Veterinarians in the United States estimate that 60% of anxiety cases in dogs go undiagnosed by owners.
Southampton University released a study showing that over 50% of Labrador Retrievers and Border Collies develop anxious behaviours by 18 months of age.
Anxiety can show itself in many ways through fear, panic, destruction, vocalisation and frustration. Dogs may start to tremble, hide under a bed and sofa, or attempt to escape the home environment.
While this behaviour can develop at any time of year, it’s most likely to happen around the Autumn and Winter months, during firework season. In this article, part of our dog anxiety posts, we look into one of the many dog products available on the market claiming to help dogs with anxiety problems.
Anti-anxiety dog food
What’s the science behind it?
As mentioned in a previous post about dog anxiety, you should be looking for any ingredients containing the amino acid L-tryptophan.
L-tryptophan is derived from plant or animal sources and is found in most protein-based foods. L-tryptophan increases the levels of serotonin produced, thus creating a feeling of euphoria and happiness.
What ingredients help with dog anxiety?
In this useful infographic, here are the anti-anxiety dog food ingredients you should be looking for when you next go shopping. Don’t forget to share it with your friends and family!
We test some ‘Calm & Relaxed’ dog food
Now we know what ingredients to look for, we thought we’d try out some Pooch & Mutt ‘Calm & Relaxed’ anti-anxiety dog food. They are grain-free and contain Turkey, Sweet Potato, L-tryptophan and Chamomile, all of which are ingredients high in serotonin.
Available in both dog food and treat forms, we decided to test them out on regular DogBuddy visitor, Rosie the Border Terrier puppy. Now, if you’re familiar with this breed of dog, then you’ll understand why we’d want to calm her down a little!
Known to suffer from anxiety when her owners leave, here’s how she got on:
Safe to say, the food did seem to have an affect on Rosie’s behaviour for a period of time.
We recommend you seek your vet’s advice before changing your dog’s diet and use this in addition to other anti-anxiety dog products.
We picked up the dog and bone *ahem* to the guys at Pooch and Mutt and they’re kindly offering our community an exclusive discount of 10% off their products! Just enter dogbuddy10 when you checkout!
Have you tried any anti-anxiety dog food? Don’t forget to share the infographic with your friends and let us know what works for your pooch in the comments below!