I am putting my dog on an SSRI and it's causing *me* anxiety!

[.Poppy.]

So I am currently, myself, on Lexapro and actually doing much, much better. I can get out of bed in the morning. I can have scary things crop up and I'm not immediately running for the hills. I'm taking therapy exercises more seriously and they've had more of an impact. Major, major win. :yahoo:

My dog is a Cocker mix, from a puppy mill and probably inbred. ALL of the dogs pulled had massive fear issues. Funny that anxious me ended up with an anxious dog (I do have two other dogs who are totally normal so I swear it wasn't me that "messed him up"!).

Anyway, we've tried all the natural type remedies and are still using some, like lavender oil and an Adaptil collar/Adaptil diffusers. He's currently on Trazodone, 75 mg twice a day. He was on Xanax as-needed too but it did absolutely nothing for him.

I called my vet today because the trazodone has very little effect and most of what I'm reading is that it's largely used for insomnia or as a supplement to an SSRI. My vet is very wary of using an SSRI because of the side effect window and she's afraid of making him worse. But I pushed because we've upped the trazodone before with no luck and I didn't think upping it again would help.

[BTW, major props to me for pushing because that is so NOT something I do]

But...now my anxiety is sky high. I'm afraid he's going to get worse or have major issues and it will be all my fault because I put him on this med. I know a lot of people who have done this and once their dog gets through that 'window' it's brighter on the other side...hell, I went through that 'window' and it got brighter on the other side. We're starting at a low dose, so that's good. I just don't want to hurt my dog.

I mean, on the one hand I totally did what my therapist said...I saw a problem and I was brave and stood up to it and resolved it. I made a decision, which I am horrible at. But I'm still a mess thinking I could have made the wrong decision (not as big of a mess as I would have been three months ago, mind, but still...).

Anyway, I guess I just needed to get it off my chest. I'm going to be travelling so I won't see my therapist for two weeks and maybe I'm feeling the need to unload to someone. :blush:

[Buster70]

Hi , to be honest I didn't even know vets gave dogs pills for anxiety / deression its perhaps more common in the USA , I know you love your dogs as I do so you just do what you think is best for them and you take the vets advice because you have to trust them , the dog I lost recently was absolutely fearless ( apart from the rain and bath time ) our other dog has always been very nervous especially around fireworks she turns into an absolute nervous wreck and I have been tempted to give her an anthistamine , we found ignoring her when she is bad is the best way to go comforting her just fuels the anxiety ,she has also been very quiet and doesn't want to go out since losing the other dog she was with me and him when he died and didnt want to leave him it was heartbreaking , they have so many more emotions than people realise , now we've got the new pup she seems ok about going out and just about tolerates another dog in the house , I'm not sure drugs are the answer but then I'm not sure they are answer for us either , I'm sure you know your dog and you will know if things are improving , my dogs were completely different characters and treated the same so I don't think it's down to us , take care

[.Poppy.]

Thanks, Buster.

Unfortunately with my dog, he is anxious all the time and has a very large number of triggers that set him of into either a panic attack or a total meltdown. Strange smells, people, animals, boxes, bags, doors closing, vacuum cleaners, etc. etc. Since there are just so many it's impossible to work on making him feel better. Hopefully this will help so we can do some behavior modification training.

[Tims]

Wow, ssri's for dogs. I've heard of people giving their pets benzos for stressful situations.

[swgrl09]

That's interesting, a friend of mine has a cat that pees everywhere and her vet wanted to give the cat Prozac for anxiety! Who knew?

[MyNameIsTerry]

If you get licked will your anxiety reduce too? :yesyes:

All I had learnt was the Mirt was used for anorexia in cats & dogs. Didn't know any of this.

I want to know if they have "human therapy" where the therapist brings in a human they can play with. :D

[swgrl09]

Sign me up for that, Terry!!!

[Fishmanpa]

Wow, ssri's for dogs. I've heard of people giving their pets benzos for stressful situations.

When I made the big move from NJ to VA, I had a domestic long hair cat at the time. She couldn't deal with travel so the vet gave me some kitty xanex for the trip. I slipped it into a treat and she slept for the 6 hour drive ~lol~

Positive thoughts

[.Poppy.]

