Customer Reviews

Mental Health and Well-Being in Animals

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This is the first text book dedicated to mental health and well-being in animals. Its diverse topics include: animal thinking, emotions, pleasure, suffering, boredom, stress/distress, mental illness and their treatment (with and without drugs), and environmental enrichment, and happiness. It will be of interest to workers in zoos, farms, and laboratories, and anyone with a scholarly interest in animal behavior.

What most distinguishes this book from any before it is that large sections are devoted to positive feelings in animals. One chapter presents evidence from rigorous scientific studies showing that animals' decisions are mediated by the prospect of pleasurable feelings. Another examines the concept of quality of life (QOL) for animals, and asks: Do animals experience true happiness? With all the attention given animal pain and suffering (and rightly so), it is high time science began to address positive elements in animals' experience of their worlds, and this volume is a welcome prod in that direction.

As this important volume shows, we already have the know-how to make meaningful and substantive positive changes to the living environments of animals in laboratories, farms, zoos, and homes. The question is not what we should be doing so much as how do we get it done? Thanks in part to books like this, acknowledging animals as thinking individuals with intrinsic worth may someday be rightfully recognized as a critical turning-point in human cultural evolution.

This book, written by a number of contributors, is one of the most interesting I have read in some time. It explores all of the facets of well-being in pets, and as far as I know is the first to acknowledge and discuss mental health in animals. Many years ago when I first learned animal behavior, we were told not to be anthropomorphic. Simply put, animals did not have the same "feelings" attributed to humans. Since that time, new research has shown us that animals do in fact experience in their own ways many of the emotions experience by people. The book is divided into 21 chapters covering a wide array of topics. These include stress, boredom, pleasure, mental illness in animals and its treatment, and the mental well-being of farm animals, laboratory animals, and birds. It's quite an interesting topic and a book that I would highly recommend!

Shawn Messonnier DVM
The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats, 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog, The Allergy Solution for Dogs