Dog expert - dog anxiety?

[sandellie4]

We have a blind older German shepherd that is stressing, and when he stresses he expresses it with diarrhea.... I can't take much more of this. In times of stress, he seems afraid to go outside so he's having repeated accidents in the house even when he's not sick with diarrhea. Someone at our rescue organization has recommended that we give him benedryl, but the woman wasn't sure how much (he's 78 lb). Does anyone know how much we should give him? Or whether he'd be better off/safer with something else? Please don't suggest a behaviorist. In an ideal world, we could find one that worked for us and was affordable, but neither of those has been true for us. We don't want to give him up; we took him because he was considered unadoptable, and he is a sweet dog. He just has crippling separation anxiety. We're home almost all the time, but if my husband needs to take a business trip or something, the dog is unable to sleep, go outside to the bathroom, etc. He was severely abused throughout his puppyhood and young adulthood. We just need something to take the edge off for him -- and for us, so we can continue to care for him without the dread of waking up to another accident (he tromps through them because he's blind and panicking that he's had an accident). He's a long-term foster, and we've taken him to the vet, who says he is stressed, but the rescue organization doesn't approve of anxiety medication for dogs, which is why I called the other rescue person to try to figure out what our options are.

 

Sandy

[hornblower]

I'm sorry that the rescue won't consider anxiety meds. That is, um, not nice - to leave a dog in a state of anxiety is cruel.

 

Hwvr, I can suggest a couple non scrip things:

 

melatonin - for this size dog I'd use 3-6 mg. It is used by dog owners for thunderstorm phobia & also by some sport competitors with dogs who are "over the top" to help them keep their brains in their heads during flyball & agility etc. Some dogs go to sleep on it, others just stop being so anxious.

 

Rescue remedy - bach flower remedy. Either use drops & put some on his flews or spray on your hands & rub into flews

 

for Benadryl - my guide says 1-2 mg/lb every 8h

 

also consider DAP - dog appeasing pheromone. It comes in a plug in or a spray (& I think there's a collar now). It's the smell of a lactating ***** & supposed to give dogs the same comfort they experience as puppies.

 

best wishes & thank you, for giving this boy a safe place :)

[mhg]

Do you know how old the dog is?

[3lilreds in NC]

What about Rescue Remedy? It's an herbal supplement that is supposed to be really good for anxiety. I know when I was involved with English Setter rescue, that's what they would use.

 

What a tough situation. I'm sorry the rescue organization doesn't approve of anti-anxiety meds for dogs. Do they say why not? Surely they cannot expect you to deal with constant diarrhea.

[mhg]

My MIL's dog started having diarrhea and her dog also wouldn't go outside to poo. Turned out it had a blockage (impacted stool) up in its bowel and it had to be dislodged. Just thought I'd share this in case it was the case.

[vettechmomof2]

If he has stress colitis most of these anti stress meds will not help. Rescue Rememdy will not hurt anything same with the Melatonin so please try those but Benedryl could make him much for anxiety ridden.

 

I would also look into Thundershirts. It is an article of clothing specifically made to aid in anxiety, has a great refund policy and trial so no problem with cost.

 

Have you spoken to your regular vet about meds to aid in his anxiety, behaviorists are not always needed?

 

The DAP diffuser or spray "might" help him as well but stress colitis in a GS is unfortanetly common and can be difficult to deal with without the proper meds.

[bookfiend]

I'm so glad to read this post. We also have a rescue GS; she weighed about 40 lbs when we got her nearly three years ago. She gets diarrhea about once a month, and we can never pin it to a reason. Sometimes after a thunderstorm, sometimes when my husband goes out of town or when he comes back, sometimes who knows, I always feel like I'm speculating to try and prevent a reoccurance. It is very frustrating.

 

Where does one find this rescue remedy?

Edited August 31, 2010 by bookfiend
spelling

[hornblower]

Where does one find this rescue remedy?

 

Around here it's in regular drug stores, near the homeopathic meds. But we're West Coast woo-woo :D. Health food stores will have it too.

