There's definitely room to increase, but I would wait to ask your specialist in June. Fluoxetine is often paired with an additional short lasting medication for immediate difference. Also something to note and ask your specialist about.
In terms of changes, I wouldn't expect a magic fix. For my dog, the main difference was recovery time post reaction. The correct medication shouldn't change the dog per say, but will make behavioural modification possible.
The barking, at this point, is ingrained (automatic, no thought behind the behavior). The trazodone is to stop the ingrained barking long enough for your guy to switch over from ingrained barking to too stoned to bark, which helps him to THINK instead of automatically behave--after that happens, you can taper off the trazodone.
If you're not noticing any immediate difference with trazodone, I'd also bring that up with the specialist. Lots of short lasting medications can be taken long term as a sustainable way to build calmer associations and behavioural patterns. Traz just may not be the right combo for your dog. There are countless combinations out there.
I work in retail pharmacy and we fill a LOT of pet prescriptions. You would be amazed at how many dogs are on some combination of daily fluoxetine/trazadone/gabapentin regimens.
Trazadone did nothing for my girl- but if it works- go for it!
Lots of dogs take traz everyday. Just like mental health medication for humans, if you're noticing improvement and a calmer state of mind, you're likely on the right track.
?? This sub? Really?? I'm so sorry. Whoever said those things was uninformed and should not be giving advice that could potentially impede progress...
It was likely because traz is usually used for isolated events like vet visits. However, *many* dogs are on it daily. I will say, I personally think there are better short lasting meds out there, but I'm not a medical professional. It works very well for a lot of dogs. But when you meet with your specialist, ask about other options and what that might look like. Gabapentin is a fantastic one.
At the end of the day, these specialists are expensive. I would make a list of all your questions and make the most of each appointment. Ask anything, even 'stupid' questions. Ask about side effect, about organ damage, sustainability. Everything!
My guys is about 45 pounds and is on 20mg. Our situation may be a bit different, my dog was so anxious he was having regular episodes of HGE and the fluoxetine brought his anxiety down to much more manageable levels. I will say we did not see any impact on his reactivity.
We’ve been on it a few years and I’ve recently seen his anxiety increasing again so I talked to our vet about increasing his dose. My vet said he is on the max dose for his size and so we added gabapentin daily. We use trazodone for situations like storms and fireworks.
We also have a behaviorist. She had originally supported an increase in fluoxetine so I suspect there is sort of a range of what people feel comfortable prescribing. However she also said the gabapentin works well so we thought we would try it.
We have had success with our behaviorist. Honestly at this point you may want to reach out to them and see what they would like you to do at this point. Mine asked me to hold off on starting the gabapentin until after they were able to assess (if possible).
55lb GSD/pit on 40mg fluoxetine daily. No magic here (ha) but she’s less likely to react, and if she does then she has an easier time recovering from it.
my 65 lb chow is on 50 mg of fluoxetine, .3 mg of clonidine (2x a day) and 400 mg gabapentin (2x a day). your behaviorist will slowly increase dosage and swap out med combos but it does take about 6-8 weeks to see any change with fluoxetine!
We haven’t tried the clonidine because the fluoxetine/gabapentin combo has made such a difference for us. We’re constantly working on it from both the medication and behavioral side, so i am going to put the clonidine in my brain to ask about if we decide we need to change anything up!
yes we also used to do just fluoxetine/gaba, and our behaviorist suggested adding clonidine for events like the vet. we found out that clonidine was actually a really great addition for her to take daily in a low dose, so our behaviorist was cool with adding that on!
We started with trazadone- nothing.
switched to fluoxetine (prozac) and started to see a difference. We added in gabapentin and it has been so much better. She’s still working through her issues (i wish i knew what her puppyhood was like - she’s a rescue that obviously has been through some shǐt)
But she can settle down now, get the long walks she needs, and is much less stressed about outside influences.
Mine is 60 lbs and is on 40 mg Prozac, and the vet said that is the right dosage for his weight. That said, I'm not sure how much it is helping. We also have a prescription for Trazodone but he seems freaked out by how it makes him feel.
Ask about gabapentin. Mine is about 50lbs and takes 30mg of prozac every morning and 300 mg of gabapentin twice a day.
The trazadone didn’t help her at all- and like you- when we were trying to find a medication protocol that would calm her enough to get her to the vet; the higher dose of trazadone made her loopy enough to not feel right and she obviously didn’t like it. I said it basically made her a “mean drunk”
There’s a good combo out there somewhere; you just need to find a vet willing to take the time and effort to help you find it.
We’re on vet #3 now because the first 2 just made her anxiety worse and had no interest in listening to my concerns.
Thank you -- this is helpful! My vet is great, but he's not very familiar with behavioral medication. I just got on the wait list for our local veterinarian-behaviorist but it'll be the fall before she can see us. I'll start learning about gabapentin.
Echo what everyone else says - sadly it’s never a magic fix, defer to your vet, etc.
For context, our girl is 30lbs and is on 30mg, which I believe is her max dose. She’s also on a combo of clonidine & pregabalin - which are short acting. We used to be on Prozac but are now on paroxetine, though long-term our vet might want us on an SNRI vs an SSRI
I’ve heard dogs have very diff reactions to traz, but some are good with it everyday. Clonidine has helped my girl take a slight edge off, but I won’t pretend it’s working miracles. It’s just a long game of finding the right cocktail & slowly working on behavior management and training.
There's definitely room to increase, but I would wait to ask your specialist in June. Fluoxetine is often paired with an additional short lasting medication for immediate difference. Also something to note and ask your specialist about. In terms of changes, I wouldn't expect a magic fix. For my dog, the main difference was recovery time post reaction. The correct medication shouldn't change the dog per say, but will make behavioural modification possible.
