Medicating anxious dogs

Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
so I'm beginning to question my decision to put Shamas on Trazadone...

After a couple of months on it, Shamas is having regular (3-4x/week) accidents. A few days it's been multiple in a day. He is only able to "hold it" for about 2-3 hours between pees. He's also always thirsty, though his bloodwork doesn't support any diseases that would cause this.....Urinalysis came back Dilute. Vet says he's drinking too much.

And that's with me allowing his bowl to dry out, and giving him rationed water multiple times a day instead of leaving water out all the time.


I'm beginning to wonder what other options there are for him.....

He's still barking excessively, won't walk off my little block unless Angel's with him or we drive him somewhere...just tugs me to his back gate to let him off in the yard instead. Still reactive...though the muzzle seems to calm him down. we've reached the point of me taking Shamas for a 4-5 minute "walk" then dropping him off to switch out for Angel...because I can't risk walking them together without a second person and he'll only walk like 3 houses.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
I will. I was going over this thread...his accidents started 9 days after the medication. I can't help but think it's linked, even if the vet doesn't.

In 5 years that we had him he only had 3 accidents and we could say with certainty what caused it.

Now.....3 in one day is not unheard of.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
So my son brought up something I hadn't thought of


Dogs don't Naturally eat dairy. I've been using cheese to mask the taste of the pills

He thinks the dog is mildly allergic to dairy, causing him to feel funny in his mouth, making him drink more. Which would account for incontinence without bloodwork or urinalysis results to explain it .


I've bought pill pockets to try, and he didn't seem to gulp as much water back today.....we will see if it helps.


I still want to talk to the vet, but she doesn't think the trazadone is the cause....she put it down to drinking too much. And his bloodwork as of 3m ago doesn't support the diseases that cause incontinence.

I'm thinking I'll do a recheck of his bloodwork along with a chat about the sertralin
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
Shamas mom said:
so I'm beginning to question my decision to put Shamas on Trazadone...

He's still barking excessively, won't walk off my little block unless Angel's with him or we drive him somewhere...just tugs me to his back gate to let him off in the yard instead. Still reactive...though the muzzle seems to calm him down. we've reached the point of me taking Shamas for a 4-5 minute "walk" then dropping him off to switch out for Angel...because I can't risk walking them together without a second person and he'll only walk like 3 houses.
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This is indicative of anxiety, and suggests he is not relaxed walking around the block - but is OK being driven to somewhere for a walk. What does you behaviourist suggest?

Dogs aren't a "little allergic" sorry, but that is nonsense.

The increased fluid intake does need to be explored in more detail from a medical perspective. Trazadone does have the side effect of "dry mouth" - so that may make him feel a little thirstier than normal. Avoiding dry food will help including de-hydrated treats. Switching to a different anxiety med right now does have it's risks. Sertraline works for some dogs, it wouldn't be one I would choose for Shamas. ( *caveat I am not a vet, but have studied psychopharmacology and canine behaviour. Any medical treatment for your dog should be discussed with your vet. )

Shamas should be on a pretty intensive behaviour modification plan with any anxiety meds, it may be a good idea to revisit some of your behaviourists earlier recommendations.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Beanwood said:
This is indicative of anxiety, and suggests he is not relaxed walking around the block - but is OK being driven to somewhere for a walk. What does you behaviourist suggest?

Dogs aren't a "little allergic" sorry, but that is nonsense.

The increased fluid intake does need to be explored in more detail from a medical perspective. Trazadone does have the side effect of "dry mouth" - so that may make him feel a little thirstier than normal. Avoiding dry food will help including de-hydrated treats. Switching to a different anxiety med right now does have it's risks. Sertraline works for some dogs, it wouldn't be one I would choose for Shamas. ( *caveat I am not a vet, but have studied psychopharmacology and canine behaviour. Any medical treatment for your dog should be discussed with your vet. )

Shamas should be on a pretty intensive behaviour modification plan with any anxiety meds, it may be a good idea to revisit some of your behaviourists earlier recommendations.
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He's pretty chill at the behaviorist. As in flaked out on the floor chill lol. Barely even reacts to her dummy dog. Panting, avoidance no lunging.

