A Hailey Update

While I was at the clinic with Phod, I was able to discuss how Lee was doing with our vet. At the time, he said we keep Lee on her 30 mg of prozac, even if she seems a bit stoned, for at least another week and we would talk about it then. He also prescribed Xanax, to be used when we can't be home, but a storm is coming. 

I did ask him about cannabis, and he said that there are no products designed for dogs, and no studies on use in dogs. While he is interested, he can't recommend it. He has had clients try and and they report success. He said if I was interested "I was on my own." So for the time being, we will not be exploring this for Lee. We will try things that are vet approved.

While our Xanax is meant for emergencies, I did not feel comfortable giving Lee a new drug and leaving her alone all day. Saturday night, while we were home, a huge storm rolled in (the type that takes the power out for a short period of time). It was the perfect time to test it. After a few minutes, she was able to go to her fortress of solitude (aka our downstairs bathroom) and curl up on the bed there and ride out the storm. While texting with my vet the next day (I don't know what I will do when he retires), he said that is probably the best we can hope for.

He also wants us to keep her on the 30mg for at least another week, so we will. Probably a good idea as we have 3 days of thunderstorms in the forecast. The wall repair should be done this week, we don't need to add another hole.

So that is where we are with our girl. I hope this will all help!

--------------------

As a pet owner, the best thing I have done is teach my dogs to tolerate me "shoving" pills down their throats. It all started with our Loki ,who at the height of his disease needed 15 pills a day. We had tried all the other methods, and he would spit them out. These were drugs that were keeping him alive. I recommend to everyone, to teach your dogs to tolerate it because it will help you assure they are getting medication they need. 

A Project Hailey Fail

As you may remember, our Lee is on prozac (the generic form picked up at the human pharmacy) from about April-October every year. She is on the prozac to help her with her severe anxiety cause by fireworks and thunder. (If you have forgotten how severe, in August of 2012 she chewed her way through the wall).

She went back on it in early April. We had our first storm. Short story, I ended up asleep on the couch with the TV and lights on and she ended up in bed with the Man after almost 2 hours of stress. 

I spoke to our vet after this and we decided to try increasing her dose. He said we could double it. We increased it to see. 

The increase caused Hailey to be extra tired and she looked uncomfortable in her body (I think she just felt too stoned). After a short time, we returned her to her regular dose.  I spoke to the vet and he said we could look at an in-between dose and I said let's see.

We just got through our first long weekend of the year which means a lot of fireworks for us. While she was a bit pacy the first night, we let her out of the bedroom and she settled without any destruction. Overall she did really well. So for the time being, we will leave her meds as they are. 

Winter Is Coming - by Hailey

As you all know I have an anxiety disorder. Lady tells people I am a little crazy, but I am not crazy. She is crazy for not realizing that fireworks, wind and thunder are likely going to kill us all!      

                                                                          

Because I have a history of being very destructive (I have only put one hole in a wall, I don't see what the big deal is) and of barking all night, from April-October I have to take Prozac. (To be clear, I get my meds from the human pharmacy, it is the generic form of Prozac, the same drug humans get).

A coworker recently asked Lady why I wasn't just on an as needed med. Lady explained they had discussed this but since there are fireworks usually 5 nights a week, and you can never be 100% sure if/when a thunderstorm is coming and to be home the 2 hours before to give the meds, daily meds are best for me.

My Prozac does help. We had a record number of thunderstorms this year and I only did a little damage one day and only needed peeps to be up with me 3 nights. They were impressed.

Now is the time of year that I go off the meds.  You can't just stop them, you have to ween me off them. Lady has a schedule mapped out on the calendar. This is the only few weeks my peeps see any side effects or changes in my behaviour. I am starving all the time (which is funny cause a side effect of the meds is suppose to be hunger, but for me, they make me slow down my eating). I am also a little more excited about things, like to see my people. But as you may have seen on Friday's post, I still get to be off leash.

