Help With Anxiety Please

[Busderpuddle]

I don't know what else I can try to help ease Ruby's fears tonight. She is panting, drooling and pacing. Her breathing is so fast I am afraid she is going to have a heart attack. I have tried 3 pills of the Happy Traveler herbal pills I bought earlier with zero help. I have a loud fan on, the curtains pulled, the TV turned up as loud as I can stand it and I am laying beside her on the floor.

Any other ideas to help her make it through the night ? It is only 6:30 here now and it is only going to get louder. I am trying to remain as calm as I can so she doesn't feed off of me but I am so worried her heart is going to explode. This is sad !

[3greytjoys]

Try this thread...

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/299506-greyhound-safety-tips-during-fireworks/

[Yamaha_gurl]

Can you take her to a safe place for a long walk? Or the doggie park? Car ride? Pet store trip?

[macoduck]

Can you take her to a safe place for a long walk? Or the doggie park? Car ride? Pet store trip?

I don't think any place will be safe right now. I wouldn't risk her slipping the collar just going in/out of the house or car.

Plain Benedryl. uP to 3 of the 25mg pills.

[Guest WhiteWave]

I gave Ronon Xanax. He is still scared, but not panting and just laying on the couch with his eyes dilated! I've tried all sorts of drugs on him in the past and nothing worked as well as the xanax for him. I gave .5 mg earlier and then 1 mg when I got home at 9 pm. Ronon is very phobic and is usually panting, drooling, diving behind me on the couch, trying to squeeze behind furniture or jumping on top of the other dogs.

 

Joey is outside playing. He likes the fireworks. It sounds like we are in a war zone. Booms are going off all around us and he is tearing up palm fronds and chasing his ball.

Edited July 5, 2013 by WhiteWave

[Busderpuddle]

I should have added that we have tried Benadryl, Melatonin, Xanax and Valium in the past and they all amped her up. I was hoping the new herbal stuff would work but it isn't helping her. I started it this afternoon at 1:00 and just kept giving it to her every 3 hours as directed.

 

Can they breathe so rapidly for hours on end without any problems ? Her heart is racing.

 

I don't want to take her anywhere and I don't think she would go. She wouldn't even go outside earlier to eat and I didn't hear a thng outside. She did eat this morning with no problems. She hates car rides too so those are not relaxing for her.

 

Can you take her to a safe place for a long walk? Or the doggie park? Car ride? Pet store trip?

I see that you live in Canada.......it is the 4th of July so lots of noise and fireworks going on. Edited July 5, 2013 by Busderpuddle

[3greytjoys]

Xanax is known for creating the opposite of desired affect in "certain" dogs. (One of our hounds is worse on Xanax too.) Some dogs who don't do well on anything else may benefit from a different veterinary prescription... some veterinarians prescribe Acepromazine if nothing else works.

 

Yes, dogs can overheat under extreme panting/stress. Keep an eye on her gum color (per my other thread). She may need to be cooled by tap water (if needed, even in the shower by gradually wetting down her butt end first). If her gums become more bluish-purple she may may not be getting enough oxygen, then she would need veterinary attention. Good to try to keep her body temp under control at home. Most hounds get through it okay (even under high stress), but Ruby did start stressing very early tonight.

 

Along with other ideas in my previous thread, relaxing with Ruby in a basement might help (if you have one). Good luck.

[greysmom]

Monitor her for heatstroke, as above. Unfortunately, you're going to have to try and ride it out at this point. Some people have ended up stuffing cotton balls in their dogs ears. If she'll allow it, sit by her and stroke her gently and talk to her. Massaging her ear flaps is supposed to be a calming point as well.

 

The next prescription thing to try is trazadone. It's relatively new for dogs (though not for people) and the ones I know that have tried it have had good results.

[Busderpuddle]

I will keep an eye on her for overheating. Thank you for that info.

