Animals DO Suffer Psychological Trauma from Abuse

Have you ever had one of those days when asking your Chihuahua to stop watching television and eat her dinner seems completely normal? I have had a few of them lately, and to be honest I am wondering if I have lost my mind!

It all started when we were told by our vet that our five pound Chihuahua Minnie was anorexic. I was puzzled by this diagnosis since I had never thought that dogs could be prone to eating disorders, but if you knew Minnie the diagnosis makes complete sense. You see Minnie was "rescued" from a difficult situation that her previous owners were completely oblivious to. They kept a sweater on her at all times so they never noticed that the little dog was skin and bones. The reason Minnie was starving became clear to me the day I picked her up and met the twenty five pound Maltese she lived with. He was a butterball of a dog and it was clear that Minnie and he had not been supervised at feeding time. He had been bullying the little Chihuahua out of her food for quite some time, and now Minnie was literally afraid of food dishes, food, and anything to do with meal time.

We have had this little dog for over two years now, and the daily struggle to get her to eat still continues. Some days it is all I can do to keep from bursting into tears as she cowers away from the food bowl refusing to eat. Somehow we have managed to get her to gain the all important pound of weight the vet says is crucial to her survival, but we are not sure how we managed that, I guess persistence paid off in this case, although some days it seems like no matter what we do, eating is not on the day's agenda.

People seem to think that rescue is as simple as removing the animal from the abusive situation. They fail to understand that animals can and do suffer psychological trauma from past abuse. For our little Minnie that trauma is deep set and life threatening. While we hope there will be a time when Minnie will approach eating with the enthusiasm of most dogs, that time may never come, and getting her to eat may always be a struggle, only time will tell. Luckily we are not strangers to helping dogs overcome psychological trauma, but for the average person, Minnie's issues would be tough to deal with. Some days even I have trouble and end up in tears because she just won't eat!

When we tell people what is wrong with our little girl they scoff and try to tell us that dogs can't have psychological traumas because they don't have the capability to feel emotion, or the ability to remember their past. After 25 years in animal rescue we know better.

We have a puppy mill rescue, a tiny toy poodle boy who spent his first two years of life in a cage with no kind human touch or interaction. When I first brought him home he was so scared and shut down he sat on the same kitchen tile frozen in fear for about two hours before our pack's alpha female took him under her wing. He's been with us for four years now and he is just starting to act like a normal dog, coming and seeking affection from the humans he so desperately tried to avoid for the past four years. He is finally healing from the psychological trauma caused by the puppy mill.

So why am I telling you this? Because I want you to understand that true rescue is not as easy as people seem to think. Simply taking an animal away from the abuse does not solve the problem completely. There is still days, sometimes years worth of work to be done after initial rescue. When rescue fails (ie: an animal is returned after adoption) it is usually because there has been little or no thought given to rehabilitation. Most rescue animals have issues that make them difficult for the average person to live with, if no one tries to rehabilitate them those issues go with them into their new home, and can be the difference between a successful adoption and an adoption failure.

I have seen many adoptions fail because no rehabilitative training was done, and an adopter can't "handle" the baggage their new pet has brought with them. Don't get me wrong, I believe people should adopt not shop, but I also believe that many agencies approach animal rescue and adoption in the wrong way, and that is a big part of the problem. Shelters do not create an environment that promotes psychological healing, they just aren't equipped to do so. Foster care is a better option for animals with psychological trauma, but there just aren't enough foster care providers with the ability to help an animal heal from the psychological trauma caused by their past abuse.

Those who do provide animals in need with a temporary home are wonderful people, and I am glad they exist and are willing to open their homes, but they don't always have the experience or the patience to deal with an animal with quirky anti-social behaviors. Animals healing from psychological trauma need patience and understanding, and sometimes months or even years to heal.

Providing foster care for an animal in need is frustrating and at times heartbreaking, but if you are the type of person who can be patient, and doesn't mind working with an animal for an extended period of time you just might be the perfect candidate for long term fostering. If you think you are PLEASE contact a rescue in your area and volunteer. Despite the frustration and the heartache, it is one of the most rewarding things you will ever do!