Does anyone medicate for separation anxiety?

[Gatorblu]

You may have seen the picture of Skully and his pile of destruction in the Show Off Your Dog forum. We left another day and the wicker basket in the picture is now destroyed. Another time he munched on a table and bed frame.

I have tried holistic calming treats, and even Benadryl as suggested by the vet. I was working on getting him used to a Thundershirt, but he just tries to pull it off.

Today we have a vet appointment to see about medicating him. This is a last resort in my mind, but his behavior is also stressing out Arabella. They both are so wound up when I get back. After about 20 minutes of kisses and being jumped on, Skully lays down and falls into a deep sleep. He is exhausted from the stress.

And poor Arabella is hiding on her bed in the corner. She also seems exhausted. The stress factor isn't fair for either of them.

So, does anyone else medicate their pups for anxiety ? If so are there any side effects I should lookout for? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jan]

No I haven't! I hope that your vet has something that will help Skully! Poor boy! Have you considered crating him?

 

[Holden's Mom]

Doug has separation anxiety, especially when crated. We first tried amitriptyline. I had very good luck with it with cats, but it didn't help Doug very much. Then we went with Prozac, and it has helped immensely. We are currently trying to wean him off of the drug because of his progress when crated. We will see if that works.

Side effects are a lack of energy, and heat really causes a loss of energy, especially during trips to play frisbee for Doug in warm weather. Neither drug caused a personality change. Doug can also be dog aggressive, and neither drug helped that.

Prozac is very inexpensive if you fill it at Wal-Mart.

Pam and Doug

 

[Gatorblu]

No I haven't! I hope that your vet has something that will help Skully! Poor boy! Have you considered crating him?

When I picked him up I bought his crate at the same time because they said they crated him. I figured his old crate would feel more comfortable for him. The first night I had him, I put him in the crate and he immediately started to claw and jack-hammer the door, and he started panting. So he was in the crate all of one minute. I even left the crate up for a month or so to see if he ever would go in it to just lay down to rest. He never did and would occasionally walk past looking at it as if it we going to bite him. So I put the crate away. Since crating causes more stress, I have avoided that.

Doug has separation anxiety, especially when crated. We first tried amitriptyline. I had very good luck with it with cats, but it didn't help Doug very much. Then we went with Prozac, and it has helped immensely. We are currently trying to wean him off of the drug because of his progress when crated. We will see if that works.

Side effects are a lack of energy, and heat really causes a loss of energy, especially during trips to play frisbee for Doug in warm weather. Neither drug caused a personality change. Doug can also be dog aggressive, and neither drug helped that.

Prozac is very inexpensive if you fill it at Wal-Mart.

Pam and Doug

Thanks for the info. I am hoping to get something I can give just for the times we need to leave him home. My husband retired a year ago and I am a housewife, so someone is usually home. But we have been having to go to family functions as singles if we can't find a dog sitter. It wuld be nice to just go out to dinner or something and not have to worry.

 

[Lisa H]

Justice was on Xanax for storms only ...so we have it to her rarely...and it helped a little.... I was not happy that it was narcotic though and I that some of my clients weight 150-200 lbs were on the same dose.

 

[Holden's Mom]

In the past. for night's out more than a couple of hours, we have hired a dog sitter. I should add that Doug is crated. In the beginning Doug would break out of the crate. We used ties and he still escaped the collapsible crate. We have since switched to the old style wire crate and use a lock. Doug tore up crate pads and a rubber mat. Now he has only the steel tray on the bottom. But with Prozac the drooling has stopped. We even watched him on video while gone, and he basically lays down and rests after about five minutes.

Pam and Doug

 

[Gatorblu]

We are doing the Prozac and some behavior modification. We will see how that goes for a few months. After talking to vet we have established he is anxious a lot of the time. If someone comes to the door he will jump and bang on the glass sidelights so hard we have had people afraid he is going to go through them. Someone driving or walking on the street can set him off to where he barks aggressively and I can't get him to focus on me to get him to calm down. (Thankfully I live at the end of a dead end street so traffic is at a minimum.)

Hopefully this will calm him enough and we can retrain him, and he can come off it in a few months.

 

[Jan]

I hope the prozac works. I know a lot of people have had success with it. Do you have give the prozac all the time, or only when you think that you will need it?

 

[Gatorblu]

I hope the prozac works. I know a lot of people have had success with it. Do you have give the prozac all the time, or only when you think that you will need it?

All of the time.

 

[Holden's Mom]

It takes about six weeks on Prozac to know if Skully will get some relief. While it has really helped Doug with the separation anxiety, it has done nothing for his anxiety about bicycles. He hates them. I don't think that especially strange as Autry went nuts when he saw kids on skate boards.

Pam and Doug