missjovita
New member
My dog (10 year-old, 30 lb supermutt) started experiencing separation anxiety when we moved into a new apartment in October. Barking, howling, pacing, screaming, chewing at the gate/door frame. I’ve tried a bunch of different things and after a visit to the vet, we’re trying prescription medication (along with other things to help her relax and calm down).
She’s on gabapentin and fluoxetine (Reconcile, Prozac for dogs). I know the fluoxetine takes 6-8 weeks to build up in her system so we can decide if it’s doing anything for her. My question is more about the gabapentin. The vet prescribed her dose 2-3 times a day as needed. I started off with one a day to make sure she wasn’t going to have any weird side effects at the same time I started her on the fluoxetine. When I started giving her the gabapentin 2x a day, I feel like it made it worse. She was more restless, barking and screaming more often, taking less and shorter nap-breaks between episodes. When I went back to 1x a day she mellowed out a bit, maybe back to where we started or a bit better. I asked the vet and she said that my dog might be feeling strange because of the fluoxetine and that’s making her more anxious, but I should wait to the 6-8 week mark to decide if I want to wean her off of it. She recommended I go with the full 3x a day gabapentin dose in the meantime.
I stuck with the 1x gabapentin dose and things were ok but not great. Recently my neighbor complained so I decided to try the gabapentin again, up to the full 3x a day dose. Granted it’s only been a few days, I don’t think it’s working. I still think the gabapentin is making it worse.
I’m curious about what might happen if I kept up the fluoxetine and dropped the gabapentin altogether. I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has experience with these meds and a similar reaction from their dog?
She’s on gabapentin and fluoxetine (Reconcile, Prozac for dogs). I know the fluoxetine takes 6-8 weeks to build up in her system so we can decide if it’s doing anything for her. My question is more about the gabapentin. The vet prescribed her dose 2-3 times a day as needed. I started off with one a day to make sure she wasn’t going to have any weird side effects at the same time I started her on the fluoxetine. When I started giving her the gabapentin 2x a day, I feel like it made it worse. She was more restless, barking and screaming more often, taking less and shorter nap-breaks between episodes. When I went back to 1x a day she mellowed out a bit, maybe back to where we started or a bit better. I asked the vet and she said that my dog might be feeling strange because of the fluoxetine and that’s making her more anxious, but I should wait to the 6-8 week mark to decide if I want to wean her off of it. She recommended I go with the full 3x a day gabapentin dose in the meantime.
I stuck with the 1x gabapentin dose and things were ok but not great. Recently my neighbor complained so I decided to try the gabapentin again, up to the full 3x a day dose. Granted it’s only been a few days, I don’t think it’s working. I still think the gabapentin is making it worse.
I’m curious about what might happen if I kept up the fluoxetine and dropped the gabapentin altogether. I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has experience with these meds and a similar reaction from their dog?