How To Deal With A Panic Attack?

[Plymgreys]

A friend of mine has recently adopted a new greyhound. She's greyhound savy, this is her fourth, but as we all know every dog is different. He was known to be nervous but has settled nicely with her other dog and seems happy enough in his new home. The only blot on the landscape would appear to be occasional panic attacks. Twice now in 3 months he has ended up at the vet with a very elevated heart rate which needed medication to settle. Most recently last night. He was offered some particularly tasty left overs, wolfed them down and started choking/reverse sneezing, the choking passed but he then went and ate all the grass he could find and made himself sick, couldn't stop retching and panting and was taken to the emergency vet. The vet suspected an obstruction in the throat but after a GA and a camera down the throat nothing was found except some inflamation caused by the grass and being sick. The first panic attack was a similarly insignificant incident which his panicking made into a night at the vets. Does anyone have any ideas about calming a panic attack before it gets out of hand? Obviously the owner's reactions are key but is there anything else?

[JohnF]

In that last instance I suspect something in the leftovers caused an allergic reaction, or mre likely he aspirated some food, that made him short of breath (just how some people panic over an asthma attack) and then the retching episode soon after will just have compounded it.

But random elevated heart rate is another matter entirely. My last dog, when she was in Kidney Failure, got it from taking Tramadol (a side effect noted only previously in human medicine where the dose was too large... of course with kidney failure the excretion mechanisms were all out of kilter.)

I'd have the dog's heart properly investigated so that I could have meds on hand if required.

 

Add: Sedatives or a Thundershirt (similar idea to swaddling babies) could be helpful.

Edited July 20, 2012 by JohnF

[jetcitywoman]

Twice now in 3 months he has ended up at the vet with a very elevated heart rate which needed medication to settle.

 

What I'd like to know is what were the symptoms that made them take him to the vet. If my dogs had an elevated heart rate, I doubt I'd notice, so I assume there was also some odd behavior?

 

When we first got Capri, she had a couple of panic attacks when I was walking her. Things would be fine, but I'd look up and there she'd be writhing in mid-air at my eye-level (couple feet of air below her is VERY impressive) at the end of the leash. I forget now what one trigger was, but in one case a kid went by on a skateboard. This may only work for her, but I just yelled her name to bring her "back to herself" and then stood there while she got hold of herself before moving on.

 

Early in a relationship with a new hound, it's more of a challenge because the dog doesn't know yet that it can trust you to help it. I remember when both of my hounds were new and they'd get the leash wrapped around their butts, they'd panic and try to back away making the leash tighter and panic some more. Now they stand still and let me fix it. I think this is where your "command presence" and calm energy comes into play, because if you panic it will make them freak out even more. You have to be in charge, calm, and fix the situation. Oh, and as soon as they're calm again, if you have treats available a little reward for calming down is also helpful.

 

That reminds me of another situation I had with Capri once. At a pet store meet and greet, I let someone else take her for a mini-walk around the store. They just disappeared around the corner when I heard my girl's GSOD, so I went to check it out. The lady looked super embarrassed and tried to explain that she dropped the leash and somehow it got stuck on Capri's foot - and Capri was writhing on the floor screaming like she was on fire. I had a clamp-thing on the hand loop holding the poop bag dispenser. Somehow when the lady dropped the leash, Capri managed to step on it in exactly the right way to clamp it on her paw pad. It looked like it was embedded in her pad, and it didn't come off easily, so I had to just suck it up and yank/twist it off my poor screaming baby. Then with timing that couldn't be better than if it was scripted, a guy who had come up behind me during this, offered her a treat as soon as the pain stopped, and she literally climbed me to get it. No harm done, other than to my nerves and especially the poor lady who felt unnecessarily guilty.

Edited July 20, 2012 by jetcitywoman

[JAJ2010]

Sunshine recently had what I'm going to call a panic attack... No clue what was really going on in her head. I just covered her with a quilt ans squeezed her into a hug until she stopped shaking then gave her 1/2 a Xanax. Unless this is a nervous dog overall I might be looking at other medical reasons... Hope they figure it out soon!