I have dealt with his anxiety for 6 years, his whole life. We have done the behaviorist route,, we've done the conditioning to build his confidence, we've done the OTC natural remedies similar to Rescue Remedy, we've considered the Thundershirt, we've even said let things be. A vet once told me dogs with his type of anxiety tend to get worse as they age, this was 4 years ago and is holding true unfortunately. I do not like the idea of drugging my dogs but after 6 years and watching him get worse I felt I owed it to him to at least try the medication route.
He barely sleeps, always on edge and ready to react to any sound/movement. When he actually does sleep and gets woken up he is in that much of a blind panic he doesn't recognize us, our other dogs and acts aggressively before peeing himself and hiding. He runs in circles to the point he not only wears down the grass to dirt, he actually makes ditches in the yard, he'll circle in the house running around a kitchen island, or pace the entirety of the house even though he is clearly tired and even stumbling. He pants, paces and circles in the truck, something he used to love and be very rellaxed with, he even pees all over the truck. We change crate blankets pretty much every day sometimes up to 3 times a day because he pees himself. It is a constant battle to keep weight on him. Having people over is stressful for all involved, thunderstorms, quads going by the house, dropping something on the floor all sends him into a fright. All due to his anxiety. How is this a happy life for a dog? When at the vet this week we decided to start with Zylkene and Ace.
Zylkene is a more natural medication, it's a food supplement made from a milk protein that has the active ingredient of peptide which helps the brain to relax, but not make them drowsy. There aren't any known side effects to it since it is a natural product. It, like most things doesn't work on every dog guaranteed but we're willing to give it a try before going to something stronger.
Acepromazine (ace) is a sedative. I have a few clients that use it on their dogs for grooming as a last resort before having their pet fully sedated. It does make them drowsy of course and what I call zombie like. It can take a hour to take effect (Boone took 3 hours) and generally last 6 - 8 hours. It can be given daily but we've decided to only give it to him during high stress events such as long travel, thunderstorms, fireworks, and especially in our case rock blasting as they are blasting just up from our house, it feels like an earthquake every time, holy smokes. There are side effects unfortunately, vomiting, seizures, lowered blood pressure and constipation to name a few. But having been checked over and being a healthy dog and with using it only for certain things we are going to take the risk.
Apparently posting pictures of my drugged up dog and finding it a little funny is awful and humiliating to him. And how awful it is to try out such a serious drug for fun. No I didn't not try it out for fun. Instead of writing it over again I'll just copy what I wrote back.
"I see nothing wrong with trying out the effects of the ace ahead of time before I really need it. Not every dog will react the same to it and when we travel this week I wanted to be sure what to expect from him, how long it would take to effect him, how he would react to it. I didn't do it for shits and giggles I did it to be on the safe side. To wait until the day of, have him stress out the way he does or even have a negative reaction while on the road and not have any vet accessible for up to 8 hours would be dangerous and unfair.And yes, I found some of it funny. Humiliation is a human emotion, not canine, feeling bad for my poor dog is unnecessary. He wasn't feeling bad, he had the most sound sleep I have ever seen and was a different dog this morning because of it I figure. But yes, I laughed, my husband laughed, my parents laughed at some points. Just like they laughed at me when I was coming to after surgery, just like I've laughed at family and friends coming to from anesthesia or under laughing gas. It's funny, and it's OK to laugh. He was in no harm and we were there with him to make sure he didn't fall down the stairs, it wasn't malicious."
I am doing what is best for my dog in this situation. it may not be what you choose to do but it is what I feel needs to be done right now after everything we've tried and what I see he is like on a daily basis. It doesn't make me a bad owner, my dog is not humiliated, I am not looking for an easy fix or any other stupid reason I was accused of. I am doing what I feel is best for my dog right now. I love him and want what is best for him.
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