Prozac For Dogs

[arir]

Hi All,

first time poster on this forum, great forum,

I am hoping ot try and get a better understanding and assistance in deciding on how to proceed.

We are looking at adopting a resuce gsd girl 13 months old, the history we know is she has bene neglected and left as a yard dog, not alowed in since 10 weeks of age, dosent sound like she has bene walked or interracted with in her short life,

due to behaviour issues she has bene medicated with prozac by the vet,

she was transported to a carer in our area.

the following morning upon my wife and myself meeting her at first she was extremely scared but within 5 minutes would not let go, we could walk her, play with her and she was a totally different dog, for the past few days i have gone for walks with the carer and the dog and all seemed well, she walks well on the lead and is attentive, you can call her and she comes, she listens very well and is overall well behaved.

Carer came to house to look at house with dog, as the dog was in new surroundings she was excited , ran around looking att things and quickly settled down,

my wife walked in 30 minutes later and the dog ran to her to greet her and followed her around the house.

Our only concern where we cant seem to fins an answer to is what will the dog be like when she is weened of prozac, so far the carer has dropped her dosage from 1.5 to 1 prozac a day and all seems to be ok, our concern is will she become uncontrollable or start behaving differetnly when completley weened off?

will there be a change in personality? is she so loving now due to the fact she is on prozac?

we love her dearly and want to take her as we know we will give her a loving home, include her in our family and she will be an inside dog, exercised twice a day for walks of an hour at a time, we plan on getting another dog later on, we also have 2 dog frindly parks 5 minutes walk away from our house.

we have not had a german shepherd as adults.

or do we look for another dog that is not medicated, so what you see is what you get, we understand any rescue dog may have issues,

thank yuo for your time

[schnauzer]

We had a 3 yr old schnauzer that was surrendered on both Prozac and Valium

I was told the dog was totally manic, unable to be toilet trained/chronic barker. I also found out the dog was never walked. lived in the yard and they had surrendered her older mate to the pound. She also had a council nuisance barking order on her.

The dog was dropped off to my house - she was high energy, but nothing out of the ordinary for a young dog. I decided to find out how manic she was, took her on the ocean walk with my two, she pulled on the lead and was strong, but absolutely loved it and never stopped wagging her tail. Off to the vet for an opinion. My vets thought she was fine, just needed boundaries/training - opinion "normal schnauzer". We slowly weaned her off the drugs whilst in foster care. My carers worked with her, and loved her so much they adopted her. She is now such a lovely dog but just in the wrong home.

Good luck with your GSD - they are beautiful dogs.

Edited March 27, 2014 by schnauzer

[persephone]

So how long has the dog been in foster care to be assessed? has she had a thorough vet check? What "behaviour problems" did she have which needed prozac ? This is important .

Do you know what she is like when being walked and strangers approach? Traffic? Other dogs?

You may need to do a lot of rehab work with this dog is all I'm thinking ...

Hopefully there will be no great problems...and she will be basically be sound and healthy , and will learn well .

[arir]

thank you for your replies

on the occassions i took her for walk with the carer we went for along walk, walked around people, joggers, horses, and came accross other dogs, and also birds, during these times i did shorten her leash, she was observant of them but at no stage showed any signs of agression or anything towards them, she was very well behaved,

the first 1.5km of the walk she was pulling, after that she settled down and would walk by our side for most of the time quite well, i never had a fear she would suddenly jump at someone or another dog.

on another walk i did with her pretty much same as above, even did anearly mornig walk 6am, still dark was mostly ok for all the walk, i think in the darker parts of the walk she may of been a bit anxious but that quickly passed.

i know she is on 30mg prozac which i think is quite high,

unfortunatley hard to say the real history as you are only told what the previous owners want to say or what they make up, but apparatnley she did nip ( or mouth) sorry not 100% sure of exact term,

from my point of view this would appear to be understandable considering the environment she was left in all day long, no human interraction, not allowed in, no exercise and then a smaller yard, why bother having a dog in the firt place if you are not prepared to commit time and dedication.

we are thinking along the lines of continuing on being involoved with her and the carer the entire time till she is weened of the miedication and see what she is like, spending more time with her on walks and training, introducing her into our home more regularly to give her a stable environment which will in my opinion give what what she needs, love, exercise, training, a safe place, all the things she should of had, not got and instead was medicated to compensate for not getting.

