Darn Thunderstorms

[macoduck]

Allen gets his staples out today. He had a growing to thumb-sized skin tag on his rump.

 

While at the vet I'm going to ask for some drugs. He gets mildly nervous in thunderstorms. Mazy's storm reaction is getting much worse. There was a time when the Richards Organic Pet Calm helped after 3 dropper-filled squirts. The Thunderstorm coat didn't help her this time though it did help Allen, in addition to him getting some drops too.

Last night I tried the new Sileo on MaZy. I don't like it. Pricey and difficult to get in a fretful, quivering dog. You have to place it just inside the cheek. Instructions say to wear gloves when using it. That's a bit worrisome.

A few years ago MaZy took trazadone. I stopped using it because I'd rather use non-prescription remedies. But now it's time to use something stronger.

Allen will have to go on something prescription too. With all the shaking he did last night I worried about his temperature going up. That wouldn't be good considering his history of hyperthermia.

 

Xanax or trazadone? Do y'all use either? Which is longer lasting? IIRC, trazadone lasts 4 hours.

 

For you entertainment, a relaxed Mazy and Allen:

Edited May 30, 2017 by macoduck

[Remolacha]

Conner is on Xanax. I would prefer something non prescription, but nothing I tried helped. Well, the thundershirt combined with the Xanax helps. He still trembles and pants a bit, but doesn't pace and shake and constantly pant I give him 2 .5 mg tabs, more makes him too wobbly on his feet. Seems to last 4-6 hrs.

 

to Mazy and Allen

[macoduck]

Thanks for that info, Remolacha. Having 2 thunderphobic out of 4 dogs in the house makes for a very restless night for us all. Iggy Charlie even gave Mazy a good licking-over but that didn't help either.

[buddibear]

Tried a bunch of stuff . Only thing that helped my 12 yo was amitriptyline 75mg for 75 pound male. Can't predict thunder but when I know the waterfront starts it's city fireworks at 9 and 11 I dose an hour prior. Stormy ( rightly named) would go into his closet and go to sleep. Other meds he would still pant, drool and whine to get out of the house.

[Remolacha]

Thanks for that info, Remolacha. Having 2 thunderphobic out of 4 dogs in the house makes for a very restless night for us all. Iggy Charlie even gave Mazy a good licking-over but that didn't help either.

Well, if an Iggy licking didn't help, it is serious! I meant to add, Conner is about 80 lbs

[greysmom]

I'm a big fan of trazadone, but different drugs work for different dogs. Since you're dosing only occassionally, I would ask for an appropriate dose of both drugs and see what works best for them - at least a few doses worth. The trick with xanax is to get it in them before they start freaking out - which can be tricky with storms. Trazadone will work to a certain extent once they are already anxious, which is one reason I like it better. Amitryptiline and vallium are also fast working options you can try.

[Guest goofydog2]

For Get Em's major thunder stress I would give 5mg of melatonin. This would do the trick if I could give it about an hour before the storm started. If given closer to the storms arrival it would take the edge off so he wasn't in full panic mode.For Morrie, his stress is milder and if the storm is fast moving I just let him self sooth by laying down with his head under the desk. For storms that are forecast for an extended period I give 3mg.

 

Hugs to MaZy and Allen.

[cmc333]

I have a 20 pound westie who is getting worse about thunderstorms. She was on 1/3 of a 2 mg xanax, but this past week that didn't even start to touch her panic. I had to give her 2/3 of the 2 mg which conked her out enough she went into her safe cave and slept thru most of the storms. We had hail as big as softballs here and we have had so many thunderstorms these past two months I am starting to get unnerved by them also. The thunder is almost a continual rumble thru the holler and the rain is just deafening. Karma has gotten to the point that if she hears a loud noise or if the wind blows too hard, she's panicking and in my lap. I feel so bad for her.

If this keeps up, I am thinking of going to the vet to talk over other alternatives. I won't do ACE, which my vet is in favor of. I was wondering if daily prozac would calm her enough so that she wouldn't panic at the normal noises any longer. Then I could wean her off prozac and just go back to xanax when it's a true thunderstorm.

 

We also have fireworks Every.Single.Friday.Night here during the summer. 9:30 on the nose so I dose her about 8 pm. I can only turn the TV up so loud to try to drown out the noise and when the satellite goes out due to the massive rain, that doesn't even work.

[macoduck]

cmc333, I'm glad you said no to ACE!

 

My vet prescribed Trazodone today. We'll see how it goes.

[juliemac]

my vet described dosing Xanax after the start of a storm similar to giving candy to a child after the birthday party.

