8 formas que HUMANIZAR a tu MASCOTA (gatos 🐈 y perros 🐕) | ¿Es una forma de maltrato? 💢

Today we're going to talk about whether it's good or bad to humanize our animal companions. I know I'm getting into some murky waters, so please keep your comments. Haters in 3, 2, 1. Hi, I'm Carlos, a clinical veterinarian at Small Animals. Welcome to the Happy Pets and Families Channel. This was a topic I really wanted to talk about. Well, it really got me thinking about it that you've asked me some questions in the Facebook group and have even shared one of those huge posts where you discuss the pros and cons. And I said, well, let's think about it and see. What do you think? Is it good or bad to humanize our animal companions? Is it a form of abuse? I don't intend to give you the absolute truth. I'm just going to tell you my point of view, which may not be the same as yours, and that's fine. That's perfect. You, you may think one way and I may think the complete opposite. Don't crucify me for it, because that's just my opinion. But what does it mean to humanize our animal companions? There is no universal definition for it, but I understand that it means creating human needs for our dogs or cats that they do not have. Well, up to this point, I think everything is fine. We start from the premise that we all live in a society that is humanized. Logically, it is made according to the needs of human beings. From the point of view that any animal that lives with us is already living in that society, we are. Well, it will always be receiving a type of stimulus that is inevitably human. Your cat, for example, lives in a house. It does not live in nature. It is among your things, on its sofa, in its bed. But we understand that these things do not cause any type of problem or emotional stress for the cat. They can develop in a healthy way, even living in a house. But what about dressing our animal companions? Well, if we think of taking our dog out into the street dressed as if it were a fashion victim, than every day with a different outfit or even jewelry. Or maybe we also think about when people dress up their cats simply for personal amusement. The cat doesn't find that funny, and it will surely cause stress. And we already know how bad stress is for cats because it ends up triggering diseases. Well, in that case, logically, we are doing something that can have a negative effect on them. Why would going out dressed up in the street have a negative effect on your dog? Well, because, for example, he goes to the park and other dogs don't see him as the same and don't relate to him. In other words, there is a socialization problem there. You don't look like me. I'm not like you. You. We are going to keep our distance or even react aggressively. That could be the case too. Of course, that also happens, for example, if you put perfumes or smells on them that are strange to them. But what happens, for example, if you live with a greyhound and you have to take him out in the winter with a coat on because it's very cold outside and it's too much for him? That would also be humanizing them. That would also mean taking them out into the street dressed. But perhaps in this case, what you're doing is preventing them from having any kind of health problem, from going out into the street because they have very little hair and the cold can affect them a lot. For example, a chihuahua, which is a small dog in a cold place, you have to take it out into the street protected from the cold, otherwise the poor dog will have a terrible time. Or for example, with very old animals that have arthritis and we want to protect them from the cold and humidity. And in addition to a coat, that coat is also waterproof when they go out for a walk. In that case, we are giving them a humane solution to a problem that they have. Would that be humanizing? Well, perhaps yes, but. But it is not causing any kind of negative repercussion, or the positive repercussion that it will have is greater than the negative effects that it may have there. I have a conflict. But maybe that greyhound lives with you in the north of Spain or on top of a mountain. You're going to let the dog fight the cold just because you say no? Putting a coat on humanizes you, and that's bad. And that's why I don't do it in this case. It may not be so clear, but there are things that really catch my attention. For example, when someone takes their dogs out in a stroller and doesn't let them walk outside or play in the park or even socialize with other animals, that dog is going to have a tremendous psychological and behavioral disorder. You're not letting them develop as a dog. You're not letting them learn to live with other dogs. In fact, when these types of animals come to me for consultation and we have to do something to them, it's very complicated to handle them because they are animals that are overprotected and have behavioral problems. And it's true that overprotection of animals causes behavioral problems. In fact, it even causes physical problems because, well, it has been shown that animals that are more afraid, more stressed, or even have separation anxiety end up suffering from diseases more frequently, for example skin diseases, or end up having a much shorter life expectancy. And I didn't make up the stress thing. There are already studies that point to these theories. I'll leave it below in the description box in case you want to take a look. Humanization taken to a super extreme point leads to overprotection and that causes your dog or cat to have problems. Very serious health and behavioral problems. Fearful reactions in dogs in parks lately happen because that dog doesn't know how to behave with another dog that is much bigger than it is and it scares it because we have never put it in front of us and said, if it's a friend, it's playing with you, don't worry. Instead we have decided to pick it up off the ground