It’s our vet day, I’m looking for reassurance

[peterpan]

My dog (60lb German Shepherd) is the sweetest most gentle girl…to us. But every time we go to the vet specifically, it’s like Jekyll and Hyde. I have to put the two muzzles on her, the “party hat” and the cage, and I have to give her so many medications.

We tried meds last time; 100mg of Gabapentin before bed, and then 3-4 hours before her appointment 300mg Gabapentin, 100mg of trazadone. Well, even though she was cross-eyed and obviously very drunk, she “werewolfed.” It was like she didn’t have any meds on board at all. They decided to have me give her a 300mg in the office and I waited 2 hours for her to be dopey enough that they could take her back. That didn’t seem to have an impact, so they gave her an I.V. sedation.
She. Never. Went. Down.

So now, we have to go back (she had a blood sample, it got lost in the mail. Dear god, why can’t we just send certified or like FedEx overnight), and they have prescribed her so much medication and I am scared

Before bed:
3x 300mg gabapentin
1x 150mg trazadone

3-4 hours before her appt:
3x 300mg gabapentin
1x 300mg trazadone
5mg melatonin

I hate that she is so scared, but I know we have to get it done..I’m up at 4am giving her the meds for her 7:30am appointment. They said I can stay this time, and they will be quick so I can hurry and take her home when they get done drawing her blood. I know they’re professionals, but I am still uneasy because of the amount.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Did your dog survive?

Edit: I just wanted to clarify before hand, my username is only because I like Stranger Things, not because of my dog’s reactivity, lol

 

[peterpan]

UPDATE: oh my god!! She did SO WELL and she didn’t appear to be that doped-up! They took her back, drew blood and we were out of there in 10 minutes. I am so relieved i put a muzzle on her before they took her back, and then I heard them praising her! Telling her how good she is, and she’s a pretty girl etc., then they brought her back out with NO MUZZLE?! Ugh, amen

 

[ke1220]

@peterpan Fantastic

 

[jconelea]

@peterpan Last vet visit my 20-odd kg resident asshole took 200mg of Gabapentin, vallium, and a large shot of morphine in the ass to finally stop screaming and thrashing about.

We have to go in on Monday to get a lump biopsied (fairly sure benign cyst, but best to be safe) and a dental

Ask if your vet will come out to the car and semi-sedate before taking doggo in, explain gaba did nothing (it often doesn't). Makes my trips a lot less stressful.

 

[peterpan]

@jconelea And your username DOES correlate
Thank you for the advice, I will definitely be asking

 

[bmh3d]

@jconelea My dog is about to turn 6, so I scheduled her a dental as well to go with her annual. They sent me the chill protocol and I'm just like ok deep breaths lol. She hasn't had to go to the vet in several months so I hope it's smooth sailing.

 

[hobster777]

@peterpan My dog is like this. I finally found the perfect vet for him. He just had bloodwork and the whole shebang. He’s normally sedated but this time he did it without. He still takes per behaviorist: 75mg of trazodone/400mg of gabapentin/10mg of clomicalm. We are going to try and see if upping the gabapentin more helps because he was still stressed as soon as we pulled in. But this has been the most successful visit for us in 6 years!

Me NOT being in the room Made all the difference. He resource guards me so nothing of value in the room to go nuts over. Do you go into the exam room?

I would DREAD visits. Even just thinking about them. Like need a Xanax before it but after this visit I am confident he will be able to handle it from now on. I would schedule his visit for everything to be done once a year under sedation and just pray for no emergencies.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!!

 

[peterpan]

@hobster777 Aww yay!! I’m glad you found the dream vet for your boy I go with her into the regular patient room, but they have tried to just get her leash from me in the lobby to take her back, and she puts on the BREAKS. I call her a linebacker because she is strong and digs the cleats in lol.

 

[hobster777]

@peterpan Oh man. Yeah, it’s so so stressful. Can they give him light sedation on top of the meds? They would give my boy a butt sedation (still fought it) but he eventually succumbed to it where they could do what they needed to do.

 

[emily333]

@peterpan I’e given my 50lb border collie 900mg of gabapentin before. It didn’t do much, but he survived. Is your dog on any maintenance med? He was on fluoxetine for a long time (dc’ed in the last few months because he’s on a ton of meds for CHF and we wanted to see if dropping the Prozac would help his appetite) so I was hesitant about big doses of Trazadone but I think she’ll be fine with these dosages.

 

[peterpan]

@emily333 Okay, thank you for saying this she is not on any maintenance meds, but also she does well almost anywhere else! Most of the time we go anywhere, we are outdoors so she has lots of space. But it seems recently her anxiety at the vet has increased.

 

[lukyjim]

@peterpan My dog was the same way. We did meds at home, put him in a crate with a leash. Slid the crate to a standing table on wheels and wheeled him inside. Once he was in the door, one tech held the leash at the back so he couldn’t bite and the other got him in the back with sedative injection. Worked like a charm. Not sure if they can up the sedative injection to knock him off that way too.