Anxiety / Ocd Medication

[fbaudry]

Archie has been on Clomipramine for 10 months now, and his dosage has been gradually increased, so much so that we are now reaching human dose (which will be a good thing financially, if nothing else, dropping from $420 every 2 months to $55 because it doesn't have to be compounded especially for him anymore).

It is a long and very slow process, and there are times when I doubt the effectiveness of his current medication.

I remember someone posted a few months ago about a new medication (possibly human) now made available to dogs only recently (or maybe just about to be made available?).

Of course I can't find the old thread, so would appreciate if someone could point me in the right direction as I'd really like to discuss other options with my vet.

Thank you very much!

[schnauzer]

Hi fbaudry

Why is the dog on Clomicalm? Can you describe his/her behaviours and why the dose keeps being increased.

[Jigsaw]

It's called Reconcile.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/body-...0-1225835809509

Has the vet given you any behaviour modification training to do as well as the Clomipramine?

This link may also help you:

http://www.fearfuldogs.com/medications.html

[Mas1981]

Our one cat suffered terrible anxiety, he was given medication for humans to treat schizophrenia, it wasnt that expensive but I cant remember the name now....

[sas]

One of our dogs did a course of Clomicalm for 2 months (I think it was 2 months) whilst we did Behaviour modification, he was then put on St Johns Wort for about 4 months and then weaned off that and is doing great, we still do alot of behaviour modification work but the Clomicalm pretty much rewired him...

I've had a dog on Prozac about 5 years ago, and was prescribed by Robert Holmes and behaviour modification was also done, the Prozac made the dog worse and eventually was pts.

Edited April 22, 2010 by sas

[fbaudry]

Thank you Jigsaw! ETA, nope that's not the one I was thinking of.... damn memory loss!

Schnauzer, it's a long story but this dog has exhibited OCD (spinning / pacing around in circles) from his very first day with me, aged 4 months, and has always been very highly strung / unable to settle and has a very short attention span. We have been seeing a behaviourist vet every 2 months for over a year now and have been doing behaviour modification work all that time. He has improved in some areas but is still far from being 'normal'.

To give you an idea of how disturbing this behaviour can be, we had our last appointment on Wednesday night and for an hour he walked around the consultation room in circles, non-stop. I was unable to distract him or get him to focus on me with treats / toys.

The idea, as SAS said, is to re-wire his brain. We started on fluoxetine (Prozac) but did not notice any change at all.

Edited April 22, 2010 by fbaudry

[schnauzer]

Where was your dog bred? Some dogs bred in puppy farms will present like this.

My rescue bitch (rescued at 4 yrs) showed extreme OCD behaviours including spinning, circling, fear biting etc. I retrained her without using drugs, mainly by obedience training, changing her focus when her mind goes into the behaviour and distraction. She will only now spin when exceptionally stressed in a thunderstorm, but improves all the time. The improvement was slow initially but she is now a relatively normal dog. Have you tried a DAP for your dog? Also has your dog had a neurological exam?

[fbaudry]

Where was your dog bred? Some dogs bred in puppy farms will present like this.

My rescue bitch (rescued at 4 yrs) showed extreme OCD behaviours including spinning, circling, fear biting etc. I retrained her without using drugs, mainly by obedience training, changing her focus when her mind goes into the behaviour and distraction. She will only now spin when exceptionally stressed in a thunderstorm, but improves all the time. The improvement was slow initially but she is now a relatively normal dog. Have you tried a DAP for your dog? Also has your dog had a neurological exam?

Hi Schnauzer,

I PMed you with my long story...

DAP hasn't really worked for us (especially considering the issues are exhibited both inside and outside). I completely agree with your point about training, distraction etc.... We have been doing that and going through calming exercises for over a year now but changing focus can be really hard when the mind goes into the behaviour and won't be distracted from it

.

[frufru]

Have you considered seeing a neuroligist - perhaps this dog can't be "rewired" in some areas????

[sas]

Have you considered seeing a neuroligist - perhaps this dog can't be "rewired" in some areas????

You can't ask the dog questions unfortunately to be able to get to the root of it, we have very limited resources on how to deal with mental illness in canines.

[NaturallyWild]

I would seriously recommend that in conjunction with the medication and behaviour modification you try and find someone who practices TTouch (or at least get a book/dvd to learn to do some yourself). I have seen some dramatic changes on occasions with this technique and at the least a toning down of symptoms.

[fbaudry]

I would seriously recommend that in conjunction with the medication and behaviour modification you try and find someone who practices TTouch (or at least get a book/dvd to learn to do some yourself). I have seen some dramatic changes on occasions with this technique and at the least a toning down of symptoms.

Thank you Naturally Wild; yes I have Linda Tellington's book (or at least one of her books!) and have tried to apply some of the techniques to Archie. Obviously I am not a great masseur because this hasn't worked wonders. Still it is a nice thing to do when he is in a relaxed enough frame of mind, but that definitely does not address the core of his issues.

SAS you are so right on that. I wish he could tell me what's wrong or what unnerves him but yet again, that wouldn't necessarily mean there is a magic cure for it (thinking of people who need to wash their hands 100 times a day, and so on...)

[sas]

I would seriously recommend that in conjunction with the medication and behaviour modification you try and find someone who practices TTouch (or at least get a book/dvd to learn to do some yourself). I have seen some dramatic changes on occasions with this technique and at the least a toning down of symptoms.

Thank you Naturally Wild; yes I have Linda Tellington's book (or at least one of her books!) and have tried to apply some of the techniques to Archie. Obviously I am not a great masseur because this hasn't worked wonders. Still it is a nice thing to do when he is in a relaxed enough frame of mind, but that definitely does not address the core of his issues.

SAS you are so right on that. I wish he could tell me what's wrong or what unnerves him but yet again, that wouldn't necessarily mean there is a magic cure for it (thinking of people who need to wash their hands 100 times a day, and so on...)

Sometimes I really don't think humans don't take animal mental illness that serious, for some reason people think it's laughable....what some people forget is than humans are animals and dogs are animals and it wouldn't make much sense that non-human animals are excluded from mental illness.

I do though think sometimes Vets can prescribe Prozac etc. when they don't know how to help some animals when sometimes their Owners just need to learn a bit more about animal behaviour to help modify their dogs behaviour that they may trigger.

[fbaudry]

I do though think sometimes Vets can prescribe Prozac etc. when they don't know how to help some animals when sometimes their Owners just need to learn a bit more about animal behaviour to help modify their dogs behaviour that they may trigger.

Agree once again

that was not a light hearted decision and that is why we are seeing a behaviourist vet (rather than just our regular vet).

And the medication is just one part of the equation and wouldn't do much on its own if not for the exercises we are doing in conjunction. We spend around 30 minutes every evening on week-days doing a protocol for relaxation, and throw in some very basic exercises for focus through the day.