Dogs can suffer from OCD too, but researchers suggest that they could offer a simplified model to study the human condition after finding genetic links. The researchers identified four specific genes associated with OCD in dogs that could help further research on the more complex OCD in humans.

OCD in dogs involve constant grooming, blanket sucking, suckling, and chasing their own shadows or tails. Some dog breeds are more susceptible to it than others. Current mouse models are effective, but a dog would provide a better model since the condition occurs naturally and clomipramine antidepressants or SSRIs relieve symptoms, just like for humans.

Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA, was the senior author of this study. According to Lindblad-Toh, “It is intriguing that the clinical presentation and treatment strategies for OCD are so similar between dogs and people. We therefore designed our study to take advantage of comparisons between the behavior in dogs and humans.”

For this a genome-wide association study (GWAS), the researchers looked at and compared the genomes of Doberman pinschers, bull terriers, German shepherds and other dogs susceptible to the condition. From this, they identified case-only genetic mutations, specifically the CTNNA2, ATXN1, PGCP and CDH2 genes that may trigger the disorder.