Often, animal abuse takes place inside a house or at a private residence where the animal cruelty is not made public. In these cases, it is incredibly difficult to recognize this animal abuse, and so the abuser often gets away with animal cruelty. Some ways of recognizing this animal abuse, even when you don’t see it happening, are as follows. Note that animals that are victims of animal abuse often show extreme personality traits, such as being incredibly submissive or overly aggressive, however animals that are not victims of animal cruelty often show these signs as well, and so these are generally not considered reliable signs alone. In conjunction with these other signs, however, they can be strong indicators of animal cruelty transpiring and should be investigated appropriately by calling a local humane society.

1. Wounds, injuries, or infections

Animals who are victims of animal abuse often will have infections or wounds that are not being treated. Moreover, they often have many separate wounds that seem to have been gotten at different times. Besides outright injuries and wounds, animal cruelty may often manifest in infections or skin rashes or disorders that cause loss of hair on the animal.

2. An owner yelling or hitting an animal

If the owner is taking the animal outside and the animal is being aggressively jerked around on a leash, or the owner is yelling at or actually hitting the animal, this could absolutely be a sign of animal cruelty. In fact, hitting an animal is unquestionably animal abuse (except perhaps in clear cut cases of self-defense). Also, if the owner seems to be overly angry that the dog does not speak English (i.e. the owner gives the dog a command that was not part of its training and expects it to understand), this could be a signifier that the animal is a victim of animal abuse. Similarly, if the owner seems disproportionately angry because of some small infraction or accident committed by the animal, this could most definitely be a sign of animal cruelty.

3. Animal is kept in poor conditions

If an animal is tied up alone outdoors for long periods of time, especially without enough food or water, or in an area that is unsafe, the animal is suffering from animal abuse. Often this animal cruelty can be seen if an animal is tied up in an area where there is no grass, mostly from the animal’s being tied up there constantly, or in a place where there is garbage or broken glass.

4. The animal seems confused or extremely drowsy

Abused animals often appear to be extremely confused all of the time. An animal who is a victim of animal cruelty may walk in strange patterns or travel in circles for long periods of time. Similarly, an animal that is a victim of animal abuse may appear to be extremely drowsy as a result of physical damage or deprivation.