Need a little advice on one of my fur kids
I need a little advice from all my friends in the Pet Stop. I have an approximately 4 - 5 y/o Boston Terrier that has been blind in one eye since birth. A little brief history, he was rescued from a p...
Forum Discussion
Rescue Remedy, thundershirt, pheremone collar are all things that could help in the moment, though the pheremone collar would be worn all the time.
If you get the RR, be sure to dose yourselves simultaneously when you dose the pup. Having a dog freaked out will stress you out, and your anxiety will feed his. The RR will help counteract that effect.
Anti-depressant/anti-anxiety stuff nutritionally would include a daily dose of sam-e and/or a daily dose of l-tryptophan to get seratonin levels up a little. I've had good results with both on me and my dogs and the tryptophan on the cats.
Also regular, structured exercise and, counter-intuitively, a week or so of "nothing in life is free" can be extremely helpful in fear cases. I realize that sounds like the last thing that would help, but it does. Clear pack structure provides a feeling of security.
Finally, you might want to talk to a doggy chiro and see if anything is out of whack. Acupuncture/massage could be helpful, too. But.... I don't know, just something feels like it might be misaligned and not helping. I know that a chiro told me that she saw a lot of "wierd symptoms" from dogs with their jaws out of alignment. He could also be carrying his head at an odd angle due to the vision issue.
If you get him a little bit calmed down, buying a thunderstorm cd and playing it starting at very low levels and slowly increasing... preferably while the dog is doing something fun (mealtimes are good) is one way to desensitize.
If you get the RR, be sure to dose yourselves simultaneously when you dose the pup. Having a dog freaked out will stress you out, and your anxiety will feed his. The RR will help counteract that effect.
Anti-depressant/anti-anxiety stuff nutritionally would include a daily dose of sam-e and/or a daily dose of l-tryptophan to get seratonin levels up a little. I've had good results with both on me and my dogs and the tryptophan on the cats.
Also regular, structured exercise and, counter-intuitively, a week or so of "nothing in life is free" can be extremely helpful in fear cases. I realize that sounds like the last thing that would help, but it does. Clear pack structure provides a feeling of security.
Finally, you might want to talk to a doggy chiro and see if anything is out of whack. Acupuncture/massage could be helpful, too. But.... I don't know, just something feels like it might be misaligned and not helping. I know that a chiro told me that she saw a lot of "wierd symptoms" from dogs with their jaws out of alignment. He could also be carrying his head at an odd angle due to the vision issue.
If you get him a little bit calmed down, buying a thunderstorm cd and playing it starting at very low levels and slowly increasing... preferably while the dog is doing something fun (mealtimes are good) is one way to desensitize.
