As some of you may recognize my name, this will be familiar, but anyway, we're in the last stage of weaning our dog from clomipramine and teh last two days we've come home we've found a mess, unusual, so now I'm left to make sense of it. Is it in reaction to the decreased amount of meds in him? or because he's a 10 month old puppy left in our apartment? (no we can't crate him, and yes, it's extremely puppy proofed, or so we thought). What he's done is step onto one shelf of our bookshelf to get to the shelf that's about chest hieght on me and there he found paper, kleenex, junk, you name it which ended up all over the living room floor. Actually the first time out of 2 he did this, he got one of our small pumpkins, which he apparently loved (and needless to say harded his poop greatly!! bonus), so maybe he found out he got a treat up there once and also he figured out how to get up there, so he figured he'd try for a second round? Now because he was a drooler before meds, does that mean if it shows up again, it should be the same, or may it show itself in this kind of stuff? And do I need to immediately think it's anxiety, or is it that he's just a rebellious 10 month old and do a better job puppy proofing??? I tell ya, it was a kick in the gut to think we may be backsliding like this, we were sooooooo hopeful and so proud of his progress...I guess we'll see how today goes with a better job proofing and check with our vet...just wanted to get any feedback here.
clomipramine weaning process...halted?
- Thread starter Grimmja
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Personally I'd be inclined to think it's the rebellious 10 month old making an appearance. And yes, if he found a treat up there once then he'll have to try it and find nothing for quite a few times before he figures there's nothing there. I'd just go with the improved puppy-proofing and perhaps leaving him with something else, like an especially-tricky treat ball (or a small pumpkin LOL) to keep his attention.
that really helps to hear, it's just hard because this rebellion coincides so closely with the weaning it's hard to perfectly discriminate, and with the hellishness we went through (and him too) with the separation anxiety, it's hard to think that couldn't be resurfacing (although I would love to, and that's why I'm asking for insight
Taliesyn88
Boxer Booster
Right now, if your baby has only gotten into a pumpkin, I would not worry too much about it. Anafranil(clomipramine) should be weaned off very gradually, and actually it will remain in the system for over 2 weeks, mabye a little longer. Hopefully, your puppy was weaned off of the medicine very gradually, and not just dropped off. Give him some time, and see if he starts doing more destructive things. Normal puppies usually will get into a thing or two, my nine year old still roots in the trash now and then!!!! After a month or so, if the behavior becomes very drastic, and massive destruction starts, you may have to keep him on the clomipramine indefinitely. Like people, dogs can inherit anxiety disorders, and will have them the rest of their lives. While many of my patients successfully can be weaned off of their medicines, most have to take it indefinitely. Give your puppy some time, however, and see if he resumes his old habits before taking the med. There is another post about this issue, and the destruction that puppy caused, I urge you to read it, as this poor animal really trashed the house!!!! If you keep coming home to a lot of destruction, your baby may need to be on clomipramine indefinitely. I know this is something that nobody wants to here, but I have dogs with separation anxiety, and it gets no better with age!!!! Hopefully right now he is just being a normal puppy. Just wait awhile and see how things turn out.
yes, our weaning has been taking place over at least 2 months i think...it has been gradual. and since those 2 incidents when i posted, he has been fine when we come home. we just puppy proofed more, and now there really is nothing for him to get into...we've even found him sleeping still when we get home and it takes him a minute to get up! (just about makes me cry out of happiness when this happens!!) I'm hoping inthis case it isn't an inherited anxiety disorder, i think that when trcing back to how it started, it was all us--we ill equipped him because we didn't allow him to develop the tools to self sooth on his own...so hopefully this indeed is a case where we don't need the drug, i cross my fingers every day when coming home that all is well! i guess we'll just have to wait and see....
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