In Australia, a dog suffering from anxiety counts on the unwavering support of his little brother: a British Shorthair cat.
Horlicks is an adorable golden retriever from Australia. Since he was very young, Horlicks has suffered from separation anxiety. This behavioral disorder causes him to manifest signs of anguish whenever he is separated from his owner.
Although the dog is very playful and affectionate most of the time, his anxiety has worsened over the years. In addition, his mistress filmed the dog in her absence and the footage wasn’t encouraging.
The resulting video showed the dog in distress and waiting by the door for his owner’s return.
Faced with this situation, Horlicks’s owner sought a way to relieve her four-legged friend’s stress, the woman told the Dodo:
“When he celebrated his fifth birthday, I thought that another sibling would help him overcome all this separation anxiety,”
She had the idea of adopting a new pet, but this time around, she went for a British Shorthair kitten and she named him Hero.
An inseparable duo
Hero’s adoption didn’t cause any rivalry in the household. On the contrary, from the beginning, Horlicks was excited by the newcomer’s arrival. The dog couldn’t wait to say hi to the grey cat.
Hero, on the other hand, was initially slightly shy, having never met a dog. But, overall, the meeting still went off without a hitch.
Despite their differences, Horlicks and Hero became very close. After a few days at the house, the feline realized that the golden retriever was just a gentle giant who needed to gain confidence.
Today, the two animals are an inseparable pair: they eat and sleep together, but their favorite activity is walking next to each other. At home, they enjoy playing catch and other games.
Hero is always the first to initiate playtime, even when his roommate sleeps. The furry ball of energy likes to lure his canine companion into his adventures.
Hero is the golden retriever’s therapist
Once it was clear that these pets were two peas in a pod, their foster mom decided to test Hero’s effectiveness in easing Holicks’ separation anxiety.
To do so, she went away for thirty minutes. When she returned home, she noticed her dog was more relaxed, she told the DoDo news site.
“Hero is a very confident cat. They tend to influence each other. So, I think Horlicks has now improved in terms of separation anxiety,”
The young woman shares her pets’ adventures on Instagram and TikTok. In her story for the Dodo, she concluded:
“You can see that they love each other. They have this strong feeling for each other.”