Can dogs and other animals have the same mental health problems that humans have?

No way to know.

If a human being inherited a “smart” critter’s cognitive abilities, the human would be regarded as seriously impaired.

Anyway, most human cognitive disorders are significant only because they interfere with a human being’s ability to interact in a social context.

Animals don’t really choose to exist in a social context. They simply survive or die in whatever milieu they are cast by fate.

I would find it surprising if they did not. We’re animals, they’re animals.

Although a lot of mental problems are the result of too much time on our hands. Substance abuse, eating disorders, paranoia – if you spend every waking minute looking for food while avoiding predators, you don’t have time for that crap.

I agree @jaytkay.

@josie The question was prompted by this comment by rojo on another question.

Birds have been known to show human-like mental illness symptoms when they get neglected in their cages. They will rock back and forth and pull out all their feathers.

@keobooks’ comment reminds me of crazy zoo animals. I remember an elephant that would pace back and forth, bonking it’s head on one rock and then another,. Day in and day out. It was awful to see. And of course the circus elephants that go nuts and rampage.

I have read that working elephants don’t do that. They’re used for forestry, as heavy equipment in some places. Again, they don’t have time for that insanity nonsense. They have work to do!!

Maybe to a degree but animals seem to forget & move on easier when treated well. But they make dog xanax so….

Many yes. They can suffer from depression, OCD behaviors, aggression, ( conduct disorder lol ) They can mourn, fail to thrive and ultimately die of emotional stress such as geese can fall depressed and die upon losing a long time mate. My goose was on anti-depressants after his mate of 10 years died and the vet was worried about him.

I do know there are not any sociopathic or narcissistic animals except man. haha
Of course animals can suffer mental and emotional health problems based on nature/nurture just like us.

Actually, there are sociopath possibilities among gorillas, anyway. Jane Goodall documented one mother who killed her kids and displayed other destructive habits. I’ll have to track that research down.

My dog, Dakota, is narcissistic, but she’s earned it.

Yes some such as add and adhd and always remeber you can give an animal a cold or a diesease but they can’t give it to you.

They can give you lots of diseases @crushingandreaming.

Cats can dogs Can’t ask your vet.

Both cats and dogs can transmit rabies to us. We can get Toxoplasmosis from cats. We can get bacterial diseases from dogs and cats too.

Ask your vet but no dogs can’t if they have their shots.

Well, yeah! If they’ve had their shots they don’t get rabies so that can’t pass them on. But we can get diseases from unvaccinated dogs and cats and we can get bacterial diseases from them even if they’re vaccinated.

And you can’t catch a cold from a dog and vise versa. http://www.petmd.com/dog/seasonal/evr_dg_cold_germs_and_your_dog