Thanks for writing this post. To answer your final question, I understand that depression is affected by both environmental factors such as diet and socialisation as well as some having a predisposition toward depression in their genes.

Animals can provide so much happiness in our lives. It is so rare that I hear or read a story relating to animals that I don't think of my own loved and lost animals. I was upset when my dog of fifteen years had to be euthanised because of a brain aneurysm that was causing him painful seizures and I was devastated when my budgerigar pal, Bodhi died through lack of care while my mother was taking care of him. This shocked me to my core. She didn't keep his food and water up and I found him laying on the bottom of his house. When he was living with me, I always had his house open and he would fly around the house, go where he pleased and lived in freedom. He would often spend time on me. He would nibble my ears, climb on my head and talk to me. It was devaststing.

Thankfully, his loss didn't spiral me into a state of depression. Maybe because I gave everything in to my grieving process. I cried so hard I gave myself headaches, I talked to myself and verbalized my apologies for everything that had happened and thanked him so much for everything he gave me. He was and never will be forgotten. I buried him in my backyard for me. The whole process was for me. I know he is gone now, but at the time, I felt like I had to treat him so carefully and gently. And I did.

I am not a religious person and there has been no substantial evidence to convince me otherwise but I certainly do hope that in some way, he is able to remember or think of me from some other place.

Fast forward about six months in my life (which was about six years ago), I found out about many of the ways that the rest of the world treats animals. We are shown and told of love and care, yet nothing of the kind is given to them. Baby cows are taken away from their monthers and killed, pigs are painfully gassed to death and horrifyingly, male chicks in the egg and chicken industry are minced up alive in a machine called a mascerator or thrown into hige plastic bags to suffocate and are disposed of.

My love for my animals, yet my diet at the time were in complete conflict with respect to my morals. I didn't think I stood for animal killing and exploitation. But whilever I ate and egg, ate a slice of cake made with milk or ate a slice of bacon, my actions were saying otherwise.

I thought of my love for Bodhi then stopped eating all of those other sentient, innocent animals.

Knowing I am minimising the harm I'm causing to animals now is very empowering. The richness of fruits, veggies, herbs and grains I eat now is staving off depression.

I feel empowered and feel like I am now making a difference.