Fear of thunder

[Kathryn]

Oban is terrified of thunder storms, and in the last few days we have had a couple of really strong ones. When he hears thunder he finds us  (or wakes us up) and insists on heading to the basement  (man cave). We turn on the television to a sports game and he quiets down but doesn't really settle. He needs one of us there to calm his anxiety. We don't sleep well when there...

I would love to find something that eases his fears. The thundershirt doesn't work. 

Do any of you know of a drug that might work? I don'the like medicating but - with the Fourth of July approaching- we are heading into a really tough time here.

Fireworks are legal here in Minnesota. Would love to lock the idiot who wrote that law into the basement with Oban for the next four weeks...

[Dempsy's Mom]

They seem to hear them stirring miles away.  Dempsy hates them but he is happy with just being with us and he will settle down.  Elsie is terrified of them.  She will start her stirring and you know what's coming.  Stir, stir, stir - won't settle down for nothing.  I pet her and give her belly scratches and she simmers, but she still shakes. We just deal with it until it passes.  Yes, the storms went through SD and headed for MN.  They have been some doozies.  Thunderstorms this morning.  3" of rain in town, 2" up north and the phone lines say the roads are out east of town.  So we have got our rain that we have been whining about now we can whine about the wash outs.  Now it is clearing a bit - we will wait for it to dry a touch and then we will make our crop tour.  I only last a couple hours of crop tour - but Jim will go all morning.  Elsie comes along all the time and once in a while I will take Demps ... Anyway I have no cures for thunderstorm fears - but I do have a little dog that trembles at their onsets. 

[JoJo]

So far Pepper doesn't seem to mind storms, but I'm not looking forward to July 4th!  

My sister's little dog (chiuhuahua) is terrified of storms and she got a doggie sedative from the vet.  Probably a little benadryl will work the same if you can get the right dosage.  Settles him down when a storm is coming in.

[Luke Bizzy]

Our Titan is a funny little guy. For the longest time he was petrified when storms roared in, lighting flashing and thunder banging. We tried the thundershirt for a while but it didn't seem to do too much in the way of calming him down . But then it seemed he figured out the a way to handle it: now when the thunder booms, he thunders back at it with loud barking. He does the same thing when it the fireworks start. He's a resourceful little fellow...

[Malcolm's Dad]

Malcolm does the same thing. If it is thunder or fireworks he barks right back to chase them away. And it works!

[kjwarnold]

Pact was terrified of fireworks and thunderstorms.  He would shake and even throw up at times.  It got worse as he got older.  We finally resorted to Benadryl to calm him down.  He took that, went into his crate in the closet and I laid down next to him.  

[beccadiane374]

I'm interested, too. The fireworks were so bad last year, Tanner had blood in his stool for 2 days after the 4th, due to the hog amount of stress. I am going to check with out vet to see if they recommend anything. I doubt the thunder shirt will work for Tanner. 

[Lynn in TN]

Benadryl is prescribed to uprights that have panic attacks and is one of the few drugs that work, so I am told by humans that have panic attacks.

It does work for dogs as well. Children's Benadryl is one of the few drugs that I keep on hand as it is good for several things and has been around long enough, and has been used enough that I feel I can half way trust it.

I use it for menopause symptoms occasionally.( you know the ones where you feel like you could rip someones head off and your skin feels like it is crawling ) It doesn't take but a half of a teaspoon for me I weigh 110 pounds. It is not recommended for me to take estrogen as many females in my family have had breast, uterus, and cervical cancer.

The dosage for dogs is 1mg per pound 3 times a day. I do not feel you need quiet that much for anxiety. A 10# dog would require 10mg. I would start with 1/4 to a 1/2 of that. It is a little trial and error find the perfect amount. For panic attacks my sister used 2 teaspoons she weighs 140 pounds. The children liquid is what I keep on hand because I can control how much and because it is liquid it gets into the system a little faster. I hope this information has helped.

[LindaMC]

Maisie is another one who is frightened of thunderstorms and fireworks.  She can't seem to settle down and knows when they're coming long before they arrive.  I am so worried about the 4th of July.   I just purchased some chewies from Vetri Science Labs called Composure and if I know a storm is coming and get her to eat one, she seems a little better.  Once it begins though, she will not eat anything, she much too stressed.  She shakes and paces around the house and won't sit still until the storm is long gone.  I feel so bad for her; I wish somebody would come out with something that would work well enough to calm them down completely.

[BetsyNoodle]

We tried virtually *everything* for Murphy's thunderstorm phobia.  Nothing worked and the phobia got worse as he aged.  Finally, our new vet suggested Trazodone, a medication used in humans to promote sleep (it was used to treat depression years ago but was not particularly effective). We were hesitant to try it, but when we finally did, it decreased Murphy's anxiety and severe trembling to the point that he was able to relax and fall asleep.  We were concerned he might be drowsy the next morning but he wasn't.  We don't have a whole lot of thunderstorms in our area so we don't have to use it very often. She recommended that it be given 90 minutes before the thunderstorm hits, if possible.  

[Newman]

Lol,  Fonzyy is like the total opposite. He'll go outside and try to sick the bottle rockets. Although,  I don't let him because he's crazy.

My mom's Shiztu is like that though. We tried the drugs but didn't do anything. Made him pant even more, actually. We usually just wrap them in a blanket, or let them hide in the bathtub. They feel the safest in there for some reason. I heard about those "super jacket" things you can buy off Amazon for $17 or something, can try that.

E: Oh, you mentioned Thunder.. Duh! My bad, thought you said fourth of July. Hahah

E2: Oh, and you tried the Thundershirt? Jeez, I need to put on my reading glasses. Yeah, not sure what else to do

Edited February 14, 2018 by Newman

[Pepper Bug's Mom]

Pepper is ready to go out and want to kill whatever is making that noise -she is fearless!!!

[Hillscreek]

Angus always confident because after he barks for a wile the thunder stops!

[pkcrossley]

so nice to hear from newman and fonzy again