I'm Just Fit To Be Tied, Shes Getting Worse With Storms

[RaineysMom]

no advice, just hugs for your girl and you. This must be horrifying to go through for you both

[Guest 18tjettagrl]

Masa i feel so bad for your situation. I hope you can find a remedy that works. Poor baby to be so upset. Its frustrating when you just want to help them but cant figure out what works without trial and error. If only they could talk and let you know what they need to help them.

On the melatonin are we talking about the same OTC item? Victoria freaks out and has pooped in her crate once because we failed to see the forecast and it hit to quick before my dad could come get her and then tonight out of nowhere she walked into the living room and pee'd. It's been thundering and lightening for hours. It stormed Last night and she was calm technically and slept with us no accidents. It confuses me on why tonight if we were here with her unlike last accident in her crate. Usually if there has been a storm she will go to the basement where it is dark and stay there until we get home.

[philospher77]

I will second the many suggestions of Xanax/Valium and possibly Prozac. I have a spook with generalized anxiety, and the combination of Prozac (given daily for quite some time now) and Xanax for known scary situations (going to the vet, class, boarding, etc.) has made a huge difference.

 

If I were in your shoes, I would be trying to find a behaviorist, preferably a vet behaviorist, to consult with. I dislike the thought of the Ace, but on the other hand, your dog is at a level where she does run a high risk of injuring herself, so you may need some sort of sedative to go with the anti-anxiety drugs. It's possible that the experience of the storm the time she was on the Ace is the reason that she is reacting more now, but it could also just be sensitization from the repeated exposure to the storms.

 

I am somewhat disturbed by your vet first giving Ace, and then recommending Prozac. Prozac is not something that has an immediate affect. I think it was around 4 weeks for the drug to start showing some affect in Katie, and more like 6 to get to a truly therapeutic level. If he means that you should give that daily for all of storm season, that's one thing. But if he wants you to give it right before a storm, it seems like an indication that, while his heart is in the right place, he does not have the level of expertise that you need with a severely storm phobic dog.

 

My heart goes out to you and your girl, and I hope that you find someone who can help you.

[Guest SusanP]

We use Clomipramine seasonally for our Zippy and Alprazolam before a storm arrives. But I have to say, they have had limited effect. The Clomipramine mainly helps her not have "imaginary thunderstorms" between actual thunderstorms, which is something that used to happen for an hour or two a day during spring and summer. The Alprazolam only makes her a bit more likely to lie down than just to stagger around, panting, shaking, crying.

 

So we watch the weather radar constantly and make sure to take her outside to go potty *before* signs of a storm develop. If the storm hits in the early morning, though, she always has accidents in the house, because we don't have warning time to get her out.

 

We, too, have tried Storm Defender Cape, Canine Lullabies, DAP Diffuser, Rescue Remedy and once, desensitization that went very wrong for me: I attempted to turn on a CD of a storm at a very, very low level. But Zippy heard it before I even could, and despite the liverwurst I was shoving into her mouth, she went into a full-blown storm panic and would not eat liverwurst again. I was afraid to try it again.

 

One good thing that has come out of Zippy's increasing deafness now at 14 1/2 is that she doesn't hear many less-noisy storms, though sometimes her 2 packmates who also have some storm anxiety clue her in by their behavior.

 

I second Burpdog's advice on a thyroid check at the vet's and a trial of anxiety meds. What you describe is far beyond your "typical" T-storm phobia.

Edited September 27, 2012 by SusanP

[Guest kess]

I had one dog that was terrified of storms, he would bark and bark and bark, he was also scared of fireworks. I never go out on new years eve because of dogs being scared of fireworks. Remember the clock ticking over from 1999 to 2000 well he was that scared he hid in my walk in robe, I let him stay there with the light off and the door only slightly open as he felt safe there. As he got older things improved but that was only because he got a bit deaf in old age, if he was asleep he would sleep straight through a storm if he was awake he was scared. My males have always been more afraid of storms/fireworks than the females, the females have always been very dominating though.