Do you have an animal companion that’s suffered from some sort of trauma?
Did you know that trauma stores in the body at the cellular level and even into their DNA?
Trauma Defined
Trauma is something that happened that caused distress, emotional activation or physical pain. It is the animal’s impression and memories associated with the circumstances that create the stored trauma. It could be a significant event(s)/living situation, and it could be one or a series of smaller “T” traumas that can impact your pet’s well-being.
Healing From Trauma
If trauma isn’t addressed and healed, it will come out of the body in different ways such as disease, emotional imbalances, and / or behavior challenges.
There are many ways that an animal naturally will release and heal from trauma. We seem to understand and tangibly see the healing of obvious physical injuries. With the help of you and your care team, these injuries are treated and the body works it’s magic to heal. Once the physical damage is no longer apparent or just a scar remains, doesn’t mean the animal is healed. That’s only one aspect, important though.
The parts of healing are more subtle, complicated and disguised. Animals will instinctively start to heal emotionally and mentally as well as possibly store the trauma. Both serve a purpose. Releasing trauma will help heal all areas of their being and storing it is a way to ensure and protect against the trauma from happening again. It’s a fine balance and it can be difficult to navigate through for any animal. And depending on their personality, amount of trauma, generational trauma and their overall health, all play factors in how well they heal as a whole.
Some things animals will do to help liberate themselves from trauma:
- Stretch
- Move
- Isolate
- Connect
- Rest
These are important and necessary for your pet to be able to start to heal beyond the physical. Their needs may change as the layers of their wounds shed. So, for instance, they may seek connection and support from their people, pack, herd, etc. Other times, they may want to isolate and decompress. Being mindful and aware of how your animal companion is behaving or responding – be it a cat, dog, horse, or other pet – is helpful to recognize their needs and healing process. Knowing and understanding them and their personality will also give you great clues and insight to behavioral changes you see in them.
Sometimes, especially with significant, repeated trauma or even smaller traumas that one might not see as a having a major impact on the animal, it’s not enough for the animal to heal on his or her own or they can get stuck. Also, there is evidence that animals can transfer trauma from one generation to another. Regardless of where the trauma came from, their body and nervous system are literally trying to spare themselves from perceived danger, known or unknown. When stuck or stored and accumulated is where you’ll often see issues arise as the body starts to unconsciously try to deal with the damage. Mental, physical, emotional and behavioral issues can develop.
Support Tools
If you find yourself in this situation with your loved animal companion that has or is experiencing some level of trauma m, there is hope and are things you can do to help them.
- Bodywork
- Music – healing tones
- Meditation
- Energy Work, such as Reiki
- Animal Communication
Working with a profession who can provide treatments and teach you how to hold interactive sessions with your pet between appointments can significantly support and encourage their healing and reduce the amount of time before you start seeing positive results.
Find someone that can nurture and guide you and who has the right expertise, knowledge and communication style you desire. Expect that your pet’s healing will come in stages and make take some time to overcome, heal and move forward. Patience and consistent care are key to release trauma and regulate his or her nervous system, whether it’s old buried wounds or fresh ones.
When to do Emotional Release Healing
Here are some examples of when you might seek out healing support for your pet.
- Major traumatic event such as an accident, injury, fight or abuse has occurred
- Life changes or events:
- Weaning
- New home/living situation
- Change in environment
- Start or change competition,
- Traveling
- Adding or losing a family/herd/pack member
- Re-homing
- Stressful experiences such as veterinarian appointments, stays away from you or home, new care team members, etc.
- Pets with anxiety or fearful tendencies can indicate early or generational trauma.
How often to Treat
This will be very unique to your animal companions health; mental, physical and emotional state. Their personality, level and amount of trauma, how they process their emotions and what their own coping mechanisms are and their environment are all factors in their healing. The more awareness you have about their life, what’s happening / happened and your ability to take precautionary measures, provide a safe, supportive environment and partner with them to heal and establish a healthy balanced state. Life throws ups and downs no matter how careful we are, so being able to provide emotional support and healing as things arise can help optimize your pets’ quality of life, which I know you only want the best for them.
With my clients, we work together to support your animal companions and help to bring out the best in them physically, emotionally, mentally and behaviorally. Care plans are reviewed and modified as things change with you and your pet. Your needs and capacity are taken into consideration as well as the needs of your animal companion.
If you’re wondering about your own pet’s emotional health, reach out. Animal Intuition is here to help. Sessions are available nationwide.