His extreme stress is definitely our-block specific

I'm going to bring that up with Michelle when we restart. (Closed over Christmas)

If she doesn't do home visits, I might need a behaviorist who does
 
JES72

JES72

Location
SW London UK
They are all different in different situations. For quite a long time Homer would not turn right at the bottom of our road, a right turn would be towards the busier end even though previously we had gone over the bridge to another fun park the other side the river. During the worst of our time with his anxiety a friend of ours took him for a walk and took him off to the right and Homer trotted off happily along side him. Homer completely trusted him.
There are still times Homer will just say “No, I’m not going that way” sometimes, more often now I can give him a bit of a come on tug and he‘ll continue happily, other times he just needs to turn back home.
A home visit with a behaviourist sounds like a good idea.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
JES72 said:
They are all different in different situations. For quite a long time Homer would not turn right at the bottom of our road, a right turn would be towards the busier end even though previously we had gone over the bridge to another fun park the other side the river. During the worst of our time with his anxiety a friend of ours took him for a walk and took him off to the right and Homer trotted off happily along side him. Homer completely trusted him.
There are still times Homer will just say “No, I’m not going that way” sometimes, more often now I can give him a bit of a come on tug and he‘ll continue happily, other times he just needs to turn back home.
A home visit with a behaviourist sounds like a good idea.
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Shamas refuses to turn left from the corner, towards the main road.

If I can get him as far as the corner......

If I get him to the corner and turn right, we'll go to tim Horton's and back for a decent walk.

Quite often though, since the bite incident, it's out the front door, 2 houses one way, one house the other, and back inside. That's all I can get out of him. Unless a second handler comes with the puppy. He will walk with her to timmies and back.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Lungs are clear. No pneumonia , or tumors to account for his occasional wheezing and groaning when he lays. The new lump is just fatty.

Vet wants a first pee to check kidneys. After that, her top concern is diabetes incipetus?

I suspect without a health cause on the discomfort and groaning when he lays...obesity is at play. He's up to 80lbs from 68 pre puppy.

She's going to revisit medication too because the other thing suggested was that the excessive drinking might be an anxiety based behavior. It started post dog-bite.
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Quite cheerful. He brought me a little bear he found. Took almost 20min before he started baking at the puppy. He's very bossy and she's not an angel.....he barks everything she does something she shouldn't be, and a human is not stopping her. Trouble is, a lot of times it's just his rules she's breaking....

He hasn't grumbled too much...but then I haven't seen him laying down much yet. Isn't cranky with Angel either, which indicates he's feeling good
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
Shamas started his Clomicalm yesterday. It'll take a few weeks to become active in his system.

Interestingly, he's not peed in the house since the Trazadone was weaned off. He's also leaving water in the water bowls, and keeping his head out of the toilet.

and I might be wrong...but his barking seems less intense?

He's still barking...but the tone's changed. It's moer his normal "I have something to say" bark....not the tone-less loud bark that indicated overstimulation/stress.

He's walking to the tracks again....not sure if that's the Traz out of his system, or the addition of a Gentle-leader(he was always calmer if I had hs head, and his martingale got too small with his sudden weight gain)

It seems as many problems as the Trazadone helped....it exasturbaed others we were hoping to solve.

We'll see how things go with this one......it's said to work beautifully for generalised anxiety, and obsessive compulsive behaviors when paired with behavior therapy. And the only real side effect is occassional vomiting
 
Shamas mom

Shamas mom

Location
Canada
We've also recently changed his feeding set up. Because Angel can open doors, and likes to "wait her turn" for his food rather than eating her own.....we put his bowls holder in the bottom of our closet. We have a half-door that opens in, as well as the bedroom door---so that sits across the closet door frame to prevent her crowding him if she mistakenly gets let out of her back hall before he finishes eating.

He gets distressed, and wont eat if I actually close him in the room....so a sheltered feeding area seemed like a good alternative.
 
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