Can animals have mental disabilities?

By Rachel Blaser, University of San Diego Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Are there any animals with mental disabilities? – Adria G. Max was a fun-loving Labrador retriever who enjoyed going for car rides and greeting clients at his owner’s office. But around age 16, Max suddenly started having accidents in the house and stopped sleeping well at night. He became irritable and seemed not to understand the words and commands he had long known. Max was showing symptoms of a disorder called cognitive dysfunction syndrome, which can affect cats and dogs as they age. In dogs, it looks very similar to Alzheimer’s disease, which causes memory loss and dementia in humans, usually as they grow older. I study how humans and other animals learn, and my research involves working with many different species, from bees to pigeons and crawfish. Part of my work involves paying attention to conditions that can affect mental health in animals. Sometimes genetic or developmental changes affect how the brain is built, which can lead to mental disabilities or learning differences. In other cases, animals...