I bet the first thing we will all say is, “Take him/her to the vet!!” A good choice without any question, but let’s look further. The vet can take a blood draw and a urine sample, and get a basic read-out on how well the dog’s body is functioning. Great! Most times we get reassuring results and that, of course, eases our concerns. If the results raise questions, we will most likely follow what the vet recommends. Good!

Now let’s look at what “we” can add to their recovery process. Perhaps your beloved companion is a toughie, and will simply power through whatever is undermining his feeling well. Or maybe your animal is a gentle soul who senses your worry and then worries about you worrying. They certainly do feel what is going on with us emotionally. To me, there is absolutely no question about that. What’s tricky about worrying is that our beloved companion is not able to “evaluate” our worry; i.e. come to a “conclusion” that we may simply be feeling “sorry” that he/she is hurting.

It is possible that your worry may activate the part of the brain that turns on the fight or flight mechanism. That mechanism doesn’t …read more