To medicate my dog (with Tessie)?

[4legsgood39]

I’ve posted on the doghouse but posting here for traffic.

Would I BU to medicate my highly anxious dog? Especially interested to hear experiences with Tessie (a new medication which has been mentioned to us) or fluoxetine. This is further to discussions with a behaviourist and the vet who both think this is a valid option after many months of behavioural work. We’ve made some, but very slow, progress and puppy remains highly anxious with separation anxiety. She’s never left alone but hates if one of us goes out and even if we take a bath or shower she gets distressed by the distance.

TIA

It sounds like you've done all the right steps up to this one, with a vet and a behaviourist. Are they both working together? If they're both in agreement that this is the next step, then it sounds like that's the right decision. What's the plan with medication - will there be a trial period, and will there be concurrent work with the behaviourists alongside the meds?

Thanks @jasmine465 well the behaviourist wouldn’t make a recommendation either way which was a bit frustrating but the vet is supportive and we’ll go back to the behaviourist if we go the medication route. We’re hoping it’ll just be a temporary measure to support the e behaviour changes we’ve already been working on with training. We’ve never heard of the medication “Tessie” though that the vet has mentioned and as it’s fairly new they haven’t used it before.

My dog has SA, and is being medicated with Fluoxetine.
Its been amazing.
It doesn't change him, he's still the hyperactive terrier he's always been, but he's way more relaxed for separation training.
I've done 9 months with a behaviourist, we started off without medication but weren't going anywhere so we decided, with the vet's approval, to try Fluoxetine.

For context, 18months ago, he was pinching my socks when I wad approching the door.
Last saturday, he stayed alone for 2h and was very relaxed.

Medication alone won't solve the issue but its a great tool to put the dog in the right conditions to receive training.

Thank you for sharing @FastFood