Chisum had Xanax too, but it didn't do anything for him :)

It seems crazy - my brother thinks so for sure - but I know some have had success and I'd try anything for my little guy.

[Buster70]

Hi again , I don't want to insult you but do your dogs have a good routine ie out in the morning and later on , they need a leader and they have amazing body clocks mine sits in the kitchen at 4 o'clock every day to get fed , I was worried about getting another dog because I've been going through a bad patch and I didn't think I was up to being that leader the dogs look to you to feel safe and make decisions for them , so far it's going ok with my new pup my older dog tolerates her and does seem better with the company , I took out my daughters dogs as well yesterday 4 dogs in a van I was worried how they'd be but all went ok the pup kept coming to me when it got to rough , my daughter doesn't take hers out daily and wonders why they misbehave , hope you are not offended by me asking this , take care .

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, Buster, mine's the same. He knows what time it is and when a treat is normally due. He even knows the days of the week as his behaviour will change e.g. I was getting him toys on Saturdays at one point as treat and he learning after 2 of them that Saturdays meant toys! So, when I stopped he was still keeping a beady eye on me going near the hall door at that time when I would fetch a toy.

[Shazamataz]

My old retriever used to be in bits when there were fireworks and thunderstorms. Once in a really bad storm when I was at work he jumped the front fence and I came home and found him standing in the road soaked and shivering. He had bad arthritis and couldn't even get on the bed so the fence was quite an achievement.

Next time he tried to chew his way through the back gate and required several teeth removed as they were down to the gums!!

The vet gave me alprazolam (is that Xanax?) and it worked wonders, made him completely zoned out. But that's mostly manageable as it's not all the time.

My other dog Lola is a rescue and has all sorts of issues. I toyed with trying her on doggie prozac a couple of years back but decided against it as I felt it wasn't fair to her if there were side effects (I couldn't explain them to her.)

She's calmed (a bit), still has a lot of behavioural issues but I can see her anxiety levels have reduced on their own.

I hope you can help your dog be less anxious. As we all know it's not a nice way to feel!

[.Poppy.]

Yeah, they have a good schedule and they certainly know it. :). I have two other dogs as well with no issues whatsoever. Chisum is a puppy mill rescue and genetically just has a lot going on. If it were one or two triggers I wouldn't mess with it but there are many and they upset him daily.

I went back and forth myself on what to do because I've been through the side effects and know they're not fun. But I do feel better now and am getting much better at not flying of the deep end when something scary happens, but rather working through. I spoke to a woman who's dog is on Prozac and is doing great, she said she wished she had done it sooner. From her perspective, dogs lives are short and it isn't fair for him to feel that level anxiety day in and day out for his entire life. If this can help him, it's worth a try. So fingers crossed we have some success.

[pulisa]

I wish you and your dog well, Poppy. It's a hard decision to make but you have the insight into how anxiety can really affect quality of life in both humans and animals. My late cat was hugely anxious and was definitely on the cat autistic spectrum according to my vet-she was given zylkene which didn't do much and also diazepam which affected her neurologically. She was given mirtazapine after an illness which stopped her eating and had very bad side effects. I think it's down to individual response as it is in humans. I can see these "human" drugs being used with dogs/cats in the future but there needs to be very close monitoring which I know you'll be sure to do. I wish you and your dog really good progress and a definite improvement.

[Buster70]

Hi , so here's one that baffles me my dog sits and waits at four o'clock each day , body clock right , so how come when the clocks go back an hour in summer and forward an hour ( I think this is just a British thing ) she still sit there at four o'clock not three or five , can she actualy tell the time , it's been facinating watching my older dog and the new pup adapting to each other the dog we lost was the alpha dog now the older one has taken on that role but the pup try's to challenge it and they both come to me for approval , the pups doing pretty well she's house trained and ok off the lead until she sees another dog then you have to trick her into coming back , she also won't go out for pee if it's raining and it's rained a lot so I pick her up carry her down the garden and stand in the rain till she pees , the things we do for our dogs .

[MyNameIsTerry]

My dog seems to have an inbuilt doggie alarm clock too. The seasonal changes or weather make no difference. He can be sleeping for hours in his bed and when the time comes for a treat he will wake up and come looking for us.