We know that everything is connected. All the bacteria that are in the gut of a dog, but also a person, contribute to behavior. They are creating metabolites. Some of them will pass into the brain and influence behavior or determine the concentration of a specific neurotransmitter that will influence a specific behavior.
Who we are is not determined only by us. I always tell the students that we like to think that we can decide everything about our lives, but it is not always true. All these little bugs that live on us or inside us, they have a say, too. They are producing a lot of little bricks that will influence the way in which our body responds to the environment.
We can decide everything about our lives, but it is not always true. These little bugs that live on or inside us have a say as well. Share on XWe go back to what we were saying before. It’s so important to keep physical health and mental health all in the same bucket and make sure that we have a comprehensive approach. For that German Shepherd, its gastrointestinal health supported so it can be less anxious and have better skin, for example.
Can Probiotics Help Anxious Pets?
Do you ever see that probiotics help? One of the companies that did a study. I think Mike Lappin did it. He found that it could help these anxious dogs. I wanted your opinion on that.
There are studies that show that there are differences in the microbiome, these bacteria in our gut, between anxious and non-anxious animals and aggressive and non-aggressive animals. There is an influence of this bacterium. It is a little bit more complicated to find exactly the formula. What is a good microbiome?
Also, when it comes to behavior, especially, it’s difficult to have a phenotype of a behavior to map the behavior of an individual. However, I do think that probiotics can influence the behavior of an animal. There are studies. The one that you mentioned is about a specific bacterium that is called Bifidobacterium longum. That bacterium in different strains in different species has been found to improve stress-related behavior. Not just in dogs, but also in other species.
There is some truth to this. In fact, I do use probiotics for my own cats. They are not selective probiotics because this one is only this strain. I use a large spectrum of probiotics. It’s like the German Shepherd that you were saying before. She tends to have colitis, and the probiotics are helping. It’s my cat. I can study my cat. I personally found it useful. She used to bite me. Now, she does not. For me, that’s enough.
Dr. Sircusa’s Life As A Cat Dad
Janet, I know what question you’re going to ask Dr. Siracus.
What?
What pets he has?
What pets do you have?
We have the cat with the GI issue.
As of now, she’s the only one. Her name is Elsa. She was a co-worker because she’s one of our colony cats in Penn. I had plenty of cats in my life. I was a cat breeder.
Of what breed?
When I was still living in India, which was a long time ago, I was breeding Persians, Scottish Folds, and British Shorthairs. With what I know now, I will be a better advocate as a breeder, for example, to be very careful when we breed cats like Scottish Folds. They are super cute, so nice, and well-behaved, but they have tons of health problems.
Let’s remember that this mutation, the change in the body, is related to a change in their anatomical structure. Many times, it’s not only what we see in the ears. There might be other problems. My Scottish Folds were the cutest thing. I love British Shorthairs because they are the right balance. It’s a selected breed already that is nice, chunky, and cheeky. At the same time, still quite healthy because we didn’t smash their face.
You’re such a cat dad.
Dr. Sircusa’s Biggest Pet/Human Peeve
Alice, we’ve got to wrap it up. This could keep going. This has been fascinating. I’d love to get to the bottom of my cat Atticus’ problem.
That’s in the next session.
He doesn’t like me. I got to ask you our guest question, Dr. Siracusa. What is your pet or human peeve? What annoys you about pets? What annoys you about humans? One thing.
For pets, as you correctly say, I’m more of a cat person. Something that annoys me personally, but is not that I don’t like in general, is dogs that splash all that saliva here and there.
The wet ones.
I know what you’re talking about.
One of my favorite breeds is a Newfoundland or Newfie. I love them, but they do a lot of this.
They’re messy.
It annoys me, especially at the beginning when I was coming all well-dressed to work to see patients. During my residency, my mentors said, “You should come well-dressed,” and then you had this dog that was splashing all this stuff. That’s something. With cats, I’m much more tolerant.
Not a lot of spitting with cats. They’re pretty clean.
There’s the vomiting that they do when you have a Persian or a cat that has a lot of hair. You hear it, but there’s nothing you can do because maybe you’re on a Zoom call. You know it’s going to happen.
Thank you so much. This has been incredible. We appreciate the amazing work you do. It’s fascinating.
Thank you.
My conclusion, after talking with Dr. Siracusa, is that we need to step back and look at the animal’s heritage. He said dogs lived in packs. We get one, put it in the house, and then we go somewhere. We have to not try to fit them into our lives. We have to understand their lives. As a veterinarian, that is fascinating.
Also, think in advance before you want another dog and see what this might mean.
The impact on everyone involved, including the pet.
Thank you so much. Thanks for tuning in. Don’t forget to share, like, and love us because we love to hear from you. You can send your questions to our website. We love those, so send them in. Dr. Siracusa, it has been a pleasure. Thank you.
Important Links
- Dr. Carlo Siracusa
- The Life of a Dog | With Dr. Carlo Siracusa, Professor of Small Animal Behavior and Welfare
- Behavior Medicine – University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine
About Dr. Carlo Siracusa
Dr. Siracusa obtained his DVM from the University of Messina, Italy, and his PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, discussing a thesis on perioperative stress in dogs and the effect of pheromone therapy. He completed his residency in Animal Behavior at the School of Veterinary Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Clinical Animal Behavior and Welfare and the Director of the Animal Behavior Service and of the Primary Care Education Section. Carlo is board-certified by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, of which he is the immediate Past President, and by the European College of Animal Welfare and Behavior Medicine. His research interests are focused on canine stress evaluation and control, canine and feline temperament evaluation, prognostic factors and treatment outcomes of behavior problems, and behavior and cognitive changes in dogs with physical disease.