I am so happy! It's a miracle! I learned of this product right here at YT so to those of you who recommended it- Thank you! To those who don't know about it yet, if you have a dog who gets anxious or has any fears, this might be what you're looking for.
My daughter's dog Spike is a really sweet, loving and super happy dog. He's always everyone's favorite out of our three. He just has a neat personality, however he has some pretty big phobias. Specifically car rides and rain, no thunder required but of course that does make it worse. We live in Florida and can expect at least a bit of rain every day in the summer so it's a pretty big fear to have. Sooo, guess how he reacts to fire works.
It is completely awful.
Spike expresses his fears by panting manically and shaking violently and basically looking terrified. We first tried Benedryl for a car trip. It had the opposite effect and he freaked out for the whole trip. Next we tried an herbal supplement (valerian based) called Comfort Time. It helped just a tiny bit. He didn't shake quite as bad but still panted. It seems to calm him physically but not mentally. Next the vet prescribed Valium. Just like the Benedryl it had the opposite effect and was like giving him speed and at the same time taking away all of his coordination. He spent over an hour locked in his stroller because he was seriously going to hurt himself. Overall it was a really long and scarey 5 or 6 hours. The vet said if the Valium didn't do the trick, he could prescribe something else but usually it was a last resort because it is so strong and it drugs the dogs so much, that it is a little scarey to the owners. Ummm, yeah, we wont be giving that one a try.
So we have been using the Comfort Time even though it provides minimal results. As the 4th was approaching I was getting really worried and started searching around on YT knowing I had read of another product. I had and I found it- Rescue Remedy! It is another herbal supplement, this one being flower based. It comes in liquid form and Spike thought it was pretty tasty and licked it right out of my daughter's hand. You can also shoot it directly into their mouth or put it in water of food.
It worked!
We gave it to him early in the day to be sure of his reaction before the fireworks. Of course we had our daily dose of rain and no shaking and no panting. Miracle! We gave him a bit more at night before the fire works. By 9:30 when the fireworks were at their peak and shooting off all around us nonstop he did start shaking but by that time even Sugar was shaking a little. So I think we have finally found our solution.
I bought ours at the Vitamin Shoppe. Spike is 4 1/2 pounds and we gave him 3 drops early in the day and 2 more last night. I'm going to check with our vet on Monday but from what I've read it will be safe enough to give him a few drops every day so he'll be all set when it rains.
LOL, sorry for writing a book but I had to share our good news!
