Here's a really interesting article. Study: Dogs Also Suffer From Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If you want to read all the crazy science mumbojumbo, click here to see the study which was published in Molecular Psychiatry. Below are some interesting highlights:
"Scientists have identified a gene in Dobermans that makes the dog suseptible to obsessive compulsive disorder." While this may not be big news for some (many of us have been aware for some time about our dogs' Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - aka "OCD"), it is interesting to note that they are finding this to be a physiological disorder.
"Scientists found that dogs with the OCD gene maniacally chase their tails, lick different body parts or blankets." These are the most common things you would see, but you could also list fly-catching, biting at the air, digging, flank-sucking and barking in that list (among many other behaviours). The list could go on and on if you really went searching.
"Dr. Nicholas Dodman ... said the gene is the same in humans as it is in dogs." Here's the next link ... now they will begin to look at how this affects humans and treatment. That bothers me a bit, but I do understand that dogs aren't as important to everyone in the world as much as they are to me. "But even if this particular finding is not directly revelent, it still gives us clues as to the pathways and processes that may be going on in humans as well as some possible targets for intervention and treatment". Let's hope that in the process of doing their research they may find ways to help dogs suffering from OCDs.
6 comments:
I've never had an out of control ocd type of dog, but I have known a few and it's so sad. I hope their research helps..
Cool, I didn't realize they'd found a gene for OCD. Those who suffer from it have know it's physiological for a long time. :-) Hopefully good things will come from it, canine, human, or otherwise.
"But even if this particular finding is not directly revelent, "
If they can't spell relevant...
gawd.
The gene is the Same? Really. We've been bred like Dobermans?
I'm just kiddin' around here. wiggling in through my brain.
ANyway, barking up the wrong tree on this one, I fear:)
I do not want Fluffy,locked in a kennel chasing tail, digging, barking, to be diagnosed with OCD, when she's blind with boredom, equated to a human with the disorder..
Not fair, to either.
For sure, let's see how it works, if it can be treated, but, jeeez.
I have the same problem with the anti-anxiety drugs. Do not get me wrong, where they are needed, wonderful, but not as a panacea.
A pill for poor ownership.
Ya know?
Or a pill for extinguishing higher intelligence?
Ya know?
never mind.
ever the cynic, and out.
I have a Border collie that I think has the OCD. And she is not bored. But she does lick herself all the time. She gets plenty of exercise because she herds everything here including me sometimes. She isn't too bad though.
Interesting, thank you. I had missed the current research that shows OCD to be a gene, but then it is genes that create brain chemistry.
I have a dalmation/lab that had OCD. We tried medication but it just make him a piece of furniture. His thing is "chasing" rocks. He's 14 now and have long given up trying to break him of his habit. He enjoys it so we let him go after his rocks. He also spins when he has a chew toy. Non-stop spinning until the toy is taken away.
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