While I won't miss having a pill shoved down my throat every day, I will miss the cookie I get after it. I will be pill free as of next week for a few months. 

Mischief Monday - Storms

While on the 19th we talked about how the Lady went out for zip lining  but we didn't talk about the mischief this caused.

A short storm rolled in while the people were out. As she was alone, Hailey was forced to do the following:

It appears she tried to dig her way into the guest room. When asked about it, she was too busy stretching to answer. 

This past weekend was also hard for our girl. There was a combination of thunderstorms and fireworks as it was a national holiday in our province. She did better with the fireworks, but with the thunder she hid in the basement between the washer and drier and 

when she felt brave came up to be with us in the kitchen. Notice how far her little tail is tucked up. She was shaking so badly and refused to eat her dinner. She remains on her prozac, but I am not sure if it is helping (although I am terrified to think of what she would be like without it). 

What makes this worse is she has shared her fear of storms with Phod. He is now nervous during them. The other night I awoke to 75lb Shepherd laying on top of me. It is going to be a long summer!

Project Hailey - Living Drug Free

Hailey is now prozac free until the spring (knock on wood). She went off of it very well. Last year when we took her off, she was starving all the time. We didn't notice that sort of change in her this time. What we have noticed is that in the evening, she and Phod have crazy puppy play time. We love to see them racing around and playing with each other.

Here are some blurry pictures of them playing the other night.

This is a behaviour change we can live with! 

Mischief Monday - A Weird Landing

The Man got home from work last week and was getting ready to take the pups out. He normally has Hailey jump up onto the bench beside the front door to put her leash on (so he doesn't have to bend as far). Hailey was very excited, perhaps made worse by the fact that she is being weened off her prozac for the winter, and jumped up on the cabinet beside the bench.

The cupboard beside the bench - Hailey jumped by the flowers. 

She jumped up by the flowers, which the Man caught before they fell and she left a big scratch in the top.  It sort of matches the scars on my arm from her love.

Another forever mark from our special girl. 

Project Hailey - Meds

As I mentioned, we decided to try Hailey on her meds again (prozac) because her anxiety was increasing. We had some at a low dose left, so started with that and saw an improvement. We called the clinic and asked for them to prescribe the low dose.

Last week I went to pick it up and after I left the pharmacy (because she is on a human drug, not one you get at the vet clinic), I realized they had given us the original higher dose. I knew she was going to take it because I had just spent $46 on 30 pills and we weren't going to waste that. However, I called the vet to clarify.

As you may remember, our vet is a close personal friend, who has proven time and again he is a wonderful vet (although there is a joke at the clinic his note taking could use some work). After talking to him about why  we had the higher dose (even though I left a message saying the lower one seemed to be working), he had decided, after looking back at the books and doses, that the lower dose was just too low. He wanted her to be on this higher dose. So like many times in our vet relationship, we have agreed on a compromise: Hailey will try this higher dose for one month (I have paid for it anyway). If we don't think it is any different from the lower dose or if she has side effects etc., he will prescribe her the lower dose.

Now we are waiting to see if we notice a difference.

Mischief Monday - Shredding

Hailey had a rough week and had us up every night in the middle of the night. The first night it was because there were actually fireworks at 1:30 am (which went on for like 20 minutes, insert HBO words here - stupid city-its). But the other nights there was no clear reason for us. I said to our vet "if we wanted to be up in the middle of the night, we would have had children." He laughed (I nannied his now adult children for like 8 years).

Our destruction this week was:

One of her beds in our closet

The sheets on our bed. This happened while we were out at our anniversary dinner. We aren't sure if she did this trying to bury the chicken foot we gave her or because she was stressed. I am going to have to see if I can fix them . . . . 

We also noted a new behaviour. When stressed Hailey is trying to "bury" things. In the closet she was taking things from the garbage or the laundry and pushing them obsessively with her head and paws.