 

A couple more ideas:

 

-Through a dog's ear CD's

http://www.throughadogsear.com/

 

I used this with a really messed up dog we were fostering to help him find some calm. I first started using this cd & giving him a very gentle deep tissue massage, no talking beyond a very low, soothing "goooooooood". The idea was to condition a relaxed response to the music. The music producers claim that the music itself is relaxing but with this dog, we were pretty desparate (big dog, high risk of becoming a fear biter) The CD is relaxing. I'd put it on 'repeat' during calm & quiet times. For OP's guy, after using it a few times for a relaxing massage, I'd try leaving him alone with it on for just a short time to see how he responds.

 

- kong's stuffed with ground meat, canned dog food & kibble all mixed up and frozen. A lot of these guys are orally fixated and a long slow licking like this will really help them feel relaxed. So leave him with a frozen kong.

 

-actually with our foster, he was getting almost all his meals in kongs because he needed lots of 'occupied in a pleasurable activity' time like this.

 

-I think sometimes you need to consider the dog as a whole,not just his response to a specific situation. So think about how to reduce his stress levels overall & how to give him 'happy brain chemicals' throughout the day. For dogs, these things are usually triggered by long rambling walks with lots of opportunity for sniffing, & playing (with dog or human). Thing like car rides, going swimming, carrying a stick around, fetching a ball, sniffing through a forest trail can all stock up his happy feelings & will also stimulate & tire him out, not just physically but mentally.

 

-Bones for chewing. knuckles etc will not only keep him occupied, but will tire him out. With our foster, an hour or so of hard chewing would make him so tired that he'd doze off, in spite of his fears of what was happening around him. (flip side is bones - esp marrow - can cause loose stools. So I'd stick to knuckle, preferably buffalo or free range cattle as the factory farmed cattle have really weak bones & their bones splinter with a heavy chewer....)

 

-don't forget probiotics. Any dog who is having recurrent diarrhea is having imbalances in the gut also. Soothe the gut & the nervous tummy might slowly start to become less of an issue. Stress might still be there but it won't necessarily instantly tip into diarrhea, kwim? Whereas an irritated, sore gut seems to need little prodding to just wham! & explode.

[Beth in OH]

I'm so glad to read this post. We also have a rescue GS; she weighed about 40 lbs when we got her nearly three years ago. She gets diarrhea about once a month, and we can never pin it to a reason. Sometimes after a thunderstorm, sometimes when my husband goes out of town or when he comes back, sometimes who knows, I always feel like I'm speculating to try and prevent a reoccurance. It is very frustrating.

 

Where does one find this rescue remedy?

 

I can't speak to rescue remedy, but Forti Flora pro-biotic completely turned my rescue golden's IBS-like symptoms around. Like your dog, she would have intermittent diarrhea that seemed related to stress, but couldn't be pinned down. We did tons of stool samples, an x-ray to look for blockage (the time she was also vomiting) and never found much of anything. I even spent a month cooking her chicken breast and rice--still the occasional diarrhea/constipation.

 

Within two weeks of beginning the Forti Flora, recommended by our rescue's vet, my dog's stools were consistently more solid. She hasn't had a bout of IBS for months :hurray:. One of the benefits of the Forti Flora is that the coating prevents the biotics from releasing until they're in the intestines, which is much more beneficial than releasing in the stomach. I'm no expert, I just know it works. I plan to keep her on it for a long time!

 

Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/FortiFlora-Nutritional-Supplement-Purina-packets/dp/B0017WDWQE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1283297980&sr=8-2

 

Beth

[celticmom]

I had not thought of rescue remedy but that and the cd may help our bloodhound/retriever mix when she needs to go on a car ride. She was a stray and was almost certainly dumped because when she is put in the car for a trip she becomes very stressed. She has both diarrhea and vomiting in the car often in my lap while I am driving. Very very fun especially since she weighs 100 lbs.:confused:

[sandellie4]

Thanks so much for the responses. We are having a good response to the fortiflora (our shepard has the intermittent diarrhea as well, so I'm hoping this will help his tract function better after this most recent bout). We're also using an herbal remedy called Tummy Trouble when he seems stressed or upset. I love the idea of the Kong filled with frozen food. We put him in a small penned area when he uses it because he's blind and it kept rolling down the hill so he couldn't find it. Probably very stressful! :D

 

Thanks again for the responses -- you all are the BEST!

 

Sandy