and bring it with us because it could do something bad to it. I'm not going to let him play with other dogs because what if the other dog bites him? Or for example, cats can also suffer from separation anxiety, as can dogs. An animal that lives with that type of suffering all day long is suffering, is having a very serious health problem. For example, my neighbor upstairs, my neighbor upstairs has dogs that suffer from separation anxiety. They all cry in their house for eight or ten hours a day. I mean, you think that you are giving your dog everything and that your dog is very happy with you. But however, when you are not there, your dog is suffering terribly. In these types of cases, the humanization and overprotection that comes with this extreme humanization is something very negative, devastating for the health of dogs and cats. Something that we consider does not harm them because, well, they are in a stroller. How bad is that? Well, in the end, in the long run, it ends up having an impact and taking its toll. Purse style puppies, for example, are usually Chihuahuas. Many of them behave aggressively towards other humans. When they see another person or smell someone who smells different, they act defensively and react like piranhas. They haven't learned to interact with anyone other than their family. They've only interacted with a very, very closed environment. Look for a dog trainer or an ethologist because they'll help your dog react normally the way they should. Well, the two legged puppies are the icing on the cake because they're not just walking on two legs. They look really cute in an online video. Walking to school with a little purse and wearing little Dresses. That's the ultimate in humanizing a dog. It can also cause joint problems. You are causing their whole body to change. And where their body is used to supporting itself on four legs, they have to support themselves only on two. And on top of that, jumping around. In that case, perhaps if we are talking about severe mistreatment and like that, well, perhaps other things that we do daily at home that we think will not have any negative impact on our animal companion or our cat. Will putting covers on my cat's nails benefit my cat? No, it will benefit my furniture because it will not scratch them. But my cat will continue to be frustrated because it will try to mark with its claws and will not be able to. It suffers stress in silence. It does not tell you, but it says to itself, oh my goodness, what am I going to do with this? What you have to do is give your cat a healthy alternative so that it can do these types of things in a place where it will not bother you. On a scratching post, celebrate, for example, a dog's or cat's birthday. What is that? Is it good? Is it bad? Will it have a positive effect on him? Or will it cause him any kind of problem? If you put a special can on his birthday, or even take a picture of him with a candle on top with the number of years, and that's all, well, that's fine. But if you organize a party and put a little hat on him, don't want him to eat any food other than the cake that you've delicately made for him, and so on. Well, in that case it's clearly negative, obviously not with immediate repercussions, but if we look at all that together, it could end up affecting your animal companion badly. Let him live his normal life and don't try to generate these types of events that are for you, not for him. Well, if that's all you do, there's nothing wrong with that. Well, to me it doesn't make sense and therefore I don't think it should be done. But that's my opinion. Jose can have another one, or you can have another one. I understand what you mean, but no, since I don't see anything wrong with having a birthday party for him, it's. It's not something he needs you to do. I think that's it. When we go from their needs to ours, if we treat our dogs and cats according to their needs, we'll be doing something good for them. If we're creating their needs, that's clearly negative, in my opinion. It's like When I was against bathing cats. Well, in another video here on the channel, I'm not against bathing them. If your cat has a health problem with fungus and they're using a therapeutic shampoo to eliminate the fungus, obviously it's in that case you have to do it. I'm against bathing your cat every 15 days or every week just so they look pretty and beautiful and smell like roses. Well, listen, cats don't have to smell like roses. They have to smell like cats smell. If they get their paws dirty, of course, logically clean them. But you don't have to create a schedule saying, no, I have to bathe my cat every Sunday because they don't need it. What? I've left you speechless. So what does all this mean? That we bring our animal companion and there you go. You have to figure it out, because nature would have you figure it out yourself. And I'm not going to give you absolutely anything. No. A bed. Well, that's not humanizing. The fact is that we have to give them what they need to be. Well, from a physical point of view, but also from an emotional point of view, you don't have to get upset if you live with a golden retriever and you go to the park one day after it's rained and your golden gets muddy up to its ears, because your golden is tremendously happy doing that. Obviously now you might have to clean it so that all the mud doesn't dry on it and so on. Your dog did that because he felt like it, because it makes him feel fulfilled. In that case, you have to accompany him and throw the ball and play with him as if it were a normal day, even if it hadn't rained. But hey, we're human too, and it's normal for it to bother you when your dog gets dirty. Of course. And maybe your dog enjoys a day in the park when it hasn't rained and doesn't get dirty. So at this point, you might have to do something a little different to take your dog out. Okay? Okay. But if it