My dog was prescribed Trazadone 100mg for stressful events. Ie fireworks…the bottle says to give him three of them 2hours before the event. But it doesn’t say when to give him another dose. I’ve never had it for him before.

He’s a 64 pound German Shepard.

My vet isn’t answering the phone.

I expect that there will be some fireworks tonight..I dosed him at 1900…last year the mortars started around 2100 and ended around 0000…. Will I need to give him three more at some point?

Or more importantly, tomorrow, should I dose him around 1700 and keep dosing him at regular intervals?

Looks like daily dosage is around 2.5 mg to 3.5 mg per pound. 64 lbs makes it 224mg. So max of 2 100mg per day. My thought would be that would be 100mg every 12 hours.

I take that myself and use about 25mg to get me to sleep, and I know that dosage (with my much higher body weight) knocks me out pretty good for hours each night.

I take Trazadone sometimes for sleep. There is no need for additional for humans, not sure if dogs somehow metabolize it way, way faster. 8 hours after taking it, I still feel under the effects.

Sounds like a lot for a 64 pound companion.
Our vet prescribed us 100mg for 85 pound Boxers. We normally cut them in half. We have them full pills one time coming back from N GA to chill them out. Boomer couldn’t get in my truck!
We don’t give it to them for the 4th or New Years. We just cuddle with Boomer and hold him close.

^^she gave it specifically for his poor reaction to fireworks… he ate thru a metal crate last year…and destroyed the laundry room

He doesn’t worry about the artillery here or gunfire when I take him to the range..it’s just fireworks..

I’m beginning to think it’s to knock him out…

I took it for a short time when I was having insomnia issues, years ago…

I guess we will see as the night goes on..the sun’s starting to set, hopefully the fireworks won’t be too long

Well this has not helped.

Mortars started just after 2100.

He’s still a quivering mess, pacing, panting, won’t sit till, wander into into the MBR where he is not allowed. Put his thunder shirt on and that is not helping either.

I guess I’ll start much earlier tomorrow, and he’s gonna get some Benadryl too.

I hate it for him. This has only become and is sure since we moved to Texas, as the fireworks in NC were nearly 5 miles away. The first year he was at a friends farm away from the city..last year due to the lockdown everyone in the neighborhood shot off really good fireworks.

Well you need to talk to your vet- we don’t know how many mgs/tablet. That will determine how many pills you give him (it does seem like a lot, but your vet knows best). I give a half of 100 mg tablet an hour prior to a vet visit. My dog is ~20 pounds. There should be no need to follow up with more as fireworks are hopefully done tonight. It does take a while to metabolize. My pup is still feeling the effects at least 12 hours later. I would give it at least 24 hours to clear his system prior to giving more if you can’t get in touch with his vet. You could potentially call the doggie ER but I’m not sure if they’d be willing to assist you if they didn’t see the dog- however fireworks can be traumatic for animals, they may know your vet, and since you have the rx already, they might be able to let you know if you should dose again and when.. but make sure you leave a message at your vets and ask for follow up.
Good luck.

ETA. Don’t mix Trazadone with anything else til you’ve ok’d it, please. No idea what that combo could do.. I’m sorry your pup is suffering..cotton balls in his ears?

It's a mild thread drift, Mike, and I apologize for it, but I'll ask: do you have friends/neighbors with dogs who don't get freaked out by the fireworks? Does your dog get along with theirs?

I ask because I used to have a lab/chow/husky mix who would go nuts with fireworks and thunderstorms. It got to the point I'd drop him off at the vet -- like doggie day care -- on mornings I knew we'd have storms. He just couldn't handle the noises on his own, and had destroyed a bathroom, my boat trailer, the side of the house, ....

One day when picking him up after work I asked about how he handled that day's storms. The vet's tech told me that he was just fine, no issues. That really caught me off guard and we talked about it some more. The explanation was that "dogs are pack animals; they act like one another. When he's here, he's with other dogs -- they're not freaked out about the day's storm, so he doesn't get freaked out either."

I'm not sure if that's a useful anecdote, but I thought maybe it was worth asking. Maybe if you and your dog could hang out with some of his friends who aren't bothered by the sounds, he'd be more relaxed too. (Maybe.)

Good luck to you -- and your pup -- sir. I know this is difficult.

Thanks vthoky,

The only guy who has a dog nearby is a pothead. And his dog, a Shepard-pit bull mix bit a person walking last week and is in dog jail. He’s the last person I’d go to for anything.