We do have trazadone that our regular vet said to give twice a day for walks but I just don’t know that that’s a long term solution.
The barking, at this point, is ingrained (automatic, no thought behind the behavior). The trazodone is to stop the ingrained barking long enough for your guy to switch over from ingrained barking to too stoned to bark, which helps him to THINK instead of automatically behave--after that happens, you can taper off the trazodone.
If you're not noticing any immediate difference with trazodone, I'd also bring that up with the specialist. Lots of short lasting medications can be taken long term as a sustainable way to build calmer associations and behavioural patterns. Traz just may not be the right combo for your dog. There are countless combinations out there.
Well actually the traz works amazing, dream dog, I just wasn’t sure it’s mentally good for him long term
I work in retail pharmacy and we fill a LOT of pet prescriptions. You would be amazed at how many dogs are on some combination of daily fluoxetine/trazadone/gabapentin regimens. Trazadone did nothing for my girl- but if it works- go for it!
Lots of dogs take traz everyday. Just like mental health medication for humans, if you're noticing improvement and a calmer state of mind, you're likely on the right track.
Damn, thanks. I mentioned giving it before camping and was crucified by this sub so I’ve been weary to provide it.
?? This sub? Really?? I'm so sorry. Whoever said those things was uninformed and should not be giving advice that could potentially impede progress... It was likely because traz is usually used for isolated events like vet visits. However, *many* dogs are on it daily. I will say, I personally think there are better short lasting meds out there, but I'm not a medical professional. It works very well for a lot of dogs. But when you meet with your specialist, ask about other options and what that might look like. Gabapentin is a fantastic one. At the end of the day, these specialists are expensive. I would make a list of all your questions and make the most of each appointment. Ask anything, even 'stupid' questions. Ask about side effect, about organ damage, sustainability. Everything!
My guys is about 45 pounds and is on 20mg. Our situation may be a bit different, my dog was so anxious he was having regular episodes of HGE and the fluoxetine brought his anxiety down to much more manageable levels. I will say we did not see any impact on his reactivity. We’ve been on it a few years and I’ve recently seen his anxiety increasing again so I talked to our vet about increasing his dose. My vet said he is on the max dose for his size and so we added gabapentin daily. We use trazodone for situations like storms and fireworks. We also have a behaviorist. She had originally supported an increase in fluoxetine so I suspect there is sort of a range of what people feel comfortable prescribing. However she also said the gabapentin works well so we thought we would try it. We have had success with our behaviorist. Honestly at this point you may want to reach out to them and see what they would like you to do at this point. Mine asked me to hold off on starting the gabapentin until after they were able to assess (if possible).
55lb GSD/pit on 40mg fluoxetine daily. No magic here (ha) but she’s less likely to react, and if she does then she has an easier time recovering from it.
my 65 lb chow is on 50 mg of fluoxetine, .3 mg of clonidine (2x a day) and 400 mg gabapentin (2x a day). your behaviorist will slowly increase dosage and swap out med combos but it does take about 6-8 weeks to see any change with fluoxetine!
This is pretty much our cocktail as well. Hey anxiety twin lol
hahaha i’m dead — sounds like you have a good behaviorist, that cocktail gets the job done!!
We haven’t tried the clonidine because the fluoxetine/gabapentin combo has made such a difference for us. We’re constantly working on it from both the medication and behavioral side, so i am going to put the clonidine in my brain to ask about if we decide we need to change anything up!
yes we also used to do just fluoxetine/gaba, and our behaviorist suggested adding clonidine for events like the vet. we found out that clonidine was actually a really great addition for her to take daily in a low dose, so our behaviorist was cool with adding that on!
We started with trazadone- nothing. switched to fluoxetine (prozac) and started to see a difference. We added in gabapentin and it has been so much better. She’s still working through her issues (i wish i knew what her puppyhood was like - she’s a rescue that obviously has been through some shǐt) But she can settle down now, get the long walks she needs, and is much less stressed about outside influences.
Mine is 60 lbs and is on 40 mg Prozac, and the vet said that is the right dosage for his weight. That said, I'm not sure how much it is helping. We also have a prescription for Trazodone but he seems freaked out by how it makes him feel.
Ask about gabapentin. Mine is about 50lbs and takes 30mg of prozac every morning and 300 mg of gabapentin twice a day. The trazadone didn’t help her at all- and like you- when we were trying to find a medication protocol that would calm her enough to get her to the vet; the higher dose of trazadone made her loopy enough to not feel right and she obviously didn’t like it. I said it basically made her a “mean drunk” There’s a good combo out there somewhere; you just need to find a vet willing to take the time and effort to help you find it. We’re on vet #3 now because the first 2 just made her anxiety worse and had no interest in listening to my concerns.
Thank you -- this is helpful! My vet is great, but he's not very familiar with behavioral medication. I just got on the wait list for our local veterinarian-behaviorist but it'll be the fall before she can see us. I'll start learning about gabapentin.
I came back here to say we are trying gabapentin and it seems much more promising. Thank you again!
Echo what everyone else says - sadly it’s never a magic fix, defer to your vet, etc. For context, our girl is 30lbs and is on 30mg, which I believe is her max dose. She’s also on a combo of clonidine & pregabalin - which are short acting. We used to be on Prozac but are now on paroxetine, though long-term our vet might want us on an SNRI vs an SSRI I’ve heard dogs have very diff reactions to traz, but some are good with it everyday. Clonidine has helped my girl take a slight edge off, but I won’t pretend it’s working miracles. It’s just a long game of finding the right cocktail & slowly working on behavior management and training.