Medication Help For Stressed Dog

[Willowlane]

I have my gorgeous Maple (NOT our new puppy Willow!!!) who is very attached to me, more than I ever knew. Now im not ready to jump on the medication train just yet as I have a lesson with Steve from K9Pro I want to try first but I thought I would dig a little deeper into the medication/veterinary side of things and see if there is anything that can be done for my girl there if things dont work with Steve.

So can medication be used for stressed barking dogs?

How does it work?

Are the dogs in any danger? Nasty side effects?

Is it expensive?

Any help would be very appreciated!

Edited May 20, 2015 by Willowlane

[Rebanne]

ETA thought you were talking about your new puppy.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Rebanne

[Willowlane]

Oh goodness NO!!! My older dog lol

[julesluvscavs]

Oh goodness NO!!! My older dog lol

I'm trying our almost 13 year old Cavalier on melatonin atm as she get very anxious pre dinner time. Its not the one with extra stuff in it.. the one we are giving her is meant to be safe for dogs. Its a bit hit and miss still with dosage, and its meant to be absorbed through the mouth slowly before they swallow it ( so we crush it and mix it in with something so it takes longer for her to gulp it down)

Cant say theres been a huge difference yet.. but its still early days. We did read it has been successful for other dogs with anxiety.. for those that don't want to go down harder stuff for anxiety issues.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Jules❤3Cavs

[karly101]

These are questions best directed to a vet who does behaviour work - from reading your other post it sounds like this behaviour is anxiety based. There are many drugs available that help with this and all are different in their mode of action and safety. I highly recommend a consult with a vet that does this work frequently. The one in VIC that my clinic uses creates really good notes of the plan to improve behaviour with training and then another hand out on drugs that they use whilst doing the behaviour modification (and these are really indepth and include possible side effects to watch out for). Careful use of drugs for these dogs I find is highly successful coupled with the training and then often we are successful at weaning the dog off drugs - though some do stay on them. Behaviour work really isn't a one size fits all approach and it can take some fiddling to find the right dose or even type of drug.

Cost wise initially it is expensive but most of the drugs I've seen used are fairly cheap long term. Monitoring of blood is a good idea if on drugs long term but this isn't that expensive either.

[persephone]

Ask STEVE ..then, if he suggests it , choose a veterinary behaviourist .

[Willowlane]

Trust me everything will go through Steve! :) I dont think she is anywhere near bad enough to need them but it's interesting to learn about them a bit more.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Depending on what the issue is, Chinese herbs are fantastic.

[corvus]

If you're on Facebook, there is a group called Anxious Dogs of Australia. A lot of people there have had experience with medication, veterinary behaviourists, and other tools and supplements. There are a couple of veterinary behaviourists that comment. I don't think of behavioural medication as something to be embarked upon lightly. We had months of side effects with Prozac before our dog settled into it. The worst was he was lethargic for a while, and for quite some time after that settled, he still wasn't really interested in any of the things he used to love doing. I almost took him off it. But, it was worth it in the end. The side effects dissipated and he is back to his old self, just without the vigilance and lack of sleep and alert barking all day and so on. I feel kind of bad I left it so long before trying it. The only side effects we notice now is that he gets a bit nauseous occasionally. We get our prescription filled by a pharmacist, which costs about $20 for 6 weeks. It is nearly 4 times that buying it through the vet, though.

It's probably worth mentioning that the effect on our other dog was even more profound. Having a nutty, anxious dog in the house is a fairly big deal for the dog that has to live with him 24/7. For months after Prozac started, he just exploded out of his shell and became more and more enthusiastic and joyous. I wondered where it would end. I had no clue the anxious dog was having such an effect on him.

[sas]

I don't think medication is terrible but I don't think it should be the 1st or even 2nd option. Many behavioural challenges can be worked through with behavioural modification programs. The Behaviourist will be able to let you know if they feel your dog could benefit from medication. Many Behaviourist these days recommend a supplement such as PetArk Calm whilst working through a program. I have seen the great results meds can have and I have also seen the negative side effects i.e. aggression with dogs via our rescue service who have tried them.

I'm sure you'll have an awesome time at your behavioural session and come away feeling more informed and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Edited May 20, 2015 by sas

[Coracina]

You can use medication for dogs with separation anxiety, it's a bit of a question of severity as to whether it's needed. From your posts it sounds like Maple's anxiety is mild to moderate, which wouldn't usually warrant medication, but that's a call for you, your trainer and your vet to make together. Anyway, did my best to answer your questions so you can go in fully informed :)

There's a few different sorts of drug, but they all work by altering levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. People with moderate to severe anxiety or other mental illnesses often have unusual levels of neurotransmitters, it's pretty reasonable to assume that applies to dogs too, so it makes sense to try to bring those chemicals back to normal levels. They're the same drugs that are used for people with anxiety and depression.