But that is a good idea. I’m gonna call the boarder next week and see what he thinks, maybe I can drop Rock off for an overnight on New year’s…

We give our mini dachshund 25 mg every 6 hours, I think.

The big dogs don't mind. She turns into 10 pounds of pissed off, quivering dog. When she gets like that, I handle her with welders gloves.

We put a thunder jacket on her and put her in the gun room, it's quieter.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
I’m gonna call the boarder next week and see what he thinks, maybe I can drop Rock off for an overnight on New year’s…

Having been in your situation, I highly recommend it. Good luck, sir.

My brother suffered through the entire last two days with his old Golden Retriever, and I think he also tried using the medication you noted with her. Not sure how well he faired.

This is where I thank my lucky stars for having the two hounds I do. At 14+, the old one is too deaf to hear much of what's going on around him, and the year old rescue Beagle I got a few months ago, well he took a 'Fauci' tonight in the middle of the yard in what sounded like a war zone, while watching the bright lights over his head explode. He truly is amazing when it comes to loud noises that would freak out most hounds.

So yesterday, I dosed him around 1400. He was obviously slow after about an hour, he did much better last night than the night before. We created a cave for him and put his “place” raised mat in there and I sat next to him. He was still wearing his thunder shirt but was less shaky and less drooling…so we may have found a solution for the future.

The boarder texted me this morning and said he does have some fireworks in a neighborhood behind his place but he plays loud music to help drown it out for his guests…we my take him there for New Years.


For those worried about how much I was giving him, I was following the bottles prescription recommended by the vet. Yes 300mg is a lot. But in his records the vet said if that amount didn’t work she would add gabapentin to the mix….I’m wondering why they just didn’t give Rock a Valium?

In the house our little 4 yr old Pekingese is scared of fireworks. Not frantic but she breathes fast and gets under the bed. Last night about dusk we took her and her older brother for a walk. Fireworks were going off all around us but she loves the walk so much she didn't seem to notice the noise. Normally she gets 1/2 of a .25 xanax and then the other half a couple hours later if she needs it and she wears a thunder jacket, which she loves.

Mike, sorry I didn't see your thread the other day, I've been in and out of the forum but mostly out over the holiday weekend. Your dose is on the (very) high end, but not dangerously so since the vet didn't combine it with other drugs at this point. For a 64lb dog I would have gone with 100-200mg of trazadone to be given about 3 hours or more prior to stress, as the onset time is variable. I like to try them out ahead of time to get feedback from clients when able, so we can adjust the dose up or down as required. Also, you can add in acepromazine with that to potentiate the effect, or if severe we can go with something like fluoxetine (elavil) for a week or so ahead of time to get it up to therapeutic levels (won't help on an "as needed" basis).

I would look into behaviorists in your area, as many owners have success with counter-training their dogs to the stimulus. They'll recreate the sound (at a lower volume/more distance) and simultaneously reward the pet with something that they love. Favorite treats, bacon, something they usually can't have but dearly desire. The plan is to create a Pavlovian association between the sound of the firework (in your case) and the tasty treat. It can make a huge difference moving forward, and is a better long term strategy than having to medicate.

Hope that helps, and sorry all of this is a day late and a dollar short.

One thing that many humans don't realize is that their energy level, response, and activities during disruptive events is actually something the dog senses. The dog, in some cases, is mirroring what the dog sees the owner doing, in an effort to show the human that the human is out of line. I have found over the years with my dogs that my response to their reaction is critical to the dog relaxing. People near the back yard, noisy motorcycles, other dogs, etc. all can arouse a well-intentioned dog to announce the problem. There are visual cues the human can use that the dog truly understands (such as a yawn) to destress the dog.

Fireworks, though, appear to be sensory overload, in many cases.

I used a gunfire training CD with my gunshy dog, and it helped. Lots of symphony music, overlaid with increasing levels of random gunfire. You move level by level to desensitize.

In time, I was able to show my gun dog that gun fire was overload but he was capable of being there with me. It was amazing to watch this American Hunter lab courageously stay near the shotgun range before hunting dove for the day. He understood two things. It was not a good sound. And, he was going to be okay, even so. I miss Craz-E the big brown dog.

Thanks slabsides.

4mul8r, yeah he doesn’t freak out about gunshots…and he’s not picking up on us as all three of us (humans) don’t freak about the fireworks…last year we were all outside when a guy three doors down launched a mortar, and it sent Rock into freaking out level11. He’s not been right since then.

If I can find some black cats ,maybe I’ll take him to the range and try and acclimate him to it.

I don’t wanna drug him for the rest of his life on New Years and July 4 th.