Jackson is the SAME way...
I love Trazodone for Jackson. I only give it when he REALLY needs it. Xanax did *nothing* for him. The vet prescribed it for us.
My dad has an RV. He never had a huge issue with it when we would do short trips (2-3 hours). But when we drove to FL from MD, he never relaxed. He panted, paced, shook, wouldn't settle nearly the entire drive. It was stressful for all of us. I tried Rescue Remedy, calming treats/sprays, Thundershirt, etc, nothing worked. He is a food hound too (like he will do ANYTHING for food) and he wouldn't even take cheese or chicken to try to desensitize him to it. It was definitely the loud noises that freaked him out. Once we stopped moving, all was 100% fine.
When we got to FL where we were staying for over a week... I called my vet and she called a prescription for Xanax. It didn't help him at all. Once we got home, spoke with the vet about it, we use Trazodone now with great results. It doesn't knock him out or make him out of it at all, it just eases his anxiety and he's able to go lay down. We hardly ever have to use it but I always keep a few pills on hand just in case of a stressful event coming up (fireworks, etc, do it too).
I'd rather see him calm & relaxed on some medicine than panicking for so long. It's funny because in 90% of his life, he's a wonderful "bombproof" dog -- he's good on family vacations, he loves exploring new places/towns/etc, meeting new dogs and people, etc etc. What I like about it is that it doesn't just sedate him. It actually takes his anxiety away where he's able to go lay down and relax. I can almost see the weight come off his shoulders. |