There's only one drug actually registered for separation anxiety in dogs - Clomicalm (clomipramine hydrochloride). Being registered means it's been proven to be safe and effective. Thing is, it's an older style of drug that's hardly used in people any more since we've got equally effective options with less side effects, but it's still the only one that's been fully tested in dogs. It's also pretty expensive (that testing doesn't come cheap).

To go with one of the newer (and cheaper) drugs, like Prozac (fluoxetine) for example, you have to go off-label, which means you don't have the same extent of formal testing even though it's fairly widely used in dogs and has plenty of anecdotal support. The prescribing veterinarian takes on a lot more responsibility for off-label medication, so most vets without further training or experience in behaviour would be reluctant to go off-label, which is pretty understandable.

They're quite safe drugs, outside of overdoses, but side-effects are common especially at first. Lethargy, nausea and vomiting are most common. It's also important to not miss doses or stop giving the medication suddenly, if you want to stop giving the drug you need to gradually reduce the dose over weeks to months to avoid side-effects.

Cost depends on what drug you end up using, how big Maple is and what dose rate she needs. Some dogs just seem to need a higher dose than others for the medication to be effective, brains are weird.

[VizslaMomma]

Trust me everything will go through Steve! :) I dont think she is anywhere near bad enough to need them but it's interesting to learn about them a bit more.

For me, it would depend on how long your sweet gal has been anxious.

Other points would be what make her anxious.

Quite a few variables to digest even when contemplating medications.

For some dogs owners they are a dog-send: for others, they end up with a dog unable to function because of the dosage of the meds.

imo, a multi-facet approach is needed. That's great you are doing your homework.

:)

[mita]

You can use medication for dogs with separation anxiety, it's a bit of a question of severity as to whether it's needed. From your posts it sounds like Maple's anxiety is mild to moderate, which wouldn't usually warrant medication, but that's a call for you, your trainer and your vet to make together. Anyway, did my best to answer your questions so you can go in fully informed :)

Thanks for your very informative post.

We've had 2 dogs who showed separation anxiety. In one case (a sheltie) , the behaviorist vet, gave behaviour modification strategies only. To my surprise, she showed marked improvement within a couple of weeks. The frank behavioral issues (like ripping soft furnishings to pieces when left home alone) stopped.

In the second (a tibbie), low dose valium was prescribed along with behavioral strategies which followed the same principle. The vet said that short-term use of valium ( a muscle relaxant, rather than a sedative) would hose down some of her anxiety but leave her wits available for new learning. Within a few weeks she, too, responded well. And the frank behavioral issues also disappeared.

In both cases, we just had to continue keeping some simple manageable strategies in place. The separation anxiety never returned.

Bears out what you've said. Treatment/management is based on expert assessment of individual dog.

Edited May 22, 2015 by mita

[corvus]

I have had clients come to me with dogs that should have been referred to a VB two trainers ago. Sometimes it obviously is the first option, or at least, it should be. Some problems are not training problems, and trainers that try to treat them as such do no one any favours. The dog continues to suffer, the owner gets discouraged about seeking help, and it hurts the credibility of all dog trainers and behaviourists because there's no way for people to tell which ones can actually see the difference between a dog that can learn and a dog that can't learn. It boggles my mind, because really, it's not that hard. A quick mental tally of how much time the dog spends being anxious, whether it's stable or spreading to more stimuli, and if it is affecting the dog's quality of life and how much will do it. You can figure that out over the phone. Behavioural medication is not this scary woo woo thing that we must be super cautious about and exhaust all other avenues first any more than punishment is. You advise for the intervention that is most appropriate. Sometimes, that is medication, and we don't need to fiddle around trying other things while the dog is suffering and their problem behaviours are becoming habit or getting worse to figure that out.

[huski]

Changed my mind. :)

Edited May 22, 2015 by huski

[hankdog]

Most likely you will need to do the work anyway but for us it made the work "stick". Before Prozac and anytime I reduce his dose he turns into Teflon dog who ignores anything you ask him. With Prozac he has a brain and ears it is quite amazing to see.

[Salukifan]

Corvus:

Some problems are not training problems, and trainers that try to treat them as such do no one any favours.

Agree. Training won't change temperament.

That said, I sometimes wonder how many dogs end up medicated when their owners are the root cause of their problems. I can think of a few dog owners I'd need medication to be around 24/7

Seen it with horses too - some folk radiate stress/anxiety and the animals pick it up.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Haredown Whippets