Acepromazine

[Guest masa]

I talked to our vet about Swirls storm fears, she is so scared she is to the point that she could really hurt herself, so he recommended Acepromazine (AEC), has anyone ever used this before? and or liked or disliked how it worked?

On another topic about storms that I had posted, some said they used it and others said they didn't like it because of the sedative type quality. Our vet gave us 25 mg. Wouldn't all medicine for storm phobia have a sedative quality? Im at a loss

Thanks guys

Edited March 30, 2012 by masa

[macoduck]

If you do a search on here for that you'll see most people don't like it. The dog may appear knocked out by it but they can still sense, and be terrified, by the storm.

[Burpdog]

I used it for a little bit for Tootsie because she was going to kill herself. I really dislike ace and once her thyroid was supplemented (we did tests), the Calm Spirit started working again.

 

Most people I know use either Xanax or valium with good results.

[Anne]

I have used it in SMALL doses. My dogs have taken it in 5mg and 2.5mg doses. Most vets recommend WAY too much. My dogs sleep on 5mg of it, and if needed, they can get up to eat and go outside if it's not storming. Now having said all that, some dogs don't do so well with it. I've never had a dog have an adverse reaction to it. Some people hate ACE, but for me for very severe storms it works very well in the 5mg range. My original vet recommended I think 20mgs of it, and that was WAY WAY too much, my dog slept for hours and hours and wouldn't budge for almost 15 hours. So I would never give that amount unless we had worked up towards it and it was a life and death situation or vet controlled situation.

 

I don't use it often anymore. I tend to use benedryl or the generic form, diphenhydramine HCL. My dogs take 100mgs of this. The average dose is 1mg per pound of your dogs body weight. Most greyhounds fall into the 50mg dose. And it helps a lot for storms and for separation anxiety here. My dogs take 100mgs and that was approved by their vet, in fact, they can have that up to 3 times a day. At first it tends to make them really sleepy, but after a while, less so.

 

My dogs got no help from various other recommendations, including herbal meds and drops and such, nor the plug in things or the herbal collars. But my spook has horrific thunder and wind phobia along with other noise issues.

 

And even after thyroid testing and thyroid meds, it made NO DIFFERENCE at all in her phobias. WE tried and I prayed that it would help, but it didn't. In her old age, a new vet and she's been weaned from thyroid drugs and is doing so well with good levels. But that's another whole ball of wax.

 

 

Edited to add thyroid stuff.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Anne

[Guest masa]

Thanks guys, I was looking at this med and didnt like how they said it worked, but never having to use medicine for storms before I thought maybe I was just overreacting. From what you all have said, it really worrys me that the vet wanted to give us 25 mg

[Burpdog]

Years ago, I gave Trevor 25 mg (my LP dog) and he was out flat for 22 hours. The next time I have him half and he was out for 10 hrs. Never used it on him again.

[greypuppyluv]

Have you looked into using a Thunder Shirt?

[Riverhound]

Try Xanax; it does wonders for Joe. Ace turns him into a zombie, and scares the heck out of me!

[greysmom]

There are a lot better meds out there than Ace - valium and xanax come to mind. Greyhounds seem to be unusually reactive to it - a dose that would make another dog slightly slow simple puts them unconscious. Or conversely - they can also have the opposite reaction. We gave it to Dude one time after he came home ater his amp to help keep him quiet and he could not lay down for about 8 hours - just kept pacing and pacing and panting!

 

Plus, there is the added effect that it does NOTHING to relieve their anxiety. They still feel terrified but are simply unable to react to stimuli. That's not an effective way to manage an anxiety attack.

[Guest jettcricket]

Fortunately, I've not really had a problem with Ace.

[tbhounds]

Ace is really not used for phobia's any longer. As already mentioned your hound may look sedated but, in fact their minds are still in a panic but, their bodys can not react-- what a horror it must be for them. May want to ask your vet about scripting you Xanax.

Btw- 25mgs would knock most hounds on their butts for an extended period of time.

[PatricksMom]

Does anyone know if this is okay when paired with Xanax? I just read the bill from Patrick's stay and realized they had used it--now I'm worried he was scared in the hospital and couldn't express it. He was really sedated when we visited, but they said that was the Methadone for pain.

[Guest Marigold]

I did use it and it worked for my galgo's storm anxiety. However it began to cause major aggression in him. He ended up going after our husky mix while on it and she bit him in the head. He needed 6 stitches (it also got me a job at the vet clinic I took him to but that's another story).

We now use a thundershirt and prozac during storms.