Separation Anxiety in Dogs

Hey, guys. My name is Dr. Larrad here at Heron Lake Savile Hospital. Today I'm here with Kuda. Kuda is a German shepherd, and if you notice, Kuda is panting. This is actually a more calm position for Kuda, but he is showing signs of anxiety and stress. And some of the pets, when they come to the office, they will show different signs of stress. Kuda is actually a pretty big, lovable teddy bear. He's just a little nervous. He hasn't tried to bite us or anything like that. And aggression can be one of the signs of anxiety or fear. So one of the things that we're going to be treating Kuta for is separation anxiety. And so with Kuda, what Mom wanted to try was that we go ahead and we try a drug called Fluoxetine or Prozac. There was a drug on the market called Reconcile that was veterinary specific version of Prozac, but that's no longer on the market. And so we're using generic Prozac as of right now. Now, one of the things that I told mom is that it's very important if you are trying to treat your dog for separation anxiety, which means they'll start panting, which means they could tear up furniture, which means they could chew up baseboards, which means they could scratch the door, which means they could start having diarrhea just because you're so stressed, because you're gone, or could just be that they are panting the whole time. And so. And there are other things that could. That they could do that would show us that they are experiencing some level of separation anxiety. And so what I told mom was, if all we do is use drugs, there's only a 15% chance that CUDA is going to get better or that Cuda is going to respond to the treatment, versus if we go ahead and we do what's called behavioral modification with the medication, then there is a higher likelihood, almost 85% chance of success. And so the other thing that I have to make you aware of is behavioral conditions are some of the more difficult conditions to treat just because it requires a consistent message from everyone in the household. If your pets are getting inconsistent messages from other people in the household, then it's going to be more difficult for them. So one of the things that I told them was, number one, go ahead when you pick up the keys, because they had mentioned when they pick up the keys, he starts getting anxious. I said, when you're home, pick up the keys. Put them down. Pick them up, put them down. So that way they get used to. Oh, not every single time. They pick up the keys that are leaving. Number two, picking up the purse, you know, pick up your purse, put it down. Pick up your purse, put it down. Putting on your shoes was something else that they mentioned that they go ahead and they get anxious about. Number four would be walking out the door. Again, these are just some of the more normal things that we do when we're getting ready to leave that can set them off. And so there are several other things that you, you'll have to take into consideration for your routines of what you do before you leave. But these are some of the things to be aware of and to try to desensitize them to that. The last thing that I would recommend is giving them some sort of super fun toy or treat that they only get when you leave to distract them and or to reward them when you're leaving so they have a positive experience with when you go. If you guys have any questions about this particular video, leave it in the comments. Otherwise give us a thumbs up. Subscribe and share. Thanks for watching and have a great day.