Hey, it sounds like you have been going through a difficult time. Sometimes we have to make hard decisions in life and that’s okay. I understand that it was a big decision and that your pet was extremely important to you and how tough it might have been for you. So here are some suggestions and alternatives for you: Temporarily let the pet stay at your friend’s place, to see if the situation gets better. Visit your pet often, until you can bring him/her back. Consider creating a separate space for your pet within your own home. There are a number of things to help your brother out. He could start with practising simple relaxation and mindfulness techniques to reduce stress and disturbing thoughts. Alongside that it would be great if he could go for therapy. CBT ( Cognitive behavioural therapy) has helped a lot of people manage OCD better. ERP ( (Exposure and response prevention) is a part of CBT which will gradually expose the feared object or obsession to the client and help them to resist their compulsive habit. It is important that your brother knows that you support him. Make sure that he has the space to come to you and talk about the emotions and feelings he experiences. Ask him how he feels about the situation and let him know that you are there for him. However, it is also important that you take care of yourself. You do not have to blame yourself for making difficult choices. You can take a walk, spend some time on a hobby or even take a long pampering shower if you feel stressed out when dealing with this situation. Stay strong, you’ll figure something out!

Hi, how old is your brother? Clearly the fear has been generalized. I understand how miserable would you be feeling due to separation from your pet. One of the ways to reduce this anxiety is desensitization towards the dogs in general and of course understanding a responsible behavior around animals. I would suggest counseling so that this can be done more systematically and elaborately. Please book an appointment at the earliest.

I can see that his fear of contracting rabies is getting generalized to your pet also ( who would have definitely been vaccinated) which means that his thoughts are getting irrational to some extend. To overcome these obsessions he is doing the compulsive behavior of washing hands. Please try to seek counseling mainly CBT and ERP to help your brother cope up with this.

It might be good idea to take your brother to mental health professional. This can be OCD or other anxiety disorder. It might be good to understand fully the extent of his anxiety and worries. Something called exposure therapy usually works well with these kinds of concern. It's important that family is supportive while he works through these concerns. Yoga and other forms of relaxation can be helpful to start with, counselling and therapy may still be needed