"Dogs can be gray of stress'

Dogs can take over a gray coat to stress, says a new study. Dogs are often anxious and example pooping in the house and urinate, have a relatively often gray hair in their coats. This finding could potentially be useful in the diagnosis of anxiety disorders in animals. That American researchers report in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

The scientists studied 400 photographs of dogs and found in each animal whether many, few or no gray hairs were in the coat. The owners of all photographed dogs had also completed a questionnaire about the degree to which the animals showed symptoms of stress, such as hair loss, restless behavior, fear of loud noises and pooping or urinate in the house. 

The study shows that dogs have a lot of stress behavior exhibit on average more gray hairs than four legged who rarely or never show anxious behavior. The study suggests according to researcher Thomas Smith that vets can watch the fur of a dog to determine if the animal suffers from anxiety attacks, or perhaps even developed an anxiety disorder. 

Smith was initially surprised by the results. "At first I was skeptical about the hypothesis that stress can lead to gray hair," he explains in a news website LiveScience. "But when we analyzed the data showed evidence pretty convincing." Not all dogs get quick gray hair. Female dogs significantly faster gray than males, according to the study.

Love & Kiss

Shavida