How to help an extremely anxious dog calm down?

[HowdoIgetbacktothe80s]

Our 2 year old rescue has been with us for 6 months.
I know in the grand scheme of things this is not a long time at all but he has huge, huge anxiety issues.
It isn’t just one thing, literally everything causes him stress and anguish.
This is due to his awful start in life. He was locked in a crate (from 7 weeks), all day, every day without any walks, socialising or seeing anything of the world outside of the flat he lived in (I also suspect he was badly treated in other ways).
Even pooping causes him anxiety as he tries to run off afterwards!
So that was the first year of his life.
The second year was spent in a rescue kennel with 40 other dogs (it was very noisy with dogs barking 24/7). He was then rehomed but returned 3 months later because the people could not handle his anxious behaviour. In September last year, he came to live with us.
We hired a behavioural expert and try to do everything she suggested. We keep his world small, keep his days quiet with a nice routine etc.
He is such a lovely dog and we adore him but his anxiety levels are still so high, it gives him diarrhoea every day and makes him vomit. Even if he does settle, it doesn’t take much to set him off again (like the neighbours banging a door shut or their dogs barking etc). He is VERY vocal and barks a lot.
Some days are much worse than others. Some days nothing seems to bring him down from such a high state of anxiety.
The vet says they aren’t keen to give him any prescribed anti anxiety meds but I have spent a small fortune on all the alternatives and so far nothing has helped. I have tried Plug ins, calming collars, lots of different natural calming tablets, probiotics but they just upset his tummy even more. He is on a high protein, no grain diet (as per the behavioural experts advise).
Hopefully, in a year or two, with a consistent calming and gentle routine he will start to settle but I won’t lie, it’s very hard work. Our lives have also had to become very small too as he is too anxious to travel, go to other peoples homes etc.

I had hoped the vet could prescribe a calming med on a low dose to help him but they really are not keen to do so.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Anything which I haven’t yet tried? It must be such hard work being him, poor thing.

I should also say that his anxiety usually makes him want to tear and rip up anything he can. We have gone through endless cushions, throws, blankets, crate mattresses etc. He has to be watched all the time because he will eat and swallow all of this, if allowed. I have to hide everything which we have around the house that he may feel the need to destroy. He has endless toys and special chews etc but wants to take the anxiety out onto household items. I do enrichment activities with him using old cardboard boxes etc.

Oh god, bless him.

What about cannabis oil?

Why isn’t the vet keen for him to have anti anxiety meds?

Are you sure it’s the anxiety making him
poo?

Does he enjoy life at all? Poor dog.

Very surprised at your vet. I work in a vets that deals with a lot of rescues and they're all on prozac, trazadone etc. I would see another vet, perhaps yours is not up to speed on anti anxiety meds.

I would seek a second opinion from a vet behaviourist - they're dual qualified in both areas, whereas vets receive very little training in dog behaviour during their degrees.

I second find another vet
This level of anxiety is affecting his quality of life and he can't learn while he is so anxious
Or ask your vet for a referral to a vet that specialises in behaviour that can then prescribe, depends where you are as not many around.

Agree with the above. No vet should be seeing anti anxiety meds as a last resort - this is a quality of life issue the poor thing. Change vets. Get a second opinion. Try and get medication if you can. (I speak from experience - have a similarly anxious dog, medication changed her - and our - life)

Suzi888 the vet seems to think the anxiety is causing him to have an upset tummy, a bit like anxiety driven IBS. He doesn’t have constant diarrhoea, it starts off ok then diarrhoea towards the end of the day and when he is particularly anxious. He does seem to enjoy life when he is at home with us, he has quite a happy disposition. I haven’t tried CBD oil, I will look into that, thanks.
Tbh, I am too Anonaymoose, I have joined a lot of support groups for rescues and so many are on anti anxiety meds. I may look into changing vets.
We are in constant contact with the behaviourist ProbablyDogNappersHunX, she did say meds could cause other issues, so recommended several things but most we have tried or they upset him.
karmalama It’s definitely something we need to do.
Thank you Sapin it’s reassuring to hear that medication can help. The behaviourist says anti anxiety meds can cause aggression in dogs, in the beginning, did you have that experience?

Our rescue dog had severe anxiety and the vet prescribed xanax it's used for humans aswell as dogs. I can honestly say it has transformed him. I was at the point of thinking it would be kinder to put him to sleep that be in this anxious state all the time. He is happy and settled now with his tablets. Not drowsy atall he can still go for walks and be interested in things. I would go back and insist you get this medication it's in the dogs best interests. If your vet still won't prescribe then go to another one until they do. It will be a life saver.