Thank you for the replies very much, just cant give up on her.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

As well as the Prozac you do need to have a behavioural modification program in place.

I got a dog in Nov last year that had such bad separation anxiety that he would climb trees and scale 6 foot fences when left alone. He'd also land on me the minute I sat down (12 kilos) and scrabble at my legs as I walked along, trying to get my attention.

I put him on Prozac and started working on his sep anx issues. I only had him for about 4 weeks and rehomed him - I did not charge anything - to a very sighthound and dog experienced home.

The changes I'd witnessed in him were enormous. He would stay in a room alone quite happily and no longer felt so desperate to be in close contact with me.

The new owners continued on with the behavioural modification work and he's now completely off Prozac. Whilst they aren't game to leave him completely alone, just in case, he does have other dogs there for company and retired owners so a much better home than mine for his needs overall which is why I didn't need to persist with him with such devoted new owners.

They find him to be a joy and he has come such a long way. He was 6 yrs of age.

I'm sure with patience and time this GSD will also improve significantly.

[bianca.a]

Hi, one of my GSDs has been on Prozac due to a number of issues. I weaned her off as she just wasn't my same girl. By the sounds of it, you girl has had a rough start. Wishing you both all the very best.

[Rosetta]

My first thought is that she needs to see an experienced veterinary behaviourist or at least a vet who is experienced in anxiety medications. Only a professional can really give you some guidance as to how the medications may work.

She sounds a lovely girl and worth giving a chance :)

[essentialdog]

I have a background in science, psychology & neurology and from what you describe, I would suspect her depression was a result of her lifestyle and environment with her previous owners. Like humans, if we are alone, isolated and unloved, we are likely to develop symptoms of depression amongst other things. I suspect the behaviour she is displaying with you is not the Prozac, but that she is happy because she has you and feels loved. I would suggest if you feel comfortable with the idea, to follow your vets advice in weaning her off the Prozac.

So glad she's found you and try not to give up on her just yet!

Edited March 28, 2014 by essentialdog

[arir]

definitley not going ot give up on her, as long as the carer is ok with this, the carer is going ot start taking her prozac under the guidance of the vet so for now she will remian with the carer,

at the same time we are are planning to be more involved in her walks and training to enusre that when she comes over to us she will be completley settled in from day one,

thank you for all the answers

[Nekhbet]

Frankly if you are not used to this level of behavior or the breed, move on. A dog on behavior altering medication is NOT a candidate for rehoming in my opinion. Apart from the weaning off of the medication, this dog will need some high level behavioral therapy which is seems it's not getting currently as it seems rather open ended what the long term result of this dog actually will be.

If you want a pet, find a dog that suits your lifestyle. Don't let your heart rule your head especially if you're not experienced as both parties really don't always come out on top. I have helped dogs on medication come off over the years but it takes a lot out of the owners in the process, I mean for some literally coming to tears and avoiding coming home.

If you're really keen on the dog get yourself a good behaviorist now, someone like Pet Resorts Australia or a behaviorist management recommends.

Edited March 31, 2014 by Nekhbet

[Loving my Oldies]

I have a background in science, psychology & neurology and from what you describe, I would suspect her depression was a result of her lifestyle and environment with her previous owners. Like humans, if we are alone, isolated and unloved, we are likely to develop symptoms of depression amongst other things. I suspect the behaviour she is displaying with you is not the Prozac, but that she is happy because she has you and feels loved. I would suggest if you feel comfortable with the idea, to follow your vets advice in weaning her off the Prozac. So glad she's found you and try not to give up on her just yet!

My thoughts, exactly.