Thunderstorms, canine

[cbrons]

Out of curiosity what do you feel is the most effective pharmacological treatment for acute panic in a canine sec to loud noise events /thunderstorms etc. Im talking about severe cases. Can canines take benzodiazepines? If so, which ones tend to work best? Thanks in advance for your expertise in satisfying my curiosity...


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[MassDVMMPH]

I have had clients respond very positively to the use of Thundershirts. In fact, I've never had a client whose dog had a problem with thunderstorms who actually tried using a Thundershirt (or a similar product) that was unhappy with it.

 

[katryn]

I second Thundershirts. As far as meds, there are a lot of different things dogs can take. Response to meds is highly variable between individuals, so there is no "best" drug.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Acepromazine is usually the drug of choice, but behavior modification and things like thunder shirts and usually employed at the same time. Like katryn said response is variable so it needs to be tailored to each dog.

 

[NStarz]

Acepromazine is usually the drug of choice, but behavior modification and things like thunder shirts and usually employed at the same time. Like katryn said response is variable so it needs to be tailored to each dog.

I actually prefer something like xanax for acute incidents like thunderstorms. Ace doesn't do much to lessen the anxiety (just quiets the dog down). If there is any underlying anxiety, daily fluoxetine might not be a bad idea either. Of course, a veterinarian with knowledge of behavior drugs or a veterinary behaviorist is your best bet

 

[Jamr0ckin]

My parent's dog has severe thunderstorm phobia. He gets trazodone at the higher end of the mg/kg dose twice a day if there is even a chance of rain and he has clomipramine as a rescue drug if he gets caught off guard. They stopped doing the thundershirt because it didn't really help much.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I actually prefer something like xanax for acute incidents like thunderstorms. Ace doesn't do much to lessen the anxiety (just quiets the dog down). If there is any underlying anxiety, daily fluoxetine might not be a bad idea either. Of course, a veterinarian with knowledge of behavior drugs or a veterinary behaviorist is your best bet

That's true - it depends on the severity and when you give it. For my dog and car rides, I give her a quarter of ace and she snoozes the whole way. Most dogs with mild to moderate acute anxiety do fine with just ace in my experience. Especially if you give it to them beforehand because it keeps the anxiety from snowballing. But for severe anxiety cases or ones that didn't do well with ace, I would probly also use Xanax instead.

Like you said, it is a better anxiety reliever while ace is more like an anxiety 'preventer' imo (i.e. if given before inciting incident). Xanax will work if given in the middle of an anxious episode, whereas I have seen ace not do anything ecept make the anxious dog woozy if given at the height of the attack (like my parent's collie who was also terrified of storms).

And yes, given that dogs can vary wildly in their responses to anxiolytic drugs, I would obviously suggest a vet consult before administering anything. E.g. my dog takes 1/4 of the average dose for ace and it knocks her the **** out whereas my parent's dog (about the same weight) took almot twice the average.

 

[Kpowell14]

Alprazolam worked wonders with my parents dog which has severe firework related anxiety. We do it in combo with the thunder shirt.. Thunder shirt definitely helps, but on 4th of July it is just not enough and medical intervention is necessary. Without any intervention or thunder shirt he pants and shakes and will not lay down. Thunder shirt alone reduced the shaking and panting for the random couple of fireworks the days leading up to the 4th, but on the 4th with meds and the shirt he was very calm- no panting and only the random quiver.