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BIRDS AND THE BEES
Do animals worry?
David Ofungi, London
- Animals do worry and can get ulcers. Ask any veterinarian. This happens mainly to pets who are poorly taken care of by their owners. They experience stress, can die of heart attacks, and the like. In America they now prescribe Prozac for dogs. There are also psychiatrists for pets. An acquaintance of mine had a cockatoo and he paid an avian behaviorist a large sum of money for advice because the bird was ripping its feathers out when the owner was away at work.
Daniel Morgan, Boston US
- If by "worry" you mean "exhibit anxiety" then yes, I'd say so. I've known lots of dogs who acted worried when, say, a young family member wandered off at the beach. Also we had a cat who'd appear to "count" us in & out of the car, and sit for a while watching if the driver dropped off passengers then drove off again. She only did this if the driver was a family member. Many pets are known to wait patiently near front doors or in windows for their owners' return, that looks like worrying to me!
Carla, Crewe, UK
- My dog seems to worry if he cannot find his doggy comanion in the house and will search like Lassie until he finds our other dog Mac
Fiona, Aberdeen, UK
- People, especially animal lovers, constantly and mistakenly attribute human emotions to what are effectively walking food parcels. I blame the myriad childrens' programmes on television that are chock full of talking animals. I suspect JCB's will attract similarly misguided attributes, thanks to Bob the Builder.
Vince Baughan, London
- Worry can be defined as unfounded fear. Unfounded fear is irrational by definition. Therefore, the notion that animals worry is completely in accordance with the tradtional view of them as creatures incapable of reason. In fact, it stands to reason (ours!) that they should worry more than humans.
Faye Davies, London
- Are we not animals, and do we not worry!
Paul , Newcastle UK
- My poodle is certainly heading for a nervous breakdown if he doesn't stop freaking out every time we walk out the door
Paul E, Bolivia
- Of course they worry and feel anxiety. Why are we still asking if animals can feel pain, stress, etc... in 2007? And why do we suppose it's only the human animal that can feel anything at all?
In fact, sometimes, I really believe some species have more in the way of emotions than some of our own kind. The fool that called other animals 'walking food parcels' sounds a case in point
Carol, Manchester, UK
- Vince Baughan: "People,especially animal lovers, constantly and mistakenly attribute human emotions to what are effectively walking food parcels."
Vince, we're taling about emotions. Humans have emotions nad animals clearly have emotions. You can't say that animals don't have 'human' emotions and by that conclude they have no emotions, just instincts. By the same token, I could argue that humans don't have emotions either, just instincts. You're splitting hairs.
I've kept cats all my life, have known 16 or so by now, for anything up to 19 years at a time.
Food is the basic need. After that security from harm (which is part of a component of feeling and expressing 'love'.
Once our hunger is appeased, we express love. Cats likewise, when well fed and cared for, express closeness and affection for their fellow cats and humans, even wit at times. Read Msslow.
The cold idea of animals as would be tin-openers is wrong and old-fashioned.
Clare, Highgate, London
- I have adopted by a street cat that was constantly chased by dogs. When he sleeps, very deeply, he cries out in distress, and tears come from his eyes.
When he wakes and realizes he is safe in the house he acts very grateful. Yes, I think that he worries and doesn't want to go back to his days of living on the street.
J. B., Cleveland, USA
- My Dog paced round the house looking for my Mother for weeks after she died. I'm not sure if he "worried" as such - he wasn't distressed - but he was certainly confused to find that someone he was used to having around was now missing. I'm not sure that the two are the same thing.
Rachel, Woking
- Good heavens, yes, they worry. I had a samoyed and now a sheltie who had separation anxiety before they came to me. They worry like crazy.
We humans think that we are so superior to the animal world. We aren't - we just aren't.
Animals fight for a reason, be it territorial, for food, in defense. Not so with humans. Right now we are killing many people in Iraq, for what reason? So that a handful of "people" from America can get even wealthier.
Animals weep, they get angry - the meds that we use often are helpful to them. Many humans, many many, abuse pets whom they have domesticated. We are superior? They end up getting anxiety disorders and we get mad at them. Humans are superior? I think not.
