@kimmie_kimm I’m not a vet but my raptor is a very anxious guy ( we adopted him and he came from a very abusive situation) he’s been in our family for 2 years now and none of the medication that the vet gave him helped so they mentioned trying adult type gummies and they work
Wonders for him. He can be home alone, not caged, and doesn’t tear anything up or have accidents.
@heathjeb Trazadone takes him on the WORST trip of his life, so I’m hesitant to do anything that is already known for causing paranoia in some who use it (me! )
@kimmie_kimm Trazadone turns my anxious, fearful rescue into an aggressive velociraptor. We’ve had some limited success on higher doses of gabapentin for vet visits. I don’t have any advice, but you’re doing a lot more than the average dog owner so take some kudos from an internet stranger.
@jaymeedawn333 Thank you, I really appreciate the kind words. I’m currently mentally (and physically) exhausted. 7 hours at the ER vet last night was my tipping point.
@heathjeb What type of gummies ? So many different strains and mixes with CBD I’m curious as to what works for your dog. Indica, Sativa ? Ratios with CBD if so. Ty
@kimmie_kimm My 3 year old rescue is also quite anxious and on daily Prozac medication. Before the meds, he always had a very soft poop and vomiting about once a week. He's also very scared of the vet, so we've been doing online consults over the phone with Vetster.
Prior to starting on Prozac, we did a food allergy test from Amazon and found out that he was severely allergic to many foods that he was getting on a daily basis (peanut butter, Greek yogurt, chicken, coconut oil for his paws). Since cutting all those foods out, we've seen tremendous progress with his GI issues. Hasn't had diarrhea or vomiting in months, and we are almost certain a lot of his anxiety was tied to his gut.
@theblessed_one Interesting, did your vet have feedback on the allergy test you used? I’ve heard the human versions are somewhat BS, so curious if the vet had thoughts on the dog version. The diet he is on is supposed to be to identify if he’s possibly got a food allergy but it takes ~8 weeks on it to really know, and since we’ve had to also give him other things to get him to take meds the vet can’t guarantee it’ll work anyway.
@kimmie_kimm Take it for what it’s worth, I had a rescue golden many years ago who had allergies. We did an elimination diet, I did a skin prick test, so many rounds of antibiotics and prednisone for hot spots. We always thought we found the answer, and then a couple weeks would go by and he’d have another hot spot. Out of desperation I bought an allergy test off of Groupon. It said allergy to pea protein. No vet, dermatologist, allergist had ever suggested pea protein which was in all dog food back in the day. My vet and vet dermatologists both said if it helps me find an answer or another avenue to try, it’s worth it.
@kimmie_kimm The vet mentioned that food allergy tests are hit and miss and to try either royal canin products with limited ingredients or an elimination diet. We decided that the $100 test was worth it given that we've spent multiple hundreds on different kibble brands, cans of wet food, dog food toppers to get him something that he likes and that didn't upset his stomach.
While I agree that the allergy test may not be 100% accurate, it gave us a much better idea of how to start the elimination diet (in theory he's not allergic at all to turkey/carrots/rice/celery) and what foods to stop right away
@theblessed_one Touché on the spending. I’ll ask my vet their thoughts tomorrow on alternative tests to the elimination diet given we’ve already had to make concessions on eggs AND peanut butter to get him to take his pills, so the elimination diet may not be helpful anyway.
@kimmie_kimm To give you a better idea, this is how Food allergy test results look like. There's 5 other pages of ingredients so it's pretty comprehensive
Red is considered a severe intolerance, orange is moderate and green is mild. My dog still consumes most green labeled products and some orange so it's not as intense of a diet as it sounds
@imagebeastmarkbeast This is correct. They produce both false positives and false negatives, so even using them as a "starting point" is dangerous as the information is completely inaccurate and may guide you to feed your dog something that your dog is actually allergic or intolerant to.
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luckily I won’t be eating doggy kibble any time soon.