OSU Behavior Service looks for root causes of animals' anxieties

Thursday, January 18, 2024

Media Contact: Taylor Bacon | Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator | 405-744-6728 | taylor.bacon@okstate.edu

Imagine you’re taken to an unfamiliar place, with people speaking a language you don’t understand. The lights are blinding as a gnawing anxiety consumes you. A sense of unease sets in, causing your heart to race.This is a common scenario for animals placed in a new home with humans or when your pet visits the vet.

The unfamiliar places, people and lack of communication spark different behaviors such as anxiety and aggression. Some animals’ primal instincts even tell them to fight and escape. Unfortunately, these behaviors are the No. 1 cause of euthanasia in dogs and the main cause of relinquishment to shelters.

At Oklahoma State University’s Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Dr. Leticia Fanucchi, clinical assistant professor of behavior medicine, is using the Behavior Service to diagnose and treat behavior disorders and dispel animals’ fears, making their home safer for them and their owners.

“We are not trainers, but we use specific training techniques to counter-condition undesired behaviors and desensitize pets to fear-eliciting stimuli,” Fanucchi said. “... There are medical conditions that can cause behavior problems or aggravate an already existing behavior problem. Vice versa, there are behavioral disorders that can cause a medical condition.”

Medical conditions like gastrointestinal disorders can lead to anxiety, potentially resulting in eating disorders like pica, which can cause bowel obstructions that require emergency surgery. But the opposite is also true. Behavior disorders like anxiety can be the underlying cause of pica, which ends up causing a bowel obstruction.

Cats may develop behavior issues, like marking or inappropriate elimination, due to sensitive urinary tracts affected by anxiety. Additionally, feline anxiety can lead to urinary blockages, necessitating emergency care. Neurological disorders, such as cognitive dysfunction, may trigger behavior problems as pets undergo cognitive decline.

It’s crucial for veterinarians to identify the primary condition and implement a multifaceted treatment approach.

“Sometimes animals are not being naughty because they want to misbehave. They are in pain,” Fanucchi said. “Pain is a big contributor to behavior changes. So, if they are suffering from something that we can’t tell, because we’re not investigating [the root of the problem], and they show a behavior problem, we’re going to label them naughty, without knowing that we’re missing a component.”

The Behavior Service is not limited to College of Veterinary Medicine students learning about behavioral issues in animals as Fanucchi also does plenty of outreach.

She expanded the service and is making an impact in the community by collaborating with Stillwater Animal Welfare. In this partnership, CVM students assess shelter animals, devise and execute training protocols for these pets. Subsequently, these animals find new homes through adoption, and their new owners are offered a reduced-rate opportunity to continue treatment with Fanucchi for the next year.

“I also have a prison dog program at the Mabel Bassett Correctional Facility,” Fanucchi said. “We go there and assess dogs that come from shelters. They’re placed in the program for eight to 12 weeks — depending on the dog — we assess, diagnose, put them on a protocol, and they live in the prison with the inmates until they graduate and are adopted out.”

Perry Jacob, a fourth-year OSU veterinary student from New Jersey, spent two weeks on rotation in the Behavior Service — a time that forever changed the way he interacts with his own pets.

“A lot of people have dogs with undesirable behavior. They tried going to a trainer, they tried going to their veterinarian who sent them to a trainer. And it wasn’t working, because a lot of the bad behaviors were rooted in anxiety, fear, compulsive disorder, even senility,” Jacob said.

In the Behavior Service, Jacob saw how animals could be treated for disorders and how crucial the clinic was to pet owners in the community.

“A trainer isn’t going to be able to help that because we need medication, we need pharmacotherapy, and all these other things. So, people bring their pets here to see Dr. Fanucchi so they can get behavioral medicine,” he said. 

Amy McGovern sought assistance from the Behavior Service for her 2-year-old mini-Schnauzer, Daisy, due to her increased anxiety.

Daisy, adopted at 8 months old and an agility competition participant, encountered travel difficulties, experiencing car sickness, appetite loss and developed floor texture aversions.

“Our vet told us about [OSU’s Behavior Service] because she has anxiety and things weren’t getting fixed with what the regular vet could do,” McGovern said.

Daisy then came to the Behavior Service, where a comprehensive eightweek protocol was implemented which included behavior modification, environmental enrichment, desensitization, behavior medications, pheromones and nutritional support.

“She’s doing a lot better since our first appointment,” McGovern said. “We switched her medicine, switched her food and we do some exercises at home every day.”

Fanucchi aims to raise awareness about pet behavior disorders and expand her service to treat more patients and other species such as birds and horses.

“If we want to decrease euthanasia and the number of pets relinquished to shelters, we need to address the animal’s mental well-being. That’s what we lack in most of the institutions in academia ...” Fanucchi said. “We need more people interested in behavior to help these pets and more universities offering a behavior elective so that students have at least some opportunity to get more familiar with how to diagnose and how to treat these cases.”

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Photo By: Taylor Bacon

Story By: Sydney Trainor | Vet Cetera Magazine