 

I've found that the Thundershirt, combined with melatonin and Dr. Shelton's "Calm-a-Mile" a wonderful combination for storm phobic hounds here. Young Living's Peace & Calming also works (and smells lovely). Lavender is a distant 3rd choice for oils, but much more available. I do have Xanax for roughest storm seasons, but also try to stay away from the pharmaceuticals as long as possible.

 

good luck!

[Batmom]

We have used Xanax. Dog went from pre-Xanax constant panting, shaking, and frantically looking for a place to hide .... to occasional mild panting until she fell asleep. I would give her Xanax and take her back to an acceptable hiding spot and have her lie down. Within @ 10 minutes, she'd be flopped out on her side asleep.

 

Interestingly, her fear seemed to lessen somewhat after @ 1.5 seasons of Xanax use.

 

It worked @ as well to give it after the storm started. Lots of folks say it only works if you give it well before, but that was not the case with us.

 

 

 

I understand folks' desire not to use pharmaceuticals, but ... that's what pharmaceuticals are for. To make life bearable (or even great!) when it would otherwise not be. I tried a dozen other things first, and I waited way too long to try drugs. Won't make that mistake again.

[cmc333]

In a perfect world, no pharmaceuticals would ever be needed. But watching Karma totally panicking for hours is enough reason to give in to what works. I've tried benedryl, melatonin, l-theanine, trazadone, the adaptil thingie. So far the only thing that has even partially worked is the xanax. If we could manage to go a couple weeks without any storms, she might settle down on her own and only need meds for the real bad storms. I've tried asking Mother Nature to move her temper tantrums to another state for a couple weeks and she hasn't done it yet.

Karma is diabetic and her glucose level shoots up when she's stressed so that just adds more reason for me to find a quick solution. It has been a hellacious few months here in the Ozarks. And I have to have 4 new roofs done because of a horrendous hail storm in March. Not looking forward to that time. I'll be the one needing xanax too

 

I would never ever use ACE; tho vets sure do like to prescribe it, don't they?

[PatricksMom]

We use Valium with Leo, it's not perfect, but it does take the edge off, it should in theory last longer than Xanax. I'm not sure if this is a Leo think or a greyhound thing, but he burns through it very rapidly (10 mg = 1 hour of relief), he's already on prozac for long-term anxiety issues and our vet's not comfortable with Trazadone (I actually think it's a good choice for long-term issues, I've never heard of it for short-term, but she's never used it before so....)

[cmc333]

I have an appointment with the vet Monday afternoon to discuss Karma. Last night - which was a gorgeous evening, no wind or rain or fireworks - she was worse than ever. I gave her the 2/3 of the 2 mg Xanax and it was like a sugar pill to her. She finally exhausted herself and fell asleep about 2 this morning. We slept in the living room so DH could get his sleep since he has to work today. This morning Karma is just fine - normal westie personality. Her glucose level was 410 this morning and I'm just thrilled it was only that high considering her anxiety attack lasted for over 3 hours.

 

I just hope the vet can come up with something that will help her. No one should have that much terror in their eyes and be that scared. Does anyone have any suggestions for the vet other than what's been mentioned - prozac, trazadone (long term use), valium?

 

The dosage of xanax I give Karma who weighs 20 pounds will put me out for 6 hours easy. I have no idea how she is fighting it.

[Remolacha]

I am sorry she is having such a hard time. Beginning to sound like it may be something other than (or in addition to) the thunder & fireworks. Could it be some form of dementia? I believe there are other meds in addition to what has been mentioned for that. Hope the vet can figure something out.

[cmc333]

She was a rescue so not sure about her age, but think it's about 10 years old. Too young for dementia (at least from all the old dogs I've ever had). And we have storms forecast again for tonite, so pretty sure no sleep for me again. I really really hope the vet and I can come up with a problem so we can find a solution for her. I worry about a brain tumor.

[RaineysMom]

I have a 20 pound westie who is getting worse about thunderstorms. She was on 1/3 of a 2 mg xanax, but this past week that didn't even start to touch her panic. I had to give her 2/3 of the 2 mg which conked her out enough she went into her safe cave and slept thru most of the storms. We had hail as big as softballs here and we have had so many thunderstorms these past two months I am starting to get unnerved by them also. The thunder is almost a continual rumble thru the holler and the rain is just deafening. Karma has gotten to the point that if she hears a loud noise or if the wind blows too hard, she's panicking and in my lap. I feel so bad for her.

If this keeps up, I am thinking of going to the vet to talk over other alternatives. I won't do ACE, which my vet is in favor of. I was wondering if daily prozac would calm her enough so that she wouldn't panic at the normal noises any longer. Then I could wean her off prozac and just go back to xanax when it's a true thunderstorm.