Animals have the whole range of feelings. We think that they are not as smart as us. How do we know that they are not communicating as articulately as we are?
Debs, Rockford, USA
- Having been a squirrel in a previous life, I can affirm that animals do indeed worry.
Jenn, Yonkers, USA
- "effectively walking food parcels" Funniest line in this blog. I'm still trying to stop laughing. Must bring that up when people start cooing about their pets.
I am a pet/animal lover, although I'm a hypocrite as I eat meat but come on that is a funny line. How about "effective excrement producers"? No, that first line was funnier.
Syman, Brooklyn, USA
- HEAR HEAR to Terence D Fernando and Andrea of the USA! Thank you for diverting the question toward something constructive. We must beware of anthropomorphisation in observing the behaviour of animals but we also should never set ourselves too far apart from them for we only rule the world by our own definition.
Worry is fear and all animals need it to survive but I believe all animals can feel positive emotions when whatever their fears are diminished, whatever they may be. For us all to relate stories of our domestic pets and the indications they have given us that they do indeed experience emotions is all very well. But remember: if there was more meat on a cat and if a dog's flesh was tastier and more tender, we'd be putting them through the same disgusting procedures to turn them into production facilities.
We all need to take more note of where the produce we consume comes from if we are reaching this level of understanding of life on this fine planet. Everything just arrives in our supermarket packaged and appetising - what do we know about how that came to be? I'm not a vegetarian and I don't believe that it is intrinsically wrong to eat meat because it occurs naturally and always has but not in the way or on the scale it does now in the West. The environmental impact of eating so much meat is something we, as the most intelligent animals, should be worrying about also. Worry, get educated, then act!
Lewie, Sydney, Australia
- Consciousness is not the sole preserve of humans. Our friends in the animal kingdom experience suffering and well being, albeit in a less dynamic form.
James, Farnham, England
- Vince Baughan seems to forget that to many animals, he too is a 'walking food parcel'. We're not the fastest animals, we're not the strongest animals, we're not the most skilled (we can't fly, we can't use sonar, we swim horribly).
As of this moment, we've out-thought other animals for a few thousand years. There is however no guarantee that this will last forever. I'd suggest Vince try some Quorn and put some seed out for the birds, just for insurance.
edward, Cambridge, UK
- Yes, but not about the mortgage.
Hugo, Coventry, UK
- Worry? The sheep in Wales are terrified.
Al Miller, Rochdale, UK
- Hi,
I'm a Labrador Retriever, and I can tell you that we animals worry - without a doubt.
Some of us worry more than others. I am friends with a Pomeranian who has had several nervous breakdowns. He often worries himself into a tizz while his owner is at work.
All the best,
Rufus
Rufus, London, UK
- Hi,
I'm a Labrador Retriever, and I can tell you that we animals worry - without a doubt.
Some of us worry more than others. I am friends with a Pomeranian who has had several nervous breakdowns. He often worries himself into a tizzy while his owner is at work.
All the best,
Rufus
Rufus, London, UK
- "Walking Food Parcels" What? When was the last time you eat a tiger, eh?
Chris, London
- My Dad's Girlfriend has a Yorkshire Terrier, which they brought round to my Dad's house when she was stopping over. When they went out to dances, or whatever, leaving their bags on the bed in order to go back to her house later, the dog would wait next to their bags. I thought at the time that he was worried that they might go back home without him, and that he was trying to say "Please don't forget the dog."
Later though, I realised one of the bags contained his little doggy treats. I took the bag out of their bedroom, then he started hanging around me all of the time. So I put it back in there.
Dominic, Canterbury UK
- Actually I dont think that animals feel pain or stress.. So no, they don't worry.
For example, my turtles always get crazy when i turn on the light every morning, but they always get scared of me =(.
Jonathan, Colima, Mexico
- Oh good grief, can you not see that Vince was having a laugh, and very funny too. He goes on to presume the reasons we love animals are because of the TV programs on which they talk, then he compares that to 'Bob the Builder' (which has talking trucks and diggers, called JCBs in the UK) and suggests we might start caring for them in the same way too.
Genius.
And none of you got it?
Ah well.
Esra
Esra, Ovraby, Sweden
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