I love alprazolam!!

[Misskiwi67]

I just saw a severely fear aggressive dog today who has never had a truly thorough physical exam, even pre-med doses of medications still allowed him to be aware enough to be disturbed by the exam.

Today, the owner elected to try some alprazolam they had for thunderstorms, a high dose this time.

He was mildly sedated, and the dose was pretty high, but the fearful guy walked up to me wagging his tail instead of growling from across the room, and instead of trying to bite for vaccines, he was happily snarfing our soft treats.

I was able to diagnose a heart murmur, and its unclear if he had it before or not due to the amount of growling present in the past. Thanks to alprazolam, this dog may have a chance at early treatment.

Just needed to share my happiness at finally, after 9 years, allowing this scared dog to have a happy vet visit!

[pblove]

poor guy, glad it was finally a positive experience for him.

[Red]

It is pretty sad this dog has gone to the vet for 9 years without being medicated properly, enough to do an exam. There is no much ignorance among veterinarians, when it comes to behavior and better drugs than the usual Acepromazine.

[elegy]

Yay drugs!

[Misskiwi67]

It is pretty sad this dog has gone to the vet for 9 years without being medicated properly, enough to do an exam. There is no much ignorance among veterinarians, when it comes to behavior and better drugs than the usual Acepromazine.

The dose the owner used (without our instruction) was twice the prescribed dose and is outside the normal dose range for alprazolam. Its not how I would have decided to use the drug, but it worked (because he was overdosed to the point of drunk), so I'm happy.

I have never before seen alprazolam work for the severe level of anxiety this dog was reported to have. In another dog, it may have had serious complications, and I won't be using this dose for "sedation" in the future either.

He had previously been sedated with hydromophone, acepromazine/hydromorphone, and butorphanol/medetomidine without this level of success. Weather the owner gave alprazolam at home (the dog has had alprazolam for home use since 2009) prior to those visits I don't know,I don't have those patient notes available. The other sedation choices were probably less effective because he wasn't overdosed, we generally like our dogs awake for their physical exams...