Giving a pet anxiety medication?

Question

I work at a vet clinic, and a lot of people come in asking for an anti-anxiety medication, or a sedative for their dog that has separation anxiety, is very fearful, or has some other kind of behavioral issue. I personally would rather try working with this dog's behavior through training and other techniques before I tried using medication. How do you feel about it? I am just wondering.

Answer 1

I think it's the same as with human anxiety - you use drugs to assist the problem, not fix it. Sometimes, like people, animals can get so worked up that training isn't going to get through to them - you use the drugs to calm them initially, so you can use behavioural therapy, and then stop the drugs when you think they're ready.

People come into our clinic a lot around fireworks time for sedatives, and I fear they are just feeding their dogs the drugs without trying to fix the underlying problem. Often tho it's because they don't realise there are ways to fix it - but that's why we're there, to educate them!

Chalice

Answer 2

We have rescued some very disturbed dogs (Bichons) and we have had to resort to clonicalm an anti depression derug for dogs that suffer from SAD. Its fine to say I would rather work on its personality and behavioural disorders but some cannot be resolved quickly, the dogs attack and cause harm, in these cases it is necessary to assist in the re-training of such animals.
SAD can be easily cured with correct handling however, if other issues underly the problem then this is when it gets more complicated.
I know that some rescue volunteers that I have come across with little or no real veterinary experience would like to believe quite irresponsibly that all dogs can be rehomed no matter what, this is fundamentally wrong especially with a consistent biter.They actually prolongue the training of such animals with ignorance.
canine psychology is very different to human psychology and the two shouldnt ever be confused, many owners, volunteers and rescue personnel often feel that humanisation is the answer, wrong... you can only work with what you have got, you can create something that isnt there, its pure make believe.
Drug intervention isnt always the answer but in some cases is a short term therapy whilst assessing the lack of social skills of the animal.
I hope this helps you.

If you wanna read some superb articles on SAD and how to cure them then feel free to log into our site and also give the details to anyone you feel needs help

www.eurobichons.com

ITS FREE

Answer 3

I say Amen Alli. Too many people today want a pill for a quick fix, either from their own MD or from their vet. Many dog "issues" can be remedied simply by spending more time with the animal and working it out. There ARE other solutions out there; one just needs to be willing to figure them out. Obedience training classes can help with behavior problems; these train both the dog and it's owner. Dogs with severe separation anxiety can go to daycare.
A doped dog is just that - a doped dog. Most drugs have side effects. Their personality may change, and usually not for the better. Worse yet I see dogs that really don't respond to the drug anyway, that is to say it doesn't help.

Answer 4

I agree with you. Unfortunately most people want a "quick fix" for the unwanted behavior and having more money than time to invest in their pet they opt to medicate.

I can understand the use of such medications for changes in the animals routine like air travel or a transition to a new location, as a temporary aid through traumatic experiences.

Behavior modification through training and socialization techniques, to me are the optimum way to improve both the animal and the human.

Drugging the animal satisfies the the humans desire, though the dog cannot speak for itself so I don't know what really changes for them. Yet a lifetime of being in a good home on drugs is better than being abandoned or many other possible outcomes that people do when they no longer want to "deal" with pet behavior problems.

Answer 5

I have a dog of cross breed who is three years old when she was a pup she was separated from her mother too early which caused separation anxiety and every time we would leave her alone she would destroy everything in sight from clothes to candles to Cd's. Our vet recommended behavior training, well after 6 months and a lot of money there was still no improvement so my vet actually recommended 6 weeks of a medication called colpicalm and then 3 months of Prozac 1/2 a tablet a day. Within 5 months my dog was perfectly calm and I was able to train her to do everything I wanted with no trouble at all, and by the time she was 7 months old I could leave her alone in the house and on my return everything would be just as I left it. So really I think treatment varies from dog to dog.

Answer 6

I think medication should be the LAST resort. Unfortunately in our society today, it's easier for people to medicate rather than to work through things. These people probably live very busy lives, and don't really have time for a dog anyway...so they think that they can "fix" it by popping a pill in the poor animal's mouth. The dog is usually reacting to being lonely, and the people want a dog that is calm and just sits at their feet..I don't know a whole lot of animals who are like that ALL of the time.
It's the same with kids. I don't remember any kids in my classes that were on medication to calm them, the teachers had to learn to teach all of the kids, rather than stand in front of a bunch of zombies....but I digress.

Answer 7

Well, I too worked in an Animal Hospital for 8 years and we have 4 Vets in our family. I have an 11 year old Border Collie that has many issues, thunderstorms, snow plow, fireworks etc. Honestly, I am not a big fan of medication myself, so therefore I have learned to manage my dog with behavior modification, using his crate during thunderstorms, snowstorms and fireworks season, I have tried Rescue Remedy without much success-when he is anxious it is almost impossible to even get his mouth open to put the drops in, what I found that worked for him was a DAP Collar, it seemed to take some of the edge off. My dog will dig at any corner of the house to get out, he damaged about 3000.00 worth of new (still in the box kitchen cabinets), during a New Years Eve Fireworks Set Off, I purchased a large all plastic crate, which in the beginning he dug at on the inside, but, after a bout 3 or 4 times in the crate he learned that it was safe for him and he is much more settled in the crate. Now when he senses a storm, I just tell him "Cody I think you should go in your house" and he runs out into the kitchen and gets in, when he feels comfortable, he gives me one bark to let me know he is ready to come back out and face the world again. He is 11 years old and we have now been doing this for about 6 or 7 years now. For some reason it just works for him and he feels safe. Just a note, under everyday normal circumstances he is not crated for any period of time, just during storms and fourth of july.

Answer 8

I believe that the vast majority of people have no idea how to go about helping their dog through behaviour modification. If they did, the dog likely wouldn't need it in the first place, except in the cases of rescue dogs.

It's probably a really good thing for a lot of these dogs if they use something like Clomicalm in conjunction with re-training. At least if the dog is giving something to calm him enough to enable them to do some work with him, they might make progress.

I wouldn't use medication except in extreme cases. I do, however, use rescue remedy for one of my dogs who's afraid of thunder. I have vet prescribed tranquilizers but I won't use them because of the side affects.

Answer 9

I think that using any kind of chemical restraint or sedatives for behavioral problems should only be used as a last resort.

With that being said:

I think a lot of people are going to request this kind of chemical response more frequently in the future unfortunately.

Most of the problem lies in how the mentality for medication in America has changed. People are medicating themselves with god knows what, without doing any proper research into the long-term affects of such use.

When a lot of these people try to think in terms of veterinary medicine, they misjudge the very many different aspects of the field. They think of veterinary medicine as being on par with human medicine in terms of sickness, behavior and diagnosis and treatment.

This is one of the reasonings you see a number of people observe abnormal behaviors in their pets, yet do not immediately run to their veterinarian (id est. runny eyes/nose/vomitting/diarrhea). It's not that people are intentionally neglectful in these cases, they just don't realize the severity of the problem because a "human" wouldn't have a problem with these issues.

Because of the popularity of over-the-counter medication, psychiatric treatment and alternative methods to healing, we're going to see a lot of people requesting this kind of treatment for their pets: because they think this will be the best care for their animal.

Anyone in the field knows this isn't true. The best thing we can do as professionals, is to combat the problem with proper education.

Answer 10

The way I see it is that some people do not want to take the time to work with their dogs. Then when they become out of control they want medication to help them. I do not believe in medicating an animal unless the absolutely need it.