We spoke to our vet and have decided to give meds another go. I think being medicated June-October may be how Hailey has to live as long as we live in cottage country (which we plan to do for at least another 20 years, so the rest of her life). She did amazing on them last summer and we only took her off because we don't like the possibility of long term health problems associated with long term use.  Because she faces her fear almost every night for at least 3 months (we live in cottage country so there are fireworks almost every night, if not it is usually because there is too much wind or thunder - her 3 main fears), we can't just do an occasional use pill. As I am preparing the post, it is windy. The windows are open as we have no a/c. She is pacing and whining and not happy. At 8 pm, she will go to her fortress in our basement bathroom and if we do take her out, will be so scared she will refuse to pee. So to help her with all of this, we will try her meds. We have about 2 weeks of a lower than she was on dosage of her pills left (it was when we were fading her off). We are going to start with that. If that is helpful, we will keep her on the lower dosage. If not, we will increase it.

It makes me sad that we can't help her with this in another way. But it also makes me sad to see her so stressed. While the Man and I love her, we can't give up hours of sleep a night because she thinks it would be safer to be outside at 4 am . . . . In the long term that is going to cost us our patience.

Let's hope her puppy prozac works.

Project Hailey - Update

It has been a while since I have given an update on how Miss Hailey Bug is doing with her medication.

Last week her anxiety was tested on both Wednesday and Thursday when autumn storms rolled through our neck of the woods. They were accompanied by lots and lots of rain. Our yard had huge puddles on it. It was also accompanied by lots of wind. Wind is a bigger anxiety provoker than rain.

Wednesday I worked from home and Hailey paced a lot and had trouble settling, but no other anxious responses. Even though it was very stormy overnight, she slept well. Thursday, I had to leave the house late morning. When it was time to go, the wind was very strong. Before I left a branch had come down in the front.

I was very nervous leaving her, so I put her  in her "hug" (aka Thunder Shirt) and hoped she would be fine for a few hours until the Man was home.

A top of a tree came down while she was alone and there was no destruction. We were thrilled. I guess the meds are helping. 

I had spoken to the vet and he said she needs to stay on her meds for at least 4-6 months and then we can look at reducing the dose. We will think carefully about this because while I don't love her being medicated, I do love the idea that she can cope with extreme fears better. And she is still Hailey. Except for coping with storms better, there is no difference in her behaviour. She is still her crazy, loveable self!

Hailey and her Meds Update

Today is the 27th day Hailey has been on her meds.

Side effects:
-The second week we saw a serious decrease in her appetite, which is exactly the opposite of what should happen. I emailed our vet and he said to ride it out if we could. I went out and bought some "junk food" to put a tiny bit into her normal food to see if that would encourage her to eat. It did and she is now eating slightly less, but closer to normal. She is eating probably 2 cups instead of 2.5 cups. (compared to less than a cup during the non-eating week).
-No others


Behaviour:
This is the most important. What we have noticed is that while she still gets upset by the same things, she is able to cope better. She just takes a baby and hides. We don't get the frantic behaviour. No obsessive barking. No destruction.

Because of this we will do another month.

Thank you for your suggestions/support from our last update. Blogville rocks!

Murphy and Stanley suggested to save money, getting her prescription filled at Costco. That is a great idea, however, Costco is a bit of a pain to get to from our house and we tend to go only every 4-6 weeks. If we aren't organized it could be an issue. Our local drugstore is on the way to the grocery store which we go to almost every week. We will stick with it there for now. Sometimes convenience trumps saving a few dollars!

Lily and Edward suggested working with a behaviourist. Several years ago we did explore that. She wasn't a good fit for us. Her main idea was to medicate Hailey first. She gave a few suggestions, which we worked on. Overall, we didn't find it helpful and she cost a lot of money. It was $500 for the initial visit. There isn't really another option in our area, so we will do our best without professional help.