Pets And Noise Fear, A Suggestion.

[woofgang]

THIS POST IS NOT SPAM
This year I have been trying a new med for my firework and storm phobic dogs and it has helped a lot so i thought I'd mention it here. Its melatonin. Apparently its had a lot of success in the US where it is freely available. In the UK. while you can't but it. its not illegal to buy it from abroad or to possess it.

I won't post links, you can google for a load of information and it is sold through Amazon or a company called vitasunn among others.

I had tried everything suggested except for thunder shirts(because neither dog will tolerate tight wrapping) and prescription sedation. Other years my dogs have gone into total wild panic and my only option has been to restrain them in the middle of the room on short leads to stop them climbing on furniture, including the TV, and thereby injuring themselves. This year there has been shaking and panting but much less full on panic and they have spent most of the time sitting or lying by me. Recovery once the noise is over has been much quicker too.

My dogs each weigh around 32 kg and are on 3mg 3 times a day. I didn't find ad hoc dosage as helpful.

[sunny-dave]

The only thing that ever helped my Maisie was Valium (prescribed by the vet) - the trick being to give her enough to calm, but not to knock out.

She did always look the next day as if she'd got 'the hangover from hell' though.

She's pretty much deaf now, which (although difficult in other ways) does have the advantage that she no longer hears thunder or fireworks.

dave

[sunny-dave]

The melatonin thing is interesting - I've had a bit of a google around and it seems to work well for some dogs (breeds?) but not others.

Thanks for posting though, woofie.

[daffy654]

You can buy it here (for humans), I don't know what makes you think we can't but here is a ;ink:

http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/HealthNotes-Search?search=%2Fassets%2Fnutritional-supplement%2Fmelatonin%2F~default

[daffy654]

Oops, wrong link and now i've lost the other one. lol
Bear with me and i'll try to find it again.

[daffy654]

http://www.biovea.com/uk/product_detail.aspx?NAME=MELATONIN-5mg-180-Tablets&PID=21500

There we go.

[woofgang]

actually daffy, you cant. it gives info about it, but if you google it in the store, it pulls up a load of related products but no melatonin.

[sandyRoe]

Do you start giving the medication a few days before you know the fireworks will start?

[woofgang]

and if you buy it from biovea, like vitasunn, it arrives from america.

[daffy654]

I used Melatonin a couple of years ago to try and cure my insomnia, it didn't work.

[daffy654]

Oh, I thought that as it was listed in pounds sterling it was UK based. Apologies.

[woofgang]

the advice says you can either use it as one off doses or give it on a daily basis. i found the one offs unhelpful so decided to go for a daily regime which has had amazing results.

[woofgang]

daffy :)

[DrFilth]

if can get your pets to like or use to hearing decent music like led zeppelin , pink floyd, acdc etc and then make sure you have it on at a decent volume they will not hear the bangs and screeches when the fireworks go off

[woofgang]

Doesn't always work DF. My dog who is most nervous sleeps in a bed next to the (large) TV and sleeps through war films, televised fireworks(!) except for the ones that whistle, motorcycle racing, explosions, you name it; yet he can hear through the tv noise one firework in the distance and he starts to panic. Similarly he is better than the met office at forecasting thunderstorms and gets twitchy long before the noise starts. Fredpuli has also posted about a dog of his who could forecast storms.
Zylkene give away free cd's with noises on that are designed to be played at increasing volume while treating and playing with the dog to desensitise them but even they say that there are dogs for whom this won't work.

[ladybirder]

3mg 3 x day seems one helluva lot wolfgang. I take Melatonin to help me sleep when necessary and 1mg knocks me out for the night. Nine tablets a day and they must surely be comatosed from morning till night??

[woofgang]

no, ladybirder it works differently on dogs honestly. With my two, you wouldn't know they had had any medication except they are more relaxed about the scarey stuff. They are still happy, lively, play silly games in the garden, chase pigeons and enjoy running miles when we go out on the forest.
Once the fireworks are over, i will stop it but we have only had 2 nights since 30th october with no fireworks and one of those nights is tonight so we may still get some.

[seadogg]

Thanks Woofgang, my dogs are bombproof but we have two friends with GSD's
and I'll pass it on. One of them sometimes stays here and seems to be comforted by my lot, though still tense when the bangs go off.

[ladybirder]

Oh I'm so glad you've seen my post woofgang, I didn't think you would it being 3 weeks since the last one but felt I had to day something:-) Especially after seeing the notice in our vets saying not to give your animals human medication.

OK, I take your word for it, if I took 9mg a day I'd be a gonna I think. In fact if I ever get the urge that would be an easy way to go:-(

[woofgang]

I really appreciate your posting LB. I didn't just go ahead and do it, I love my boys way too much for that!! I chat on a dog rescue forum where many of the contributors are dog behaviourists and trainers and/or work in rescue. They take on dogs with mega problems and either help them then rehome them or keep them for the rest of their lives if they aren't rehomeable. They have links to the US where melatonin is used quite a bit for dogs with fear issues of all kinds, and has been for some years.
Large doses won't kill humans either but yes it might make you mega sleepy. Not sure about humans, but in dogs, its like vitamin C in that. within reason, the body takes up what it needs and harmlessly excretes the rest. I started on 2.5 mg a day which didn't help at all so I increased it to 9mg in steps, which seems to give 24 hour cover.