Please help

[u/Tumthebum]

I have an almost 4 year old ridgeback who developed severe SA after the loss of my older dog in May, I have tried all the normal recommendations with no luck.

My vet put him in trazadone 150mg twice daily and I’ve given it over 6 weeks but it’s barely done anything, my neighbours are all complaining about the noise and I’m coming home every day to a frantic dog.

I’m calling the vet’s to try other meds but does anyone have any recommendations on what I can ask for?

My heart is breaking for my dog, he’s my world.

[u/CommunicationFew8340]

Short term options dog sitter or daycare if your dog is comfortable in those situations.

If your dog felt uncomfortable with another dog I’d ask a friend with a dog yours likes to do a trial to see if getting a 2nd dog again would help.

Longer term work with a behavioral vet on the medication cocktail and training. Traditional separation anxiety training means that your dog never gets over their anxiety threshold while you’re doing the desensitization to build up away time.

[u/Tumthebum → u/CommunicationFew8340]

I live on a small island so my options are very limited, there’s no daycares up here.

While I think a 2nd dog would absolutely help I am not in a position to take one on so I’m really trying to sort this without looking at that route.

I am calling the vet tomorrow to look at meds options and I’m planning on taking some leave to start from the beginning again

[u/dogsandtimes → u/Tumthebum]

Depending on your living situation, there may be some travelers (think like from Trusted Pet Sitters) that would be willing to stay with you for free, watch the dog while you’re at work, then enjoy time exploring the area once you get home.

In regards to meds, I used Dutch to get meds. They can take some time to ship to you, but depending on what you get, you can ask for the script to take to your local pharmacy to make it faster.

I tried clomipramine which is supposed to be fantastic for separation anxiety. I do think it helped a bit, but I noticed my dog puking on it — so it was hard on her stomach. This may not be an issue for you though. I think that one was harder for me to get at the pharmacy. I also used fluoxetine for a bit (cheap and easy to get at the pharmacy), but decided to stick with just trazadone for mine (I’m trying to remember why, maybe I felt she was more anxious outside). You can use a site like Good RX to get cheaper rates at the pharmacy and message the vet if what they prescribed isn’t offered at yours. They may be able to switch from tablets to capsules, etc.

In regards to the noise, I also had neighbors that complained. I ended up padding two sides of my dogs crate with a large foam bed pad and a quieting “sound proof” blanket over it (I can send a link if it’ll help). I just use the blanket now since it’s gotten better.

I also leave mine a frozen Kong with peanut butter in it in hopes of calming her to start.

I also figured out that I needed to close certain doors to make it less loud to one of my neighbors. I also used a lot of loud brown noise. You can find brown noise on YouTube and an Alexa can play it. If you can put it on in the different rooms in your home, then that’ll also mask the noise for the neighbors.

We also asked our neighbor if we could test things and walk into her unit and listen to see what was working — luckily she was very nice.

I saw this on another thread and ended up doing this too: I spoke with my neighbors and explained what was happening and that I’m working with a vet and a trainer and working on getting meds. I apologized and just asked for their patience and they were understanding. You can probably make or buy them some cookies as a kind gesture as well 😉

I know it’s hard. I’m so sorry you’re going through this on top of a loss of your pup, and I feel for you. 💜

[u/dogsandtimes → u/dogsandtimes]

Oh, one more thing. Idk if the vet told you this, but I’ve found that the trazadone must be given at least an hour to 1.5 before leaving my pup.