gets to the point, don't get upset. It's okay. It's just a dog. It has to get dirty. I had a client at a place where it's typical, right, that the Euorci get a little doll here, something that they think is very cute and so on. Why? Because the hairs up here are very long, and if not, they get in his eyes. Okay, well, those are the hairdresser's things. But if a client gets angry with me and comes the next day saying that her bun has come undone and that she needs to do it again so that she looks nice and stylish. Well, hey, maybe tell the hairdresser to cut those hairs a little more so that they don't get in her eyes. Did you pay for a service? Do you want them to do it properly? Yes, well, but it's a service that again, is a necessity, that the dog doesn't have to carry Peppa Pig up here on a hair tie. Why do I always say Peppa Pig? Okay, by that rule of three, neutering dogs and cats is humanizing them to the maximum. Well, if you neuter them simply so that they don't mark you at home, then in that case, yes, if you neuter them because there is some other type of health problem that you want to prevent or stress that you want to prevent. That's why we shouldn't just see castration as a convenience for ourselves. Your dog is in your house and wants to reproduce all the time and can't go out, which causes him a lot of stress. Or there are even dogs that stop eating. Or in a cat, where you're going to prevent her from getting a mammary tumor, for example, which in 90% of cases of mammary tumors in cats are malignant. There you are doing something positive for her health. After all, even if you were thinking of it as a benefit for you so that it doesn't affect you at home, in the end, the health of your dog or cat could benefit from the fact that you're doing it. And so taking them to the vet is humanizing them. It's not humanizing them. Is it good? Is it bad? In my opinion, I'll tell you, it's also a very good thing to take them to the vet because you're preventing them from getting sick. They obviously wouldn't do any of this in the wild. But we also have to think about the life expectancy of a dog or cat. In the wild, they don't live more than six or seven years, if they're lucky, because they're facing dangers every day. And living with this eliminates those dangers and allows them to live a long life for much longer, probably without any health problems. And also happy, because they're in a social environment where we're giving them what they need, food, shelter, protection from the cold, and also love, affection and respect, which is very important. I think a lot of deconstruction is needed. Yes, yes, that's true. Even I probably have to deconstruct myself and say, okay, maybe there are Things that I said in the past that are no longer valid because you assumed them with the wrong point of view from the beginning. We all have to evolve, after all. And so when you read somewhere on the Internet, humanizing is bad because you're denaturalizing your animal companion. There are some elements of humanization that we could rather associate with domestication that are good for our dogs or cats. We are giving them a safe environment, an environment where they won't have any kind of problem, and we are preventing them from suffering from it. If you think about it with your dog or cat before doing anything, do they need this or not? If you see that they need it, go ahead. But if you suddenly have some kind of butt, that's fine. But maybe think about it very carefully here, because you are possibly doing something for yourself and you are projecting it onto your animal companion. And it is something that in the end they don't need, and that can hurt them. It can even have a negative impact on their health in the long term, mentally or physically. Well, I have already given you my point of view. Now I am also interested in knowing a little bit about what you think. All opinions are welcome in the comments, always with respect, I haven't messed with anyone. I know that. This is something that I've considered and that you may think differently, and that's absolutely fine. But if you want to let me know, go ahead. I'm open to all possibilities. As long as they're not haters. Well, those are haters too, who amuse me a lot. And that's it for today's video. If you liked it, give it a like and share it with everyone. Also, remember, remember to subscribe to our channel if you haven't already. And we have a secondary channel here on YouTube called Questions and Answers from a Veterinarian. Stop by and subscribe too. And today we meet Timmy, who lives with Raquel and greets us from Colombia. Oh, how cute. Bitcha, the black one, and Chiri, who is the white kitty, live with Ida Salazar. And this little guy who looks like a model, lives with the esteemed Pataparta. How cute it is. Thank you very much for following the Happy Pets and Families channel. And I'll see you in the next video. Do you like it? Well, of course you do. If you bought it. It's a bit tropical. Although I think it won't be a hit by the time this video comes out. Hater comments. Let's start from the beginning. Okay? With the dress, Tin Tin is a pineapple. Okay. You know what the news anchor's trick is in that case. My goodness. I mean. Well, I'm telling you. I mean, from my point of view. I'm telling you, if I have the tag, it has the tag. If you had asked me at that moment, I would have said, hey, look, I think it's better not to. But anyway, that's it. They were asking me about buying clothes so I had to sell them to them. What can I tell you? That it's bothering you. It's not bothering him. The important thing here is your dog, not you. That's what really gets on people's nerves. You don't take them for a walk in a bucolic field full of poppies. You take them to a park that was made by a human and where there are dirt paths, grassy areas and so on. It doesn't fit in with nature in general. Yeah.