Rogue Update 03-05-09

anxiety,meds,rants,raves,Rogue,training,vet — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 9:54 pm

Picture 985

I have a little ranting to do…and a little raving too. Bear with me. LOL I got ahold of Dr. Overall and she agreed that it would be appropriate to add amitriptyline to Rogue’s daily meds at this point since we haven’t seen progress with the fluoxitine alone. I spoke with the vet here in Salt Lake today shared her recommendations, and he agreed to call in the prescription.

Here is my rave. The vet in Salt Lake asked me if I’d considered working with a trainer to help Rogue. I’m grateful that I have a vet who obviously realizes that Rogue’s issues need to be addressed by not only medication, but also through training. I wholeheartedly agree that behavior modification is vital. I would never think that medication alone is the answer. I feel very privileged that we found Dr. Overall through Leslie McDevitt and that she has given us protocols of behavioral modification to work through in addition to her recommendations for medication.

However, here’s my rant. I think I literally bristled a little when he made that comment. Long before I decided to go down this avenue of seeking anti-anxiety medication for Rogue, I had been working with her to modify her behavior. I thought that I’d explained what we’ve done with Rogue prior to coming to him. In fact, I think that anyone who knows Rogue…knows the amount of time and effort we’ve put into training. Granted, in hindsight not all the training that we did was helpful. In fact I think some backfired, but I did what I hoped would help. Bleh, I don’t know, it just struck me like he thought that I hadn’t tried any training before. Whatever, that’s my rant for the day!

So…here’s the latest. We’ll start her out adding 10 mg. of Amitriptyline once a day for 10 days and then go to 10 mg. twice daily. I’ll keep everyone posted if we see any changes. Keep hoping for the best… :-)

9 Comments »

Here’s hoping she benefits from the changes to her meds. She’s lucky to have you!

Dawns last blog post..We’ve got toys…wanna play?

Comment by Dawn — March 6, 2009 @ 2:24 am

You’re totally justified in your rant :) It’s ridiculous for the vet to think you wouldn’t have tried training first!!!

We agree with Dawn, Rogue is soooo lucky to have you! We’re crossing our paws/fingers that the change in medication does the trick.

Lovely photo of Rogue, by the way!

Comment by Ricky — March 6, 2009 @ 10:33 am

Thanks Ricky and Dawn! All the kind thoughts are much appreciated! :-)

Comment by Marie — March 6, 2009 @ 2:08 pm

Aahw, don’t take the vet’s question personal. There are many dog owners who are not thinking of the obvious. It must be frustrating. Hope the new meds addition will help.

Comment by Astrid — March 6, 2009 @ 11:57 pm

I’ll probably take a few days until you notice any changes. We’ll keep our paws crossed for him and hope that the change in medication will do the trick!

Josh and Jesss last blog post..Sunday afternoon walk

Comment by Josh and Jess — March 8, 2009 @ 4:54 pm

Vets probably aren’t used to people who actually train their dogs. there are so many people who are out there just looking for the quick fix. He should have remembered (or at least have it in his notes!)…..but I am not surprised that he forgot. I’ve told my vet 5 times that Marley isn’t playing flyball anymore but it seems sometimes she forgets that I stopped training with her.

Christys last blog post..Ammon’s first slumber party!

Comment by Christy — March 9, 2009 @ 2:10 pm

Hey Astrid,

I know I shouldn’t take it personally. Just frustrating that’s all. We’ve moved on. My husband has been joking about it ever since. Whenever one of the dogs does something (less than desireable), he’ll tell me that I should consider training my dogs. LOL Good to have a sense of humor!

Comment by Marie — March 9, 2009 @ 2:39 pm

Hi Josh and Jessie,

Yeah, we are going to give this dosage a month to see if we notice any changes, and if not, we’ll recalibrate after that. Thanks for the positive thoughts!

Comment by Marie — March 9, 2009 @ 2:40 pm

Hehe Christy,

Yeah, you’d think they’d have good notes, but then again, maybe not. The local vet down here sent me a bill for bloodwork on Rogue that they never even did. LOL

Comment by Marie — March 9, 2009 @ 2:43 pm

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