Hey all,
I have a little Chorkie mix that has been on 2 flights with me so far. The first time around, he was PERFECT during his flight. I carried him through the airport and onto the plane in his carrier, and once in the air, took him out (he's an ESA so I'm allowed to have him out if I need). He instantly just cuddled in my lap and slept for the rest of the flight, not making one bit of sound or anything. Everyone around my seat was even complimenting on how polite he was lol.
Okay, so I just flew again on Thursday and did the exact same thing, except this time I didn't keep him in his carrier. I just walked him through the airport and had his carrier on hand just in case. He was definitely more nervous than before but I figured it was just from all the people he was seeing. Got onto the plane, and he started calming down. He was still shaking, but started to curl up and go to sleep. Once we took off and were halfway in the air though, he started having a full blown panic attack. His eyes were dilated, his breathing was extremely heavy and rough, he shook furiously and he was panting/keeping his mouth open or yawning a lot. I thought he was having low blood sugar since I hadn't fed him that morning (he gets motion sickness sometimes and throws up in the car) so I got some sugar and rubbed it on his gums. That did nothing though and he continued having a panic attack the rest of the flight. I didn't want to put him in his carrier since I feared that would make him worse, so I just tried comforting him as best as I could. Once we got out of the airport, he settled down in his carrier and fell asleep in the car ride home, a completely different dog from what I just witnessed.
I have no idea what set him off or triggered his panic attack, but I think it was the woman next to us. She would keep looking over and stare right at him, and he kept wanting to turn around and look at her. He also just was fixated on the aisle and everybody who walked by. Again, this was totally different behavior from the first flight, where he sat in my lap and didn't care about anything.
I fly back again at the end of April with him, so I'm so worried if he'll act that way again. I will not be keeping him in my lap again, only his carrier. But if he panics again, I don't want the carrier making it worse since it'll make him feel trapped. My mom and I agreed that we should try giving him benadryl before the flight in hopes of him just sleeping through it. I hate the idea of medicating him like that, but his panic attack was awful to watch... I honestly thought he was dying or would have a heart attack.
I'm at the point where I'd rather try something to reduce his anxiety than make both of us go through that again.
With that in mind, would benadryl be the safest option for him, or is there a medicine that would be better? I'd only need this for flying; he's never shown this behavior before with anything else.