Dog anxiety - prescription medication?

[JinglerJangler]

I have two labradors, the younger one is nearly 2 years old & is incredibly anxious.

I’ve tried everything with minimal success - I’ve had a dog trainer, a behaviourist, plug ins, calming collars, calming dog treats, calming tablets over the counter. You name it.

I am still working with the behaviourist & some of the techniques she has suggested are working but I am getting to the end of my tether.

Does anyone know or had experience of anxiety medication through a vet?

Your behaviourist should be working with your vet to discuss this.

If the behaviourist is qualified they should be happy with your permission to discuss the case with the vets.

The behaviourist can not prescribe but can give the vet information to help them make the right decision re medication.

Medication can work really well in behavioural cases.

Have you tried a thunder vest? This worked really well with my anxious labrador. It's basically swaddling for dogs.

Thanks for the comments, she is a very qualified behaviourist, I’ve just contacted her for another session & was going to mention medication but thought I’d get some advice here as well.

I have heard about thunder jackets, will take a look at Amazon now. Thanks you.

I do sympathise. We've just adopted an 8 month old rescue puppy and he is incredibly reactive to people as although he was well cared for he wasn't socialised at all. He lunges and barks and we can't take him anywhere with people. Our trainer has suggested that veterinary prescribed medication will help him calm his anxiety so we can work on his behaviour, and has said he'll talk to the vet to describe the behaviour he is observing to help them prescribe the right meds. We've tried CBD oils and proprietary over the counter stuff to no avail.

Medication is the only evidence-based therapy that will reduce significant anxiety

My dog has got more and more anxious about fireworks as he has got older, so this year I asked the vet for medication. Trazadone calmed him significantly. He still rushed about a bit and remained alert, but the horrible panic-strickenness was absent.

My concern is that he has generalized anxiety with many triggers so he’d not be able to have “one off” medicine for fireworks for example as his anxiety is a problem every day.

We have a very anxious lab, no idea why as the rest of our dogs are fine. She hates the wind and gets so stressed (running blindly round the house, panting, excessive salivating, trembling etc).

We've been prescribed medication (Pexion) from the vet whilst we wait for a behaviourist appointment and it has made the world of difference to our dog. She is so much more relaxed and happy generally, more chilled, less like our shadow. I've been led to understand the behaviourist will give us suggestions as to the best long term meds for her and will work with our lovely vets to get her on the right pathway.

My whippet is on low dose prozac for his anxiety. It’s not a cure for him, he’ll never not be anxious but I believe it has greatly increased his quality of life.

It hasn’t made him sluggish or changed his personality just helped him cope better with life and be more receptive to training.

I got it prescribed though a specialist behaviour vet.

My dog has generalised anxiety and is prescribed Fluoxetine and trazodone. Has helped him no end. Not a cure all by any means but makes it possible to actually work on his triggers and give him some quality of life. I felt a bit uncomfortable giving him daily meds at first but the difference is clear. Has taken about a year to find the right dose/combo and still titrating so don't expect instant results. Would highly recommend a veterinary behaviourist too if your dog is that bad. We worked with a non vet behaviourist (fully accredited, R+, rave reviews) in the past and they did more harm than good.

Another tip. Not all meds work for all dogs. Trazadone sent my boy loopy!

I could have written that . I have a 2 year old male lab who is so anxious and seems to be worsening last month - I think since the fireworks . He now won’t go out in the dark and today was a true low point as we went for our usual walk, he heard a bird scarer and bolted for home . Luckily was on a long line so could run across the road but my shoulder is not so happy !
He is anxious and reactive to dogs as well.
our vet gave him diazepam for the fireworks but I think now needs something generally because we can’t always predict when he’s going to hear something.

our vet has said she’s not an expert but would prescribe if we wanted so I was going to ask for fluoxetine trial so will follow with interest

This is fantastic feedback, thanks all who have commented. I have another appointment with the behaviourist tomorrow so will discuss.

@TheChestertons sounds like your on the right track now. What did the behaviourist suggest that made things worse?

@acornsThey didn't do a proper assessment or provide a behaviour mod plan. Because he wasn't assessed properly, they didn't grasp how fearful he was and misread his body language so encouraged us to put him in situations he found completely overhwelming - e.g., playing roughly with other dogs, greeting other dogs on lead, taking him to a particular "socialisation" class that was just an unstructured free for all. They didn't investigate physical issues (he also has gut problems) and recommended a "hypoallergenic" food our GP vet said is not hypoallergenic and is extremely high in fat. And then left us high and dry when things inevitably escalated and he started attacking other dogs.

It was all very confusing and frustrating. I knew he wasn't right from day 1 so got the behaviourist in asap when he was still a pup. Unfortunately their advice made things worse. With hindsight, a lot of his issues could have been avoided/lessened if we'd gone straight to the vet behaviourist.

@TheChestertons thats so frustrating for you and really bad they didn't do a proper assessment. I didn't realise how important the right food is until recently.