She will let me sit beside her and I have been laying with her most of the night, but she has now put her self in her crate. I am not going to make her go out to potty tonight and will just get up with her if she needs to go in

the middle of the night. Her breathing has slowed a bit now that she is in her crate.

I will have to prepare next year before the 4th gets here, although we have tried so many meds with her in the beginning when she had the SA.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Probably too late for this, but if you needed to cool her down quickly but putting her in the shower would just stress her out more, a quick way is if they are laying down, wipe the bottom of their pads with 95% alcohol. It evaporates rapidly and wicks their body heat away with it as it evaporates. It will take several swipes on each foot to rapidly cool them down and prevent temperature spiking.

 

For calming, you might try chamomile capsules (get the highest quality human grade you can find). They are gentle and effective.

[JJNg]

I should have added that we have tried Benadryl, Melatonin, Xanax and Valium in the past and they all amped her up.

 

What doses of Xanax and Valium did you try? I've had some dogs that got amped up on the higher doses of Xanax that actually did better when the dose was lowered. I would also second the recommendation about talking to your vet about trying trazodone. Clonidine is another option. With these more 'advanced' meds, if your vet is not comfortable prescribing them, see if they will consult with a veterinary behaviorist. Many vet behaviorists are willing to do phone consults with general practice vets.

[Remolacha]

I hope the fireworks have stopped for the night and Ruby is calmer. We had a bad couple of hours, but things got quiet a little after ten, and the neighborhood idiots aren't as bad this year. Sallie is finally sleeping. Last year the Xanax really seemed to help, this year not so much. I have come to hate fireworks!

[macoduck]

I would not suggest "ace" - your dog may look calm but on the inside the fear will still be raging.

 

Jjng has some great suggestions.

 

How is your girl this morning?

[JAJ2010]

She may be to far gone for this to help. Last night Rainy wouldn't stop panicking unless she was touching me. We ended up in the bedroom of the trailer with both AC units cranked, fan high, TV blasting. She was all panting and the TV was making me crazy so I turned that off. Put both hands on her while she was laying down and panting. Took a deep breath and exhaled. I imagined pushing all the tension out of my body with each breath. Nice calming relaxing thoughts... She stopped panting by my third feel breath. Thought that was kind of cool! LOL might have been a coincidence, but still very interesting to me

[Guest grey_dreams]

She may be to far gone for this to help. Last night Rainy wouldn't stop panicking unless she was touching me. We ended up in the bedroom of the trailer with both AC units cranked, fan high, TV blasting. She was all panting and the TV was making me crazy so I turned that off. Put both hands on her while she was laying down and panting. Took a deep breath and exhaled. I imagined pushing all the tension out of my body with each breath. Nice calming relaxing thoughts... She stopped panting by my third feel breath. Thought that was kind of cool! LOL might have been a coincidence, but still very interesting to me

 

Not a coincidence at all!

 

I would suggest that you try T-Touch by Linda Tellington-Jones:

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-TTouch-Your-Dog-Behavior/dp/1570762066/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373038237&sr=8-1&keywords=T-Touch+dogs

 

And acupressure by Amy Snow (I have her book from 1999, but she just released a new edition):

http://www.amazon.com/Acu-Dog-Guide-Canine-Acupressure-Snow/dp/1936796007/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373038298&sr=1-1&keywords=acupressure+dogs

[JAJ2010]

Thanks! I'll check those books out! I was massaging her ears earlier and it did nothing for her :-(

[Guest grey_dreams]

Thanks! I'll check those books out! I was massaging her ears earlier and it did nothing for her :-(

 

Lovely!

 

Bodywork does wonderful, magical things for shy, nervous, skittish animals (and humans).

 

I also recently used it for my 92-year old father in the recovery room immediately after a double-barrel colostomy surgery where they had to open the entire abdominal wall. He was writhing in agony, and the morphine was barely helping. I tried accupressure on his forehead (on his ajna center), and his entire body relaxed, he smiled, and slipped into a peaceful doze. The recovery room nurses were amazed. One of them recently visited him in the nursing home and said that they will always remember that he smiled in the recovery room.

