Behavioural Advice

Behavioural problems are common in cats and dogs. They can also occur in other pets in particular caged birds. The causes of behavioural problems are often complex with some problems having a medical cause.

Behavioural problems can often be from the combined effect of the pet’s learnt behaviour, their environment and their individual personality/breed and brain chemistry.

Examples of behavioural problems include inappropriate urination (especially in cats), noise phobias (particularly from thunderstorms), separation anxiety, aggression, feather picking, over grooming and nuisance barking. A common reason for surrender of a pet or even euthanasia, in an otherwise healthy animal, is due to problem behaviour. 

In order to investigate behavioural problems our veterinarians will need to take a full history, perform a physical exam and will generally recommend blood and urine tests to rule out medical causes and to allow medical treatment if considered appropriate.

Treatment includes resolving any underlying medical reasons, changing the pet’s environment, modifying the pet’s behaviour by training and the use of mood modifying medication.

A committed owner is needed in many cases to address behavioural problems as most issues cannot be resolved easily and considerable time and patience is needed before a behavioural problem can be improved.

Please contact us for more detailed advice on specific behavioural problems.