[wolfemom]

my dog Treasure is acting very strange tonight. she is afraid to come out into the livingroom area. she wants to stay in the back in her kennel or laying on our bed. I was sitting with her in the back & she was shaking/quaking/quivering. if I try to get her off the bed, she would snap at me. this is NOT normal for her at all!
the only way to get her in the front is to tell her I'll take her outside. its 9 degrees outside & snowing & I don't want her to stay out too long. but she acts like she is afraid to come inside. she is 8 yrs old & she normally only does this in a thunderstorm. but its only snowing & there is no thunder.
does anyone have any ideas?
thank you.

 

[Montie S]

It definitely sounds like a fear. Maybe even trauma. Has anything changed in your household that would frighten her? Has any one raised their voice with her lately? Anything like this could frighten your dog or make her feel unsafe. All you can do is try to make her happy by giving her lots of positive attention. Let me know how it goes...

 

[dazydaizee]

My dog is very anxious and sometimes it's tough to tell what sets her off. She has gotten a lot worse as she's gotten older. You should first see your vet to make sure it's not a medical issue, and if she checks out healthy you could discuss anxiety medication. There's also a diffuser "Comfort Zone" with "D.A.P." which is a synthetic "dog appeasing pheromone" that is supposed to calm dogs down. It looks like a Glade plug-in but it is odorless to us. Sometimes it takes a while before you see results with it, but it would be worth a try even in combo with meds if you think they are necessary. There are no side effects to the D.A.P. and it's not a drug.

 

[wolfemom]

thank you for your responses. things have been crazy here with work & home stuff since I posted this. we did take Treasure to the vet. Wed she had a low grade temp & he did a full blood work up. he hadn't realized how long she'd been on her metronidazol (6 to 7 yrs). he said they should have done one 2 yrs ago. anyway, the bloodwork came back normal. but he said we were the first of 5 of the same cases (one was an other one of the vets' dogs.) all 5 had the same symptoms & they all started at the same time on Tuesday! they are attributing it a barimetric pressure change & said its an anxiety issue. so, he prescribed 100mg of benedryl caplets 3 times a day for 5 days. he said that if she still wasn't eating, to give her chicken & rice. and give her the metronidazol twice a day when we have to give her the chicken & rice. (she has SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).
she is finally starting to perk up & act 'normal' its been several 'mommy days' in a row too!

 

[GeorgieGirl]

Oh that's great that she is getting back to normal Wolfemom! Thank you so much for giving us an update! Best of luck to you both and hope to see you again!
Cheers!
GG

 

[ruffsmom]

It is beyond strange that all those dogs started symptoms at the SAME TIME!!
Thank goodness things are getting better. Keep us posted.

 

[OtterTail]

Dogs that are afraid of thunder storms often learn to associate the change in barometric pressure that precedes them and start getting nervous in anticipation. So if you had a big change in pressure it is possible that the dogs were reacting to that even though it was a snow storm and not a thunder storm. I hope that's all it was and she is back to normal now.

 

[wolfemom]

Dogs that are afraid of thunder storms often learn to associate the change in barometric pressure that precedes them and start getting nervous in anticipation. So if you had a big change in pressure it is possible that the dogs were reacting to that even though it was a snow storm and not a thunder storm. I hope that's all it was and she is back to normal now.

that makes alot of sense! never looked at it like that. and yes it was a big change in pressure. we are keeping the benedryl handy for all storms now!

 

[dch]

thank you for your responses. things have been crazy here with work & home stuff since I posted this. we did take Treasure to the vet. Wed she had a low grade temp & he did a full blood work up. he hadn't realized how long she'd been on her metronidazol (6 to 7 yrs). he said they should have done one 2 yrs ago. anyway, the bloodwork came back normal. but he said we were the first of 5 of the same cases (one was an other one of the vets' dogs.) all 5 had the same symptoms & they all started at the same time on Tuesday! they are attributing it a barimetric pressure change & said its an anxiety issue. so, he prescribed 100mg of benedryl caplets 3 times a day for 5 days. he said that if she still wasn't eating, to give her chicken & rice. and give her the metronidazol twice a day when we have to give her the chicken & rice. (she has SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).
she is finally starting to perk up & act 'normal' its been several 'mommy days' in a row too!

I'm probably a bit late with this discussion, but I have a few questions to ask you.
Firstly, why would your vet have your dog on 6 to 7 years of Flagyl???? My vet would shudder at the thought! My vet won't prescribe it for more than 5 days. He says it can be a very dangerous drug with some very bad side effects. Here are some of the side effects:
Symptoms of overdose of metronidazole include the gastrointestinal signs (anorexia, vomiting) and neurologic signs including depression, ataxia, disorientation, head-tilt, tremors, bradycardia, rigidity, stiffness, and seizures. Neurologic signs may occur due to acute overdose although they are more commonly seen in animals that are on long-term moderate or high doses (oral doses greater than 66 mg/kg/day).

I hate flagyl use in dogs. I worked as a vet tech many moons ago, and saw dogs that were on it for only two weeks end up with Neurologic problems and the symptoms that your dog had. So be very careful of it's use.

Several things could have caused your dogs reactions. One would be the overuse of Flagyl. Bloat. Infection. Viruses.

What kind of dog do you have? I ask this wondering if your dog is 40 lbs or more. With dogs that are more high strung, nervous and highly sensitive can end up getting bloat, aka: gastric tortion. Which is incredibly painful and life threatening. Sometimes it can take up to a week or so before the actual tortion happens.

What kind of food do you feed? It could be that you got a bad batch of dog food?? See if your vet can find out what the commonalities are in your dog compared to the other dogs. Feed, vaccines, their temperaments, any new meds, etc.....

That is a LOT of Benadryl! Wow! People don't even take that much! Here is a good website that has good info on meds, this is a direct link to what it says about Benadryl: Diphenhydramine (Generic Benadryl) - 1800PetMeds

Good luck, pats to your pooch! I hope she just had a one time thing that goes away and stays away!

Sorry this post is so long, but your dogs symptoms worry me!

 

[wolfemom]

to Dch---
sorry it took so long to reply, I lost the link to here!

Treasure is much better. she weighs between 58 & 60 lbs. she is a German Shepherd/Chow mix. she is on the metronidazol once a day due to her SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). she cannot have people food or regular dog food. she eats Iams® Veterinary Formulas Intestinal Low-Residue™/Canine Dry Formula. expensive, only available at the vet's office, but it has done wonders for her!!!!

when we took her to the vet for her yearly shots (end of Feb), we were talking to him about the 'weather anxiety' (there are 4 vets in the office) & wanted his opinion. he just grinned & said "I wish my wife was in this room to hear you talk about Treasure's issue......... our black lab in a year younger than her & he had the exact symptoms you just described!"

he said that now, we can recognize the symptoms & should only need the benedryl once or twice a day during those times.

Treasure is back to her old self now. had a thunderstorm this morning & at 3:23AM, she promptly jumped up into bed with me & my husband & tried to 'bury' herself between us! she got down & back into her kennel as soon as she got petted & reassured it was ok.

let me know if you have anymore ?'s. thanks.
Michele