So Jackson is okay in the car typically. He will relax after like 15 mins. But when we took an RV trip to FL -- OMG!! It was terrible. He panicked. Every bump (which was a lot) he would re-panic all over again. He never would lay down for more than 2 mins at a time. And FL was an 18 hour drive. Yeah. It was miserable. I felt terrible for him but it was also stressful for my dad who was driving.
I called our vet at the time who called in an RX for alprozalam (xanax) for the ride home a week later. I gave it to him the night before just to make sure he wouldn't have any adverse reactions. All seemed well. Gave him his dose about an hour and a half before we left. It did practically nothing.
So anyway just this past week I took him to our new vet, whom I love, for his rabies shot and spoke with her about his anxiety. He also gets it bad in loud thunder storms. She said xanax can be hit or miss, she has more success with
Trazadone. So we got 5 pills and are going to try that for the next stressful event. She said you can use in conjunction with other calming things- like Rescue Remedy and hopefully I'll get good results. Give the pill 2 hours before a stressful activity.
What she likes about trazadone is that is doesn't sedate them -- it reduces anxiety. So rather than giving them a drug just to "knock them out" but still feeling scared or anxious -- this one actually addresses the problem.