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Nervous Male Cavalier (18 months old)

TonySlater

Member
I am a bit worried about my male Cav (18 months old). He went out in the garden a couple of days ago and found some small white feathers hanging around the lawn. He started barking at themi. Since then he has seemed to be much more nervous than before. He sometimes looks around as if he can see things that aren't there and sometimes dives off in a frantic sort of way.... He also refused to go into his bed for a while after seeing the feathers (his bed has a fleece in the bottom the same colour as the feathers he saw. I am quite worried about what effect it might have had on him (I knew beforehand that he didn't like feathers, but didn't know they were out there iin the garden otherwise I would have cleared them before letting him out. Does anyone have any advice. He goes walks everyday and seems to be ok when walking and also plays ball quite happily but he does seem somewhat more nervous and unsettled for the past few days since he saw the feathers blowing in the wind on the garden.

Any advice greatly received. Many Thanks Tony
 
I have no advice but i must say ...
poor little guy! im so sorry he is having such a hard time. *sending him lots of hugs*
 
Puppies and adults often get skittish at odd things they haven't seen before or that they just don't like. One of mine was afraid of traffic cones for a while and another always is wary of fluttering plastic bags. :rolleyes: So that's normal, maybe feathers are unfamiliar or scary for some reason but I wouldn't worry about that. Like pople, they can have quirks! I also wouldn't really think the odd behaviour is related to seeing feathers. Dogs see limited ranges of colours so he wouldn't be likely to associate the colour of a fleece with feathers. But if the behaviour is odd, I'd take notes at what happens and when and why you think it is odd. If he continues to seem fearful and is bolting around or whatever, I'd talk to your vet. There are some neurological problems that the breed is prone to that can manifest themselves in odd behaviour like this -- flycatching behaviour, snapping at things that aren't there, whipping around as if to bite at something that isn't there, suddenly bolting because of painful or skin crawling sensations. So in short the feathers are no big deal. The other behaviour, if it continues and there's no explanation for it and no obvious medical cause, should be explored further first by a vet and if that brings no response, then a neurologist.

Most likely it is nothing, but just keep an eye out and keep a behaviour diary if it becomes frequent so that you have frequency and actual behaviour noted down to discuss with a vet.
 
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