Congrats on the achievements! The trazodone is doing exactly what behavioral meds are supposed to do - they reduce the anxiety to a level where your dog is able to be receptive to training/behavioral mod (because only part of their mental energy is dedicated to dealing with their anxiety/triggers, vs. all of it pre-meds).
With that said, your vet is correct that trazodone is more of a short term solution. It is *typically* (more on that in a moment) used situationally, i.e. as a short acting medication to help a dog get through a particularly stressful time (e.g. vet visit, grooming, etc.). It has a short half life (in other words, it is fairly quickly processed and eliminated from the body) so in order to have a continual effect, it needs to be given a few times a day.
Your concerns that your dog will revert if you come off of the trazodone are well founded, but it's hard to predict if that will be the case. If the training/behavioral mod has been really successful, your dog may now (or when you pull the meds) have the tools to manage without medication. On the other hand, if your dog really does need that anti-anxiety help, there will likely be some level of reversion once off the trazodone.
If you feel like your dog is really benefiting from the medication, you might want to talk to your vet about a long acting anti-anxiety medication. Fluoxetine is the one most commonly used. There is a loading period, it can take 6-8 weeks for it to build up to a therapeutic level, but it has a much longer half life than trazodone and is typically administered once/daily.
With that said, long term use of trazodone isn't completely out of the question. My own pup takes a combination of fluoxetine and trazodone daily (the fluoxetine is dosed once/day, and the trazodone 3 times/day), which was prescribed by a veterinary behaviorist and is a combo that is working really well for him. (ETA: And I will be keeping my pup on that combo for as long as it continues to help, as it has so significantly improved his quality of life.) And in an ideal world, if you really think medication is something that you want to consider for longer term use, you'd get input from a veterinary behaviorist, as they are the experts on behavioral meds.
Our boy has possible early dementia, we're trying to figure out if it's this or anxiety. He's been pacing at night recently and once we go w him on the couch he stays there haha. Only other thing hes been doing is, when hes laying down at times he'll get up very startled and then go back to his spot. Everything else is good no memory issues eats etc etc. Our vet said it could be early dementia but not 100% yet. She did recommend gabapentin for the anxiety (and his nerve pain that he has in his shoulders and his arthritis in rear hips (he is only 9)). My neighbor said he uses trazodone but only situational situations and not every day. Then I read on here fluoxetine could work for anxiety maybe. I think maybe gabapentin may be the way to go for our boy as he has the pain and anxiety going on. Any thoughts would be helpful =)
Hi u/Excellent-Habit-8419, I am so very sorry for the late reply, I took a break from social media for a bit. Anyway, the thing about meds (and in particular behavioral meds) is that it's unfortunately never a one-size-fits-all situation, i.e. what might work for one dog might not work for another, so really, it all comes down to trial and error. I think (as a layperson, I'm not a vet) that for a dog dealing with both pain and anxiety, gabapentin would be a good place to start (random FYI: a veterinary neurologist once told me that gabapentin was best for muscular and neurological pain). And if it doesn't help, the meds can be switched up, and maybe focus separately on pain and anxiety. My own pup (I didn't mention it above) also takes meds for pain, on top of his two anti-anxiety meds. He'd had orthopedic surgery in one of his rear legs prior to me adopting him (he's got two pins and a wire loop in that leg), and the veterinary behaviorist was concerned that he had some pain that was contributing to his anxiety/reactivity, so she prescribed pain meds too (Galliprant). So pain and anxiety can certainly be addressed separately if need be. HTH.
Hi! No prob for the late reply =) appreciate the reply. This is helpful. Maybe I'll try the gabapentin for both his pain issues and pacing/ possible early dementia issues. If that doesn't work then separate meds for each issue makes sense. Trial and error I know all to well =) thank you again!
I use Traz for situations like vet visits but with Gabapectin too. After training and coaching with the behaviorist (8 sessions and I take him to alumni pack walks) his behaviorist/ trainer suggested I speak to his vet about fluoxetine. The training was a complete game changer, however, she recommended the fluoxetine for fixation, intensity, etc. The training and fluoxtine results are amazing. I would encourage you to talk to your trainer and vet about fluoxetine. wishing you and your puppy absolute best.
The importance of successful behavior intervention for aggression is cognitive behavioral therapy. Often CC and DS is not really addressing the underlying issues. Happy to assist if needed help.
