Anxious senior dog and prozac?

[Lunamoth]

Hi everyone,

I have a BC, Holly, who is turning 10 later this month. She's always been a stable handler oriented girl who LIVES for agility and trick training, but in the last year, she's changed dramatically. She is disinterested in even high value treats when training longer than a few minutes and is increasingly sensitive to corrections and shuts down quickly. She has taken to hiding underneath a chair in the back of the house and behind cabinets and under the desk, when she used to lay down at my side whenever home. She is constantly lip licking and is more sensitive to noises than I've ever seen her. The vet checked her out yesterday and her physical health, vision, and hearing are all great. She's a healthy 10 year old, but is so tense and anxious and suggested starting her on prozac.

Does anyone have dogs on prozac? Has it helped and how has it changed your dog? Any other suggestions to help Holly relax?

 

[pinkspore]

Omg prozac! Prozac has been amazing for Brisbane, he has been neurotic and deeply concerned about the world in general for his entire life. He is also highly handler oriented and lives for trick training and any kind of sport. I had been working hard at managing his reactivity for years, and the Prozac basically made nine years of training slam into place all at once.

My vet has a very high opinion of Prozac for behavioral issues, even stubborn housetraining problems. Sometimes a short course is all it takes for a dog to learn that the world is indeed a safe place, and the negative side effects are usually few and far between. Basically, it can't hurt.

 

[monkeys23]

Have you done a chiro visit? I would rule out pain from being mis-aligned or injury/other health issue first before sticking a band aid of prozac on there. TBH what you describe sounds like some kind of health change rather than a solely behavioral.

My 7yr old rescue (i.e. genetics are not great, poor girl) GSD has been on prozac for most of a year. She's always been super anxious (both general anxiety and SA), but its getting progressively worse since she passed her 6th birthday so I changed the drugs she was on to see if it would make a difference. I imagine it will continue as she ages given her genetics.

Prozac has helped her quality of life IMMENSELY. Much more than the clompipramine she was previously on. It is a lot cheaper too.

Side Effects:
She was very dizzy the first month and a half, but it has subsided.

The lessened appetite remains. She eats her meals fine, but what little food drive I'd build for training has disappeared. Luckily she's years past needing that for the only sporty thing I still do with her (tracking) and she prefers praise or a stick for confidence building/desensitization training. And the latter is something I've done since I got her and expect to continue until she passes.

I did also try a course of NSAID painkiller/anti-inflammatory for a week after she'd been on prozac for about 3 months. I wanted to rule out pain since her structure is so awkward and she's middle aged now. It didn't seem to help or hurt. I'm not entirely convinced we've ruled out pain and am considering trying a month of pain killers to see what that does. She was already having elbow pain at 2yrs old and I saw it resolved with raw feeding and exercise... I couldn't afford xrays at that time so I have no idea if it was just pano or if she has genetic elbow displaysia. Anyway its come back with a vengance and she probably realistically should not be trying to keep up with her older, healthier adopted 'sister.' At this point I'm like well lets make her as happy and comfortable as possible because I want to enjoy what time we have together. So she gets some good drugs after strenuous exercise and again the next morning after she's stiffened up.

So I guess i have a multifaceted approach? Lol.