[Liz S]

My 4 yr old female chihuahua has anxiety every day. Her sister is 9 and she doesn’t. She’s calm. Reese ( 4 yr old ) will slowly start getting anxious 5-8pm. She pants. Circles the loveseat or recliner. Paces. Clings to me. Shakes. It’s so bad. I don’t even remember when this all started. The vet gave us something for her when we had tstorms to calm her down.

I stay up as long as I can with her but eventually I do fall asleep. She wakes me up around the same time each night as well.

At first it was just the tstorms. Now I don’t know what it is. The rest of the day she is completely fine.

Anyone elses pup have anxiety issues?? I will be taking her to the vet in the next few weeks.

[Cyndi]

Hi Liz. How long have you had the dog? Maybe something traumatic happened before you got her around that time. My dog gets anxiety and stresses over thunderstorms and fireworks, but only during those instances and then she’s fine.

If it happens about the same time every day, maybe, just before it happens, you can change her routine and take her for a walk, or, if she doesn’t mind them, give her a bath, or arrange a play date or just play with her for a while. Dogs easily get used to a routine and if it’s routinely happening, try changing it to something that she likes, something pleasant and do THAT every day about the time she’d get her anxiety and see if that helps.

[DogFoodie]

Have you ever tried a Thundershirt? I have not, but understand that they do work very well.

What time does she have her evening meal? What is she eating?

[Susan]

Hi Liz, are you sure its anxiety & not after she eats her meal…maybe she is having pain Patch did this after eating his meals, pacing, shaking, licking his lips, he had pain…..It eneded up being Pancreatitis…

[Liz S]

Hi Cyndi,

I’ve had her since she was 8 weeks. She was in good hands before that. I will try your suggestion of doing something different for her again. We’ve tried that before. There’s a skylight in our kitchen and if a squirrel runs over it, or she hears them in the trees when we have the windows open, etc. At first it was fireworks/thunderstorms ( a couple years ago. ) I am just guesstimating when I say it’s started to become a big problem in the last 6-12 months. Don’t know what to do. I’m REALLY hoping the vet will be a bigger help. We’ve been going to the same vet for over 10 years but we are not thrilled and are moving to another vet that my daughter brings her furbabies too. Wish me luck :/

[Liz S]

4footedfoodie,

We did try the thundershirt as it was rec’d by our vet. We gave it a try two separate times. Didn’t do a thing for Reese. I too have heard it’s helpful to other dogs. Not my girl :/

Her and my other chi have dry food right now. Fresh kibble is put in their little bowls each day and they free feed throughout the day. They also get a small package of wet at around 5 every day. The kibble is Toy & Small Breed Science Diet. ( Crap, I know ) The wet is Nature’s Recipe Grain Free. We rotate the wet flavors of kitchen. Always have. You may or may not have seen a few of my other posts lately but I have been diligently researching much better dog foods. This site has been very helpful. But very overwhelming. The kibble is running out and tomorrow or Wednesday the latest I’m going to be making a final decision on a new food.

[Liz S]

sue66b,

Wow. I didn’t think of that. Hmmmmm….. I’m so glad I am taking her to the ( new ) vet soon. Checkup and blood work!!!!!

Phew I sure hope it’s nothing serious. I’m sorry about Patch.

Thank you so much. I have had anxiety myself thinking “I hope the vet doesn’t throw some more ” doggy xanax. ”

I will try and keep updating!!

[Susan]

Hi Liz, it sounds like the wet food as u write that you give wet food 5pm at night, maybe the fat% is too high, alot of the wet grainfree are high in fat, or there’s an ingredient that isn’t agreeing with her, tonight maybe boil some chicken breast with some boiled rice or boiled pumkin, make sure the chicken its all chopped up finely & see how she is after having a different meal for 1 week…or maybe do kibble at 5pm & try wet food morning & see..

[Liz S]

sue66b,

Ok I will try that. She has been on rice & chicken a few times when sick/after spay.

