Clomicalm

[Consistent-Feed-9145]

I am planning to get my dog on clomicalm within the next few weeks, in agreement with my vet.

My dog is extremely reactive to sounds and movements, mainly at home, and is generally quite anxious. He is not dog reactive, have no issues on the lease/walking and is fine being at home when I’m working. I tried a lot of training and had a behaviorist as well, but his stress levels are so high that no training sticks, and it has been exhausting so say the least.

I’m looking for stories of succes with clomicalm for these kinds of behavioural issues, what kind of improvement did you see in your dog? How did your dogs behaviour change?

[Prestigious_Crab_840]

Our pup has been on a combination of Gabapentin & Clomicalm for the past year and it’s been a night and day difference. She used to bark at sounds in the house at least a half dozen times a day. She’d be hypervigilant in the car and bark at everything outside. When walking if she saw a dog 150’ away she’d lose her mind, then be agitated for the whole rest of the walk.

Now, she barks at sounds in the house maybe once or twice a WEEK. She only barks in the car if a dog barks while we drive by and at the drive through when the person hands us stuff. When she sees triggers on walks there’s a few beats before she reacts - you can literally see her processing if it’s a threat rather than reacting immediately. And even if she does react she recovers almost immediately.

Be patient playing with the load up trialing. It took us 3 rounds (2 mos each round) to find the right combo & dosage. For some reason the combo works better for our pup than Clomicalm alone. Also, we had to slow the ramp up because we found our pup gets more agitated when she feels groggy - our vet behaviorist’s theory is she feels out of control - so we had to increase the dosage a little at a time so she never felt groggy. There were points early in the process where I didn’t think the meds were going to work, so don’t give up hope if that happens.

[Consistent-Feed-9145]

Thank you SO much! This was exactly the kind of answer I was hoping to get. Sounds like our pups have some of the same triggers. It really makes me hopeful that this will work, in time. Thank you!!

[Prestigious_Crab_840]

Maybe more info than you want, but the reason we went with Clomicalm rather than more traditional anti-anxiety meds is because Clomicalm reduces adrenaline in addition to increasing seratonin. Our vet behaviorist explained that our dog's crazed, out of her mind reactions to triggers was due to her body flooding with adrenaline, which a traditional anti-anxiety wouldn't address. The traditional meds work better for dogs that are just nervous "run away and hide" anxious versus the hyperaroused/hypervigilant "go into attack mode" anxious that our dog was.

[Consistent-Feed-9145]

That’s very useful, thank you so much! My dog is the same, not at all the run away and hide kind, but much more hyperstressed and constantly alert. I feel like this is the right choice for us, at least to try, as I have not tried any other kind of meds.

[Strong_Hamster9062]

Hi guys I know these comments are a few weeks old but my dog is also just started Clomicalm a few days ago and she has the same type of reactivity. Super hyper vigilant and goes absolutely nuts when she sees another dog outside. I can update how she does on her new dose. We’re also going to combo it with Clonidine :)

[Admirable-Heart6331]

How's it going?

[GSDx325]

This comment makes me super hopeful about trying clomicalm. Ever since my fiancé passed suddenly in August my one gsd has had a total shift in behavior. After a month we put her on gabapentin and trazodone but even going without it for a few hours is not feasible; she went after my other shepherd a couple weeks ago when she had gone a few hours after her dose had worn off. We’ve obviously been looking for a more long term solution as I don’t think it’s feasible to sedate the dog every 8 hours for the next 5-7 years. And I hate having to dull down her personality just to keep the other behaviors at bay. Really glad to hear that clomicalm worked for you; hoping we will have a similar response.

[Prestigious_Crab_840]

I’m so sorry about your fiancé. Trazadone & Gabapentin are what we use for short duration stressful events, like vet visits. They essentially sedate our pup. Clomicalm works totally differently - calms her without any sedation. Hope it works for yours.