As regular Slat Rat Chronicle readers know, Clemmie, my elderly 13 year old Bouvier, has developed quite the case of bedtime anxiety. Evidently anxiety is common in older dogs. Well, even if it is common, it is not fun for anyone involved.
Finally a few weeks ago, we decided to try the drug route - with initial stunning success. Right before bedtime, we gave Clemmie 10 mgs of Valium. Within 20 minutes, she was sawing logs. Yea!!!! Sleep for everyone. And the following day, after she finally resurfaced at Noon, she was a totally chipper dog. Happier and zippier than she'd been in months. Eureka!!!
However, my vet was reluctant to keep Clem on Valium indefinitely, so we decided to try Clomipramine - a human tricycle antidepressant that also seems to work quite well for anxious poochies.
So, ten days ago we moved Clem on to Clomipramine. That did not go as well. For the first few days, she was o.k. - not great, but doable. But was the week went on, she became duller and more lethargic. By the time the week was up, it was as if she was in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Thorazine land. Just dull, lethargic, and depressed. It was terrible.
So, I called the vet back and told him what was going on - we definitely needed to pull Clem off the Clomipramine ASAP. My one concern was withdrawl - in people, sudden tricylic withdrawl can be no fun. But the vet did the research and no doggy withdrawl issues and certainly not after only a week. We decided to alternate Clem between Benadryl and Valium - one week on one drug and then the next week on the other. It's easy to build up tolerance for both of those drugs and so by alternating we may be able to slow the tolerance process.
So, Tuesday was the last night that Clemmie took Clomipramine. By Thursday afternoon, she was bounding up and down hall in her old dog way and was a totally happy pooch!!!!
Big Yea!!!!!!
10:22:36 PM 
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