[DogFoodie]

Hi Liz,

I’m wondering if there’s an issue with the canned food you’re feeding. That’s why I asked when she was fed and what she was eating.

First, I wouldn’t allow the free feeding. Offer the morning meal and remove it after about 15 minutes and then don’t offer the next meal until it’s dinner time. I wouldn’t change that right now, but would in the near future.

As a test, the easiest thing to do would be to try offering the same dry food in the evening that you offer in the morning, as that food seems to work for her. It could be that she’s intolerant of an ingredient in the wet food that makes her not feel well and the anticipation of that makes her feel anxious.

Try that for a few days and see how she responds. I understand wanting to offer more fresh foods and more moisture, so it’s sort of a temporary test without introducing any other potential problems into the mix.

[InkedMarie]

Have you tried the cd’s called “through a dogs ear”?

[Liz S]

4footed,

Any other breed I’ve had I didn’t free feed. Every chihuahua I’ve had, I have. It’s just a personal choice.

Also I have been thinking…my husband is a long haul truck driver. He is home about 1-1 1/2 weeks per month. It’s kind of sporadic but at times he can be home for a week straight or so. She does a lot better while he is home. She still has the anxiety but nothing like when he is gone.

No clue what to do here though. Ah. Thank you all for trying. I’m going to keep trying some things…even things I’ve done before..I hope it helps. I go to sleep at 9 every night and she wakes me up EVERY NIGHT between-12-1am. I have sleep apnea and sleep like a log but she will scratch my pillow stick her nose under my mask and whimper so I get up. Once I’m up we go into the living room and she either curls up on my lap in the recliner or goes back to sleep on the sofa.

This is so confusing and it’s heartbreaking to watch.

Thanks again for trying. x

[Liz S]

Inked,
I’ve never heard of. Going to google right now. Sounds good though. Helpful. Have you watched?

[InkedMarie]

Liz, they’re cd’s or downloads of music designed to calm dogs.

[jakes mom]

It does seem as tho something in her evening meal may be the issue. Glad to hear she’ll be going to the vet soon. She’s a little young for thyroid issues but my Walker/beagle had a lot of anxiety and improved quite a bit when he got on thyroid meds. Good luck.

[2nd2none]

if you feed twice a day and her behavior doesn’t occur after her 1st feed, then i doubt it’s the food . since it’s only from 5-8, is there something specific that occurs during that time? i.e., a UPS truck, a certain loud car that goes down your house/street at that time, a particular dog that walks by at that time?, ….???…
if you think it’s due to a (or someone’s) routine, how about trying a natural relaxer like Rescue Remedy? works well with dogs that suffer anxiety problems

[Liz S]

2nd2none

She always barks at UPS, trash pick up, fire works etc

She has dry out all day. Then gets a can at night. I should have noted that her behavior started way before giving her cans.

We have rescue remedy. It helps. But not enough. We also have a medication that the vet gave us for tstorms and fireworks. We’ve tried it other times since she’s been having such bad anxiety come nightfall. It helps much better than the RR but it’s still not enough.

Will se what the vet says this time…

[Carolyn G]

Just a thought, but is the TV off during the day and then on at night? Maybe if it’s on a specific channel, a program’s music – IDK the theme song from the news etc., maybe something is aggravating her? Just throwing out ideas.

[Steve R]

Ask your veterinarian. Just like in humans, narcotics do not solve an underlying condition. Not to mention that certain felines, and canines lack the enzymes (P450) that break down drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, etc, which is why you see kitty vicodin or doggy oxy dilluted to extremely low doses because your animal could die if you are “self-medicating” it for problems that require veterinary care, I think that’s the best harm reduction we can apply here.

[anonymously]

One of my dogs was acting more anxious than usual, then when I was brushing her teeth a big old back molar popped out. The root smelled infected.
The vet said because of the daily brushing the rest of her teeth look good, so a cleaning is not needed. She is much calmer since that tooth came out. Sometimes pain will manifest as anxiety.

[Author]

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