'Happy Pills' for dogs/cats ?

CrowdedHouse

Did I hear correctly on the radio today that you can get pills for dogs/cats to get them sort of stoned and less frightened in the upcoming firework season ?

My GF's dogs get very upset with the noise.

Arcadian

You can get him some Rescue Remedy, a few drops in his water. Or a DAP plug in diffuser.

peasant

Not a good idea to drug them.

Have heard of cases in Germany, where dogs went absolutely berserk afterwards and completely changed their behaviour.

This is due to the drugs more or less paralizing their motion, while still "letting in" all the sounds, smells and visual signals.

So not only is the dog afraid to start with, it is now TERRIFIED because it hears, sees and smells all these frightening things, but is so drugged that it can't do anything about it ...not even run away. In some cases this causes the dog to have a total (and lasting) nervous breakdown.

One sure method of totally ****ing up your dog ...stay well clear from drugs !!

CrowdedHouse

I suspected it was too good to be true

peasant

Try training your dogs instead.

allow me to quote myself from another recent thread:

With a young pup you might actually want to try and train it it get used to fireworks ...after all there is a life full of fireworks still to come.

The key issues are:
do not increase the stress by acting all upset yourself
do not affirm the pups fear by "consoling" it endlessly
make fireworks out to be "normal" ...nothing to be afraid of

So, at the usual time of the day when these eejits start letting off bangers, get your puppy into a one -to- one play or training session. Something that he really enjoys doing. Keep concentrating on play/training ...ignore the bangers completely ...ignore any behaviour unrelated to play/training ...make a real fuss over "normal" behaviour ...in other words, just let the bangers blend into the background.

This will take some time and a bit of luck with timing as well. You really want to be in the middle of exciting play when the first banger goes off, to get the best effect.

But now is the best time to try it.

Most important thing is though, that you yourself don't show any sort of fear, recognition, acknowledgement towards the bangs whatsoever ...just act as if they never happened. (don't give out either)
This calmness should eventually transfer to the pup.

also works with older dogs, btw


and before anyone jumps down my throat, saying that such and such a drug worked perfectly well on their dog ...some sedatives are better than others in dulling the senses as well ...I still wouldn't risk it though.

A massive combination of bangers/whistles and fireworks right in front of your house will penetrate the best sedative "cloud" and irrepably damage your dogs nerves ..and you never know where and when the next bang is going to be.

Tabitharose

I am currently using an animal rescue remedy with my pets (dogs & cat) - to quote from the labelit "calms the emotions" my pets get very scared with all the fireworks etc around Halloween, I also make sure that the radio is on in the house for backround noiseand on Halloween will stay in with them with the tv up loud to mask some of the sounds from outside - I don't act any different to how I would act any other night that I am at home - just give them lots of praise & play with them
. I have heard very good reports about the diffusers also. My advice would be to ask your own vet for guidance on the issue - they afterall will know the pet in question personally & be able to offer a better opinion than anyone else on the matter.
Not to disagree with you Peasant I am sure that there are items on the market which can have adverse effects but I have never come across anyone who has had any negative outcome using either the remedy or the diffuser. The remedy I use is made by bioforce and I have used their remedies for humans myself in the past (and maybe that is why I am happy to use it on my pets).
My pets are in no way dulled in their behaviour as a result of the remedy (they're as hyper as ever) and I am finding that they don't react as badly to the bangers & fireworks as they have done on previous years.

CrowdedHouse

Thanks for the tips

Here's the 'girls'

peasant

Tabitharose

I wouldn't exactly call rescue remedy or a diffusor "drugs":D

I was talking about sedatives.

Tabitharose

peasant wrote:

Tabitharose

I wouldn't exactly call rescue remedy or a diffusor "drugs":D

I was talking about sedatives.

oops sorry - misunderstood - incidently was at a talk today by the vet from the tv3 morning programme - his recommendation which is of course too late for this year unfortunately was that you can get a cd of fire work noises which you should play around your animals, starting with the sound very low & gradually make it louder over time while doing fun normal stuff with your pets to get them accustomed to the noise. He also said that there is a study being carried out at the moment using homeopathic remedies which sounds promising (but has not yet been completed)

edited to add - lovely photo - what are their names?

peasant

you can get a cd of fire work noises which you should play around your animals

hmmm ... I reckon, to a dog's ears the CD will be to the real thing like a Motorhead CD to a live "performance":D

still loud ...but just not quite it, really:cool:

CrowdedHouse

Tabitharose wrote:

)

edited to add - lovely photo - what are their names?

Thanks - Hayley and Zoe (Lhasa Apso) and Molly(Basset)