No additional advice but just wanted to say well done on taking a rescue. It’s not easy…I have one myself. But it’s a great thing to do. Hope you get him sorted.

I'd immediately take him of the high protein food. Ours is a rescue and on high protein she goes nuts. Lower protein and she can cope much better. If he's not a working dog he doesn't need high protein levels, and the increase in energy it gives them, if not expelled can turn into a nervous energy. I'm surprised your behaviourist put you on it as that was the first thing our behaviourist made us change.

We have a nervous rescue and I would second @Maraudingmarauders comments about too high protein food resulting in too much nervous energy.

Ours isn't as nervous as yours but his on lead reactivity towards other dogs was making me dread our walks tbh. We tried switching him to a lower protein kibble before Christmas and saw a definite improvement within about a week. We stuck with Millies Wolfheart which doesn't contain grain either. Scores very high on allaboutdogfood site plus it's apparently so tasty that ddog prefers it just on its own.

No - it didn’t make her more aggressive at all. However we tried her on fluoxetine first and she stopped eating (which is common) so we moved her onto clomipramime and all was well.

notthisagainforest that’s really good to know, thank you. I’m so glad it’s helped your dog, nothing worse than seeing them struggle so much.
Bless you, thanks Railwayroad
Maraudingmarauders really? Everything I’ve been told has been to kept him off any forms of grain and keep it all high protein (preferably raw but I didn’t want to do that). Can I ask what you feed your dog?
Thanks 3beesinmybonnet I will have a look at the Millies Wolfheart

That’s good to know Sapin

You can try some calming herbs from Dorwest Herbs, they do calming tablets or liquid. I give them to my anxious border collie and they work in keeping him calm. I only give 2 when it says I can give him 4, but giving 2 seems to take the edge off for a while.

Mindymomo I’ve tried the Dorwest ones but they really upset his tummy.

@HowdoIgetbacktothe80s would you reconsider raw? My dog’s poos are small and firm when on it (and don’t smell!), it really made a massive difference.

@HowdoIgetbacktothe80s we feed grain free, just keep the protein on the lower side.
We don't feed her anything massively in particular (she's a fussy hound who likes variety, she will eat something for a fortnight and then goes off it so we vary it)
We've found Wellness Core to be a good one for her (ocean) which is 31% protein and the highest we would go. Harringtons is about 22% but unfortunately she won't eat that.
Pooch & Mutt calm and relaxed is good (24%) but we will only buy it on offer as its so expensive.

I would change food - I've got a nervy sprocker and she was even more horrendous on a high protein diet. My two are on Forthglade cold pressed kibble which they're doing well on. And I'd get a second opinion from a Vet - mine is really pro medication for anxiety - I've got an appointment this week as we're going on holiday and we ended up having to find a vet at 3am on our second day last time as she'd got into such a state

SBHon our friend’s dogs are on raw, it’s not something I relish the idea of but if it would help him, I would definitely consider it.
Maraudingmarauders my dog I lost last year had been on Harrington for years, maybe I will look into getting that again.
Badger1970 I’m definitely going to see a different vet, I do believe he needs something to help him for a few months or so.

I've seen a similar situation with a highly anxious rescue dog. The owner bought a weighted dog coat which instantly calmed the dog down. It was amazing.

Lower protein definitely, also regular chews on frozen carrots/yaks milk bars/puffed chicken feet etc as they are gentle on the stomach but the chewing does calm them massively.

Second way dogs regulate their anxiety is sniffing, so any enrichment activities that promote sniffing would be ideal.

But tbh with the levels you are describing, it does sound like meds will be needed too. Good luck and well done for having such patience up til now

We have a 1 year old rescue with a very similar history.... basically kept in a very small house with tiny yard concrete yard since 8 weeks, never taken out and also subject to harsh discipline 😞... he is the most loving dog ever and is now much happier and calmer in the house and big garden but is terrified of anything and everything beyond the gate... any one or thing going past or going out himself.. he is so dog reactive as he has absolutely no idea what to do around them gets really excited then panics and lunges barking. He is a big dog now and looks terrifying, despite being scared stiff.

We have only had him 3 months and we are just keeping his world small for now while he builds up his trust in us and are working with a behaviourist. We have also found grain makes him worse.. he adores our existing dog and they play all the time so he's not dog aggressive just utterly bewildered. It's going to take a long long time to undo the damage that was done to his puppy brain.. 😢

Reconcile / fluoxetine made my rescue settle much better in the home, but didn’t make any difference out and about. But inside I could see the anxiety drop off him. Would definitely pursue this more .

Oh and I weaned him onto it as it definitely made him feel a bit sick the first week, no aggression at all