Pet Anxiety: When the World Is a Scary Place

Pet anxiety is something that we unfortunately see pretty often in the veterinary clinic. Dogs and cats with their ears back, pupils dilated, crouching and backing away, refusing treats. Although it’s pretty natural to be anxious at the doctor’s office, anxiety isn’t a great feeling, and we would like to help prevent it. We have a few things that can help make the visit a bit more pleasant.

For pets that travel in carriers, having the carriers out for them to be accustomed to for some time prior to travel is helpful. Pheromone sprays and familiarly scented items in the carriers can help make travel less scary. A good long walk with your dog prior to a visit can help them be a bit more relaxed. In addition, we can prescribe anti-anxiety medications for your pets.

Anxiety related to travel or the clinic is not ideal; however, anxiety at home can likely cause a greater deal of stress for our anxious pets and for those who care for them. Things like house soiling and noise making that are related to anxiety can be huge problems.

Treating Pet Anxiety at Home

So how can you help at home? Routine is important. Make feeding and play times consistent every day. Exercise is extremely important. Try to make it a priority.

In addition, several natural therapies can be helpful. Pheromone products (Feliway for cats, DAP for dogs) are great. Another option that might help is Rescue Remedy, a Bach Flower tincture that you can put in your pet’s water. And for dogs, a ThunderShirt can be helpful. Good news for cat owners: the company now has a model of ThunderShirt for cats.

Finally, learning to recognize relaxed behaviors and rewarding them is beneficial. Try not to reward anxious behavior with a lot of attention.

Veterinarian Treatment of Pet Anxiety

How can we help with your pet’s anxiety? Some prescription supplements like Zylkene or Anxitane can be helpful. We also have different anti-anxiety medications that we can provide for different situations. Medicines like alprazolam and trazodone are often good for short-term solutions or situational-specific anxieties. A new drug called Sileo has been approved to treat noise phobias in dogs and may be helpful for some other situations as well. It is a gel that is applied to the gums. For longer term use, we might consider drugs like clomipramine or fluoxetine.

Of course, it’s always best to use behavior drugs in conjunction with behavioral modification. We are lucky to have a veterinary behaviorist in Seattle, and we can let you know if a referral might be helpful.

My own dog had a pretty significant storm phobia while I was going to veterinary school in Wisconsin. Thunderstorms were very common, and they led to some heavy panting, pacing, and some pretty bizarre behavior—getting stuck trying to get behind furniture and sitting on my head, for starters. I tried ignoring her, giving her a quiet spot to get away, but it really didn’t do much.

During one of my rotations in school, our professor asked us how we were treating our own anxious dogs. I ended up feeling pretty guilty because I wasn’t really doing much. She gave me a prescription for alprazolam, and it worked like a charm—during the next storm, my dog sat quietly in front of the window.

Certainly, dealing with anxiety is not always this easy. But it can be, and we should do our best to address it.