 

We also have fireworks Every.Single.Friday.Night here during the summer. 9:30 on the nose so I dose her about 8 pm. I can only turn the TV up so loud to try to drown out the noise and when the satellite goes out due to the massive rain, that doesn't even work.

 

our Zeke is getting increasingly worse with storms, I thought I was crazy! He is to the point that if it's even a little windy he becomes anxious, looking and "smelling" for the storms We actually just got some Trazodone, he's been having some issues with eating (well, or at ALL) since 4/19/17 and we tried the Traz to see if his now-seeming constant storm anxiety might be causing the eating issues. We did a 1/2 dose (50 mg) for the first 2 doses, then the full 100mg for the next 2 and it just WIPED him out. It didn't seem to help with the eating issues so we stopped it, but will use it in the future for storms, since it seemed to knock him out. I agree, I HATE using meds on dogs (or me!) but sometimes they are just the better choice.

 

I hope your Westie hangs in there....I feel for you. We've had an unusually rainy spring (and winter for that matter, which is weird for Chicago!) so it's been a long few months....

[cmc333]

Poor Zeke...and poor you. It's not easy on either of you. I've written down all the suggestions here to take to the vet. Something has to work; Karma can't live being that scared. And sometimes I actually need to sleep thru the night, especially when it's the second or third night in a row that we've had rain or storms. And oh yeah, storms are predicted for tonite, Saturday and Sunday. I have trazadone of my own - Dr. prescribes it for me for SAD in the winter - I might check dosages for 20 pounds and see if I can cut a pill down and maybe try that.

[cmc333]

Well, here's a puzzler. This afternoon we had a brief thunderstorm with pounding rain, lightning and thunder. Karma didn't even so much as pant, what alone go crazy. We just had to take her off methyl-B12 for diabetic neuropathy because it was causing her glucose levels to spike pretty high. She has not been panicky at all since we took her off the med. Supposedly it's not supposed to have either of those side effects but you have to wonder. And today her glucose level was fabulous too (well, for her anyway).

[Susanval]

Fancy just turning 4 years old is freaking out in storms and has stopped eating. Not great since we live in FL. Thunder shirt does nothing - Benadryl sort of helps. She is afraid of loud trucks too. What drops could I try before going to the vet?

 

Thanks

Susan

[cgs]

What's wrong with ACE? We've used it on our horses. Our little dog Lulu is terrified of thunder and fireworks. I think she's actually maybe getting a little better. We have a thundershirt which helps slightly. Percy, thank goodness, is completely unfazed by thunder. We haven't dealt with fireworks yet, so we'll see.

[macoduck]

With ACE your dog may look relaxed on the outside but inside is still feeling all the same terror from the thunderstorm.

[PaddysDad]

We are blessed to have two storm tolerant dogs. Paddy has no qualms about pooping during a thunderstorm. However, we had 13 years of increasing storm phobia with our little girl who passed a few years ago. He storm phobia got worse as she got deaf, and she always knew a storm was coming before we did.

 

amitriptyline helped, but we found it to be more of a maintenance med and kept her on it through storm season, otherwise it seemed to kick in too late.

 

xanex seemed to kick in quick, but we never nailed down the dose before she left us.

 

trazadone freaked her out too bad. it is in a class that can physically calm them down while not sedating them mentally (with some dogs -like trapping a freaked out dog in an unresponsive body) it reminded us of how ACE affected our other dog.

 

some other stuff that didn't work at all or doped her up too much

 

In the end, amitrptyline probably worked the best overall and a couple of people we recommended it too had some success with it as well.

[macoduck]

Currently Mazy is my only stormphobic dog.

 

I now only use Calm-a-Mile from www.animalEO.info

I use it by diffusing (NEAT) and by misting, and ready to use by petting on (RTU).

If you have any questions about the products, just ask. They were developed by veterinarian Melissa Shelton and are now the ONLY essential oils I will use and trust, despite what the other big names in the oil business claim.

Back when we were using trazadone, my vet had me bring Mazy in to the office so she could gauge her tolerance while on it. Luckily, PaddysDad, she did not have the reaction your girl did.

 

Since using the animalEO brand of essential oils we have not had to use any medications to help her with storms.

[BatterseaBrindl]

What's wrong with ACE? We've used it on our horses. Our little dog Lulu is terrified of thunder and fireworks. I think she's actually maybe getting a little better. We have a thundershirt which helps slightly. Percy, thank goodness, is completely unfazed by thunder. We haven't dealt with fireworks yet, so we'll see.

 

Dogs do not have the same response to ACE as horses.