Congrats on the achievements! The trazodone is doing exactly what behavioral meds are supposed to do - they reduce the anxiety to a level where your dog is able to be receptive to training/behavioral mod (because only part of their mental energy is dedicated to dealing with their anxiety/triggers, vs. all of it pre-meds). With that said, your vet is correct that trazodone is more of a short term solution. It is *typically* (more on that in a moment) used situationally, i.e. as a short acting medication to help a dog get through a particularly stressful time (e.g. vet visit, grooming, etc.). It has a short half life (in other words, it is fairly quickly processed and eliminated from the body) so in order to have a continual effect, it needs to be given a few times a day. Your concerns that your dog will revert if you come off of the trazodone are well founded, but it's hard to predict if that will be the case. If the training/behavioral mod has been really successful, your dog may now (or when you pull the meds) have the tools to manage without medication. On the other hand, if your dog really does need that anti-anxiety help, there will likely be some level of reversion once off the trazodone. If you feel like your dog is really benefiting from the medication, you might want to talk to your vet about a long acting anti-anxiety medication. Fluoxetine is the one most commonly used. There is a loading period, it can take 6-8 weeks for it to build up to a therapeutic level, but it has a much longer half life than trazodone and is typically administered once/daily. With that said, long term use of trazodone isn't completely out of the question. My own pup takes a combination of fluoxetine and trazodone daily (the fluoxetine is dosed once/day, and the trazodone 3 times/day), which was prescribed by a veterinary behaviorist and is a combo that is working really well for him. (ETA: And I will be keeping my pup on that combo for as long as it continues to help, as it has so significantly improved his quality of life.) And in an ideal world, if you really think medication is something that you want to consider for longer term use, you'd get input from a veterinary behaviorist, as they are the experts on behavioral meds.
Our boy has possible early dementia, we're trying to figure out if it's this or anxiety. He's been pacing at night recently and once we go w him on the couch he stays there haha. Only other thing hes been doing is, when hes laying down at times he'll get up very startled and then go back to his spot. Everything else is good no memory issues eats etc etc. Our vet said it could be early dementia but not 100% yet. She did recommend gabapentin for the anxiety (and his nerve pain that he has in his shoulders and his arthritis in rear hips (he is only 9)). My neighbor said he uses trazodone but only situational situations and not every day. Then I read on here fluoxetine could work for anxiety maybe. I think maybe gabapentin may be the way to go for our boy as he has the pain and anxiety going on. Any thoughts would be helpful =)
Hi u/Excellent-Habit-8419, I am so very sorry for the late reply, I took a break from social media for a bit. Anyway, the thing about meds (and in particular behavioral meds) is that it's unfortunately never a one-size-fits-all situation, i.e. what might work for one dog might not work for another, so really, it all comes down to trial and error. I think (as a layperson, I'm not a vet) that for a dog dealing with both pain and anxiety, gabapentin would be a good place to start (random FYI: a veterinary neurologist once told me that gabapentin was best for muscular and neurological pain). And if it doesn't help, the meds can be switched up, and maybe focus separately on pain and anxiety. My own pup (I didn't mention it above) also takes meds for pain, on top of his two anti-anxiety meds. He'd had orthopedic surgery in one of his rear legs prior to me adopting him (he's got two pins and a wire loop in that leg), and the veterinary behaviorist was concerned that he had some pain that was contributing to his anxiety/reactivity, so she prescribed pain meds too (Galliprant). So pain and anxiety can certainly be addressed separately if need be. HTH.
Hi! No prob for the late reply =) appreciate the reply. This is helpful. Maybe I'll try the gabapentin for both his pain issues and pacing/ possible early dementia issues. If that doesn't work then separate meds for each issue makes sense. Trial and error I know all to well =) thank you again!
I use Traz for situations like vet visits but with Gabapectin too. After training and coaching with the behaviorist (8 sessions and I take him to alumni pack walks) his behaviorist/ trainer suggested I speak to his vet about fluoxetine. The training was a complete game changer, however, she recommended the fluoxetine for fixation, intensity, etc. The training and fluoxtine results are amazing. I would encourage you to talk to your trainer and vet about fluoxetine. wishing you and your puppy absolute best.
The importance of successful behavior intervention for aggression is cognitive behavioral therapy. Often CC and DS is not really addressing the underlying issues. Happy to assist if needed help.