Noise phobias in dogs are an almost exclusively summertime issue in New England. Between thunderstorms and fireworks, Memorial Day through Labor Day can be one of the worst times of year if your pet has this form of anxiety. Like many specific anxieties, there could be some triggering experience, like a long separation from an owner on a night of a severe storm or 4th of July party. In fact, most dogs with noise phobia also have some other concurrent form of anxiety, 88% of which will include separation anxiety. However, like many humans, triggers are not always identified and a chemical imbalance in the brain may be the cause. Luckily, most of these phobias are treatable with environmental or medical changes.
The first step is determining if your dog may having underlying anxiety. Your vet can help with this by taking a thorough medical and behavioral history. Like anxiety in people, many of these conditions can be treated by increasing the levels serotonin (the feel-good neurotransmitter) in the brain. Prozac-like drugs have become very inexpensive over the years and we have been using them for decades to safely and effectively treat anxiety in pets. Most times, they are only used short term along with behavioral and environmental conditioning to help eliminate the anxiety. However, this is not always possible and they may need long-term treatment, Many owners are concerned about doing this because they don’t want their dog “drugged”. However, these medications are really only meant to take the edge off of dog’s anxiety and they are much happier and healthier as a result of their use.
Sometimes, medications are required when the noise itself is occurring. This is when the dog either has no underlying anxiety or has such severe noise phobia that the long-term anti-anxiety medications are not enough. There are mainstay medications that we reach for that are sedatives in pill form. While these do help, the pills make for difficult dosage making some dogs over or under medicated. They can also take several hours to kick in, making them useless for unexpected storms or forgetting about firework celebrations. Lastly, they can stay in their systems for up to 12 hours leaving them sedated for far longer than necessary. There is currently a gel-form medication that is absorbed directly through the tissue in the mouth and can kick-in within 20 minutes. It is a medication we have used for a very long time during anesthesia but has been reformulated to an owner-friendly form that can used at home and dosed very accurately whether you have a Great Dane or a Yorkie. Another great feature is that it only lasts a few hours. There are also non-pharmaceutical options. The most common is called a Thundershirt. This body wrap mimics swaddling in babies, an effective used of pressure on the body to decrease anxiety. We use the same concept in animals as big as cows.
If you think your pet has thunderstorm or firework anxiety, reach out to your vet to discuss some of these options.