The moment I heard strict rest, I knew it wasn't going to fly.
Not with Cookie. She needs minimum of three hours of activity a day to be content. After the last event we reduced it to two hours and she was already bouncing off the walls. Getting no exercise at all? That was not happening. Not without her jumping out of her skin and losing her mind. She'd be extremely wound up, frustrated and likely depressed.
Right there and then I voiced this concern.
Cookie on strict rest was not going to happen without some serious chemical help.
I know that mind games and training games are supposed to tire a dog out just as well as physical exercise. But I also know, from the few days last Winter when temperatures dropped so low that even Cookie couldn't spend more than 10 minutes outside, that no amount of those could cut it. And that was only one day at the time AND she was getting a few of the ten-minute runs outside.
As much as I hate drugs, this wasn't happening without some.
The orthopedic specialist wasn't overly surprised and suggested a drug she uses often in her patients as well as for her own dog - Trazodone. That sounded good. Of course, being a diligent mom, I asked about potential side effects to which I was told there weren't any.
When I came home, though, I looked it up and, of course, there are side effects listed. I was supposed to start Cookie on this right away but I wasn't going to do that until I had a chance to discuss the side effects issue. And I wasn't able to get hold off anybody.
I went and asked every vet I know.
Some of them never heard of it, some of them had another preference but most thought it was a good drug. Some of them directed me to an article which I have already found myself. They all tried really hard to help me out.
From all that digging I gathered that Trazodone for this purpose seems to be a drug of choice for most surgeons. It also seems to be a drug of choice for many veterinary behaviorists. Trazodone is an antidepressant but it has also been used to calm post-surgical dogs. From the three choices available for our purpose, I did like this one the most.
More importantly, I was able to get hold off Jasmine's vet and it turned out that he's been using it for many of his post-op patients for 11 months now. He discussed the potential side effects with me in detail and we covered every last one of them. From his own experience, he had only one complaint where the owners felt the dog was too sedated and instead of having the dose adjusted they opted to withdraw the use all together.
Sedation was the least of my worries.
I was finally comfortable enough to try giving one dose and see how it goes. We did that in the morning, just in case something did crop up, so it would be easy enough to see the vet.
Cookie was prescribed 75 mg every 12 hours.
About 40 minutes later it seemed to have kicked in. My concern was that Cookie seemed unsteady on her feet. I was worried that the dose might be too high for her and that being this wobbly she might further injure the muscles we were trying to treat.
Also, about 7 hours later the effect seemed to have worn off completely. And there were still 5 hours to go. I felt the dosage and distribution should be reconsidered.
There were some technical difficulties contacting Cookie's vet but Jasmine's vet, as always, was there for us again. He said that often it takes a couple of days to get things on an even keel and that'd he leave things as they are for now.
I didn't want to arbitrarily make any changes to how the drug was prescribed before talking to Cookie's vet about it.
We continued the Trazodone as prescribed while I was trying to get hold of her.
The second day the effect seemed about the same but by third day, instead of things leveling out, the effect of the drug seemed to have worn off after five hours instead of previous seven.
I was convinced we needed to make adjustments.
Finally I made it through the technical issues and got to talk to Cookie's vet. I explained my observations and concerns and we agreed on adjusting the administration to 3x daily while looking for minimum effective dose.
We started with 50 mg 3x daily. But that was not enough so we ended up giving 75 mg 3x daily which now seems to be the ideal dose and distribution for Cookie.
I have to say that I'm quite thankful for this drug.
Other than the unsteadiness the first two days, Cookie hasn't been having any side effects. And this drug helps her to remain at peace with the sudden lack of exercise and fun.
She isn't going crazy, isn't jumping out of her skin, isn't frustrated and isn't depressed. She still can get quite bouncy when she gets outside in the cold weather but knowing what things would have been like otherwise, the Trazodone seems to be doing exactly what we needed.
Cookie remains clear headed and can still enjoy her puzzles and training games.
She doesn't seem overly sedated. She's still curious, interested in things and excited about things. But she is able to cope with the activity restrictions.
Further reading:
Use of trazodone to facilitate postsurgical confinement in dogs
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Your story can help others, maybe even save a life!
What were the first signs you noticed? How did you dog get diagnosed? What treatment did/didn't work for you? What was your experience with your vet(s)? How did you cope with the challenges?
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