A Note from Franklin D. McMillan, DVM, DACVIM

Hi Mark, 

I commend you on an excellent website -- it is an invaluable resource for caregivers of disabled pets. I have recommended your site to many of my pet guardian clients. 

I write today to bring to your attention a new book that I believe would be of great benefit to the pet lovers who visit your site. The book is a compilation of many of the papers I have written for the AVMA Journal as well as lectures I have given internationally on quality of life in animals. I spend a lot of time discussing the lives of disabled pets, and how to maximize their quality of life.

I draw much of the material from my just-published textbook on animal mental health and well-being.

Mental Health And Well-being In Animals - a compilation of many of the papers I have written for the AVMA Journal as well as lectures I have given internationally on quality of life in animals. I spend a lot of time discussing the lives of disabled pets, and how to maximize their quality of life. See more below.

Unlocking the Animal Mind : How Your Pet's Feelings Hold the Key to His Health and Happiness. Making the case that feelings—"comfort, pleasure, discomfort, and suffering"—are the only things that matter to pets, veterinarian McMillan demonstrates a variety of ways that pet owners can observe the impact of emotions on their pets' health and use such information to better the quality of their pets' lives.

Edited by Franklin McMillan

The past few decades have seen a virtual explosion of scientific research in the area of cognition, emotions, suffering, and mental states in animals.

Studies in the field, laboratory, and clinical medical practice have amassed an overwhelming body of evidence demonstrating that mental well-being is of paramount importance in all aspects of animal care. There is no longer any reasonable doubt among researchers that mental health is of equal importance as physical health and animal well-being.

Recent research convincingly shows that physical health is strongly influenced by mental states, thereby making it clear that effective health care requires attention to the emotional well-being as well as physical.

Yet, for its vast importance, mental health in veterinary medicine has to date not been compiled and structured into an organized field or body of knowledge. This information, so critical to the formal establishment of the field of mental health and well-being in animals, remains scattered throughout a wide array of scientific journals.

This book represents the first authoritative reference text bringing together the most up-to-date information in the variety of subjects comprising the field of mental health and well-being in animals. Bringing together a host of distinguished experts internationally noted in the fields of animal emotion research, animal behavior, cognitive science, and neuroscience, the book represents the first authoritative reference compiling the diverse information on the animal mind and combining the revolutionary advances in the cognitive sciences with the knowledge in veterinary medicine and clinical animal behavior. This book takes a descriptive and proscriptive approach to mental health, mixing the scientific research with practical information with clinical applications for veterinary health professionals to use in practice.

Contents:
Preface-Franklin D. McMillan

Part 1- Foundations of Animal Mental Health and Well-being
1. On Understanding Animal Mentation- Bernard E. Rollin
2. The Question of Animal Emotions: An Ethological Perspective- Marc Bekoff
3. The Experience of Pleasure in Animals- Michel Cabanac
4. The Science of Suffering- Marian S. Dawkins
5. Affective-Social Neuroscience Approaches to Understanding Core Emotional Feelings in Animals- Jaak Panksepp

Part 2 Emotional distress, suffering, and mental illness
6. Animal Boredom: Understanding the Tedium of Confined Lives- Francoise Wemelsfelder
7. Stress, Distress, and Emotion: Distinctions and Implications for Mental Well-being- Franklin D. McMillan
8. Interrelationships Between Mental and Physical Health: The Mind-Body Connection- Michael W. Fox
9. Mental Illness in Animals – The Need for Precision in Terminology and Diagnostic Criteria- Karen L. Overall
10. Treatment of Emotional Distress and Disorders – Non-pharmacologic Methods- John C. Wright, Pam Reid, and Zack Rozier
11. Treatment of Emotional Distress and Disorders – Pharmacologic Methods- Amy R. Marder and J. Michelle Posage
12. Emotional Maltreatment in Animals- Franklin D. McMillan
Part 3 Mental Wellness
13. The Concept of Quality of Life in Animals- Franklin D. McMillan
14. Giving Power to Animals- Hal Markowitz and Katherine Eckert
15. Psychological Well-being in Animals- Suzanne Hetts, Dan Estep, Amy R. Marder
16. Do Animals Experience True Happiness?- Franklin D. McMillan
17. Animal Happiness: A Philosophical View- Bernard E. Rollin

Part 4 Special Populations
18. Mental Well-being in Farm Animals: How They Think and Feel- Temple Grandin
19. Mental Health Issues in Laboratory Animals- Andrew N. Rowan and Leslie King
20. Animal Well-Being and Research Outcomes- Hal Markowitz and Gregory B. Timmel
21. Mental Health Issues in Captive Birds- Lynne Seibert About the Editor: Franklin D. McMillan, DVM, Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, private practice clinician, adjunct clinical faculty member, Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine. Readership: Veterinarians and veterinary technicians; holistic, acupuncture, alternative, and complimentary medicine veterinary practitioners; animal behaviorists and trainers; veterinary students and libraries; cognitive scientists, neuroscientists, ethologists, comparative psychologists, and animal welfare scientists; animal welfare groups.

Availability: Available for Backorder
Publication Date: 2004
Size: 416 pages; 7 x 10
Binding: Hardback
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Formerly Iowa State Press, a Blackwell Publishing Company