[Guest grey_dreams]

... the TV was making me crazy so I turned that off....

 

Actually, the TV would most definitely be making her crazy too. A better option is to use something like Tibetan Bowls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuweaUlAyE) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4is_9Bc7WBI), solfeggio frequencies (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGCbfeft3z4), nature sounds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOBzSxFK8E0&feature=relmfu), or bansuri (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhuzYxmaPlc). My shy boys love to chill with Tibetan Bowls

Edited July 5, 2013 by grey_dreams

[JAJ2010]

I was trying to drown out the noise with the TV. It's usually on ALL the time of the BF is home. He seems tohave an aversion to silence. LOL

 

Been reading about ttouch all morning. I think I'm going to try that on both pups tonight after dinner. They both used to live their canine lullaby cd. We stopped using it after we moved into a house. Don't have to drown out hallway noises. They are allowed to bark now :-)

 

I'll have to check out those you tube links when I get back home tomorrow. Not enough 3G data juice out here to load that.

 

Thankfully there were no more fireworks last night. BF is djing a dance tonight so everyone should be at that instead of playing with fireworks. Considering 2-3 years ago Rainy was trying to jump through a widow during fireworks I'm so proud of her!

[Guest OPointyDog]

We're in the process of trying the CD of classical piano music Through a Dog's Ear for Mika's nighttime barking. Our adoption group bought it for us. It is very slow, gentle and soothing.

 

It is tested and (allegedly - I haven't read the paper) scientifically proven to reduce anxious behavior in most dogs. You're supposed to play it first during times when they are relaxed, and then you can use it for anxiety. Of course, I left it on last night and we ended up having a thunderstorm. But nobody reacted to the thunder, so good news, maybe?

[3greytjoys]

Hope Ruby is able to relax more now that Independence weekend festivites are (hopefully) winding down.

 

 

I would also second the recommendation about talking to your vet about trying trazodone. Clonidine is another option. With these more 'advanced' meds, if your vet is not comfortable prescribing them, see if they will consult with a veterinary behaviorist. Many vet behaviorists are willing to do phone consults with general practice vets.

 

JJNG, thank you for your timely comment re: more advanced meds. Previously, I asked a secondary vet for Clonidine. This vet was unfamiliar with it, and was only reading historic data. I hope to direct our vets to revised drug use data (and/or a veterinary behaviorist) so we can try it for short-term anxiety needs (like fireworks).

 

 

We're in the process of trying the CD of classical piano music Through a Dog's Ear for Mika's nighttime barking. Our adoption group bought it for us. It is very slow, gentle and soothing.

 

It is tested and (allegedly - I haven't read the paper) scientifically proven to reduce anxious behavior in most dogs. You're supposed to play it first during times when they are relaxed, and then you can use it for anxiety. Of course, I left it on last night and we ended up having a thunderstorm. But nobody reacted to the thunder, so good news, maybe?

 

Through a Dog's Ear CDs are excellent. They relax most of us during most of the year. One challenge for us (re: departures) has been having only a "single" CD player, so we rush to get home before the end of the one hour CD.

 

Now, Through A Dog's Ear offers a wonderful new music player device called iCalmDog. The calming music will repeat for "up to 5 hours" on one battery charge. While listening at home, I can plug it into a phone charger. This player device is small enough to transport anywhere (approx. 2.5"). www.icalmdog.com

 

That said, just our personal experience during the most intense, loudest booming fireworks, our Greyhound pack still does better with higher volume, non-stop smooth jazz music station (no pauses between songs, and jazz music has many chord changes to help drown out booms). In contrast, TV has many quiet pauses between words/sentences. Through a Dog's Ear music has many quiet pauses within songs, and pauses between the end of one song - before leading into the next song. Still a great, very relaxing music product for dogs, IMO. (I'm looking forward to trying their Canine Noise Phobia series.)

Edited July 7, 2013 by 3greytjoys