Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Behavioral Medications

    Posted 01-04-2019 02:56 PM

    Hi all! How many of your shelters use medications like fluoxetine, trazodone, or xanax for dogs? If you do, can you message me about when/how you use them, and whether your vet would be able to provide some information?


    #Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization


  • 2.  RE: Behavioral Medications

    Posted 01-23-2019 07:21 AM

    Hi there!  We use Trazodone pretty heavily; we also use Fluoxetine but less so.  We start with Trazodone for kennel stress, as well as stress/anxiety leading to difficult behaviors (jumpy/mouthiness, guarding in the kennel, etc.)  Trazodone works well to keep the edge off for most of our kennel stressed dogs (dogs that are pacing/vocalizing excessively, body slamming, etc.)  Most dogs who are only on Trazodone in our care don't end up needing it once they are adopted and in their new home.

    Dogs that have severe kennel stress that doesn't respond to Trazodone, or dogs that have a history of anxiety/stress in their home (such as separation anxiety) often go on Fluoxetine as well.  We give the Trazodone a couple of weeks to settle in and see how it goes, then will add in Fluoxetine if we feel we need to.  Fluoxetine, of course, is a little less ideal for adoption purposes because it shouldn't be discontinued abruptly, so we are very clear in our adoption process that they MUST consult with their vet before discontinuing it if they choose to do so.

    We don't currently use Xanax, as it is a controlled substance (and under a schedule that our current DEA license doesn't cover).

    Happy to answer more questions if you have them!  I'm the technician at our shelter, but I can also reach out to our vet if you have questions I can't answer.


    #Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization