My dog gets anxious on car trips. Can I give him sleeping pills?

Hi there. You can try a natural calming supplement like Zylkene or Composure just before the trip, along with a DAP pheromone collar. If she gets extremely anxious and you think this might not be enough, I would suggest talking to your veterinarian about prescription anti-anxiety medication such as trazodone or clonazpam.

VetriScience Composure chews or liquid daily for at least a few days prior to your trip is effective in noticeably calming many patients. It contains natural ingredients including theanine and is available on chewy.com and PetCo.com. If you find that the Composure is not sufficiently relaxed with just Composure, I would schedule an appointment with your vet to make sure that Rexy is up to date on vaccines and flea/tick/heart worm prevention and to inquire about a sedative such as trazadone or prescription Xanax that your vet may be comfortable with for Rexy. If you are flying, definitely inquire with the airline about whether an official health certificate is required. Enjoy your vacation!

Benadryl is generally quite safe for dogs so it's unlikely that this would cause any harm; however, it rarely does much to help with anxiety in my experience. A better option would be to talk to your veterinarian about prescription anti-anxiety medication such as alprazolam or trazodone - these medications are much more effective for anxious pets, and can be used as-needed for car rides or other situations that may cause stress :)

There is a natural non-prescription daily supplement called VetriScience Composure chews (they have a liquid version as well) that is available on PetCo.com, chewy.com, and 1800petmeds. Many owners whose dogs previously had severe thunderstorm anxiety, separation anxiety, anxiety during car trips etc. have reported in reviews available on the product online that it has worked wonderfully without an excessive sedative effect that can be seen with certain other prescription medications. I recommend trying it in advance (30 min -1hr in advance) during instances where Finn is usually excitable, anxious or hyper. If it does not seem to work, there are other prescription sedatives that your vet may be willing to prescribe such as trazadone which can be used along with composure and which may not have the unexpected effect that Xanax had of causing hyperactivity. Good luck!

You can try a natural calming supplement like Composure Pro or Zylkene - both of these can be used on an "as needed" basis for stressful events like car trips. Spraying a blanket with DAP (dog appeasing pheromone) spray for them to sleep on in the car may also help. If they're still anxious, you can always talk to your vet about a stronger prescription medication such as alprazolam or trazodone to use on car rides.

Melanonin does not have sedating properties, so it will not help with anxiety. There are a number of natural supplements that may help with travel anxiety. You might consider VetriScience Composure. Be sure to try it before you travel to see how Bree does with it. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Several different drugs are available for this purpose. The drugs I use the most often for this sort of situation include trazodone, alprazolam (Xanax), and acepromazine. The last of these drugs will not provide any relief for anxiety for Muttley, instead it will simply tranquilize him. The other two will have both sedative and anti-anxiety activity. Discuss the situation with your veterinarian and determine which option you believe will be best. Hope this works out. If your pup is going to be travelling in the cabin, for the sake of the other passengers the use of the tranquilizer may be the best option.