I've been in contact with the person who pulled Anaya from the shelter for me and she suggested I try something like tranquil tabs (never heard of them before). I told her I had rescue remedy and she said she'd never used it before, but she had heard good things about it.

She suggested that the tranquil tabs may help Anaya to settle down and de-stress a little, but I've never used it before (we actually just bought the rescue remedy for Buddy).

I'm definitely not trying to hide, or mask her problems, but if it helps to soothe her, I would think it would be worth it. Has anyone ever used either product before? Thoughts? TIA

Oops, sorry if this is not in the right section.

No help here, but someone was talking about Rescue Remedy awhile back. If you do a search you should find several post about the product you can read for now until someone who has used it come along.

It never hurts to try, but I never saw any improvement when I tried Rescue Remedy for Lilly at agility trials. I've also tried it and an all natural herbal "calming" product for my anxious dog, but didn't see much (any?) difference. RR is a safe product, and some folks swear by it, so I think trying it is worth a shot.

What has worked for KaeJae is Calmes Forte...it takes the edge off at night when he doesn't want to go to sleep. As far as calming herbs....often you need to try them individually to see which one works for you dog...my suggestions would be: hops, valerian, blue vervain to start with.

For those that have tried it and saw a difference, how was the actual difference? Was it remarkable? barely noticeable?

I may try it just to see. But I'll wait until after her consult tomorrow. I'll also look into the calming herbs, thanks!

Rescue Remedy does not calm KaeJae down. I don't use it for calming..I use it for recovery from surgery, injury, trauma. For calming, I find that with him, the Calmes Forte works at taking the edge off when he doesn't want to sleep at night. With Bandit, I found that liquid Valerian worked the best for him. Some dogs do better with a homeopathic like Calmes Forte or Rescue Remedy, others I have found do better with an herb like Valerian or Blue Vervain.

Valerian worked wonders for us when we were getting the dogs used to staying in hotel rooms. It really kind of chilled them out without making them seem drugged. We used it every time we would get to a hotel room, and after the first several times, they just sort of starting calming down on their own. I guess they started associating a hotel room with being chilled out. Now they seem to relax immediately without it when they get in a room. I've never been able to tell a huge difference with Rescue Remedy; but then again I only got to try it a few times before Ziggy the cat decided to paw the vial off the kitchen counter and shatter it on the floor. I sure could have used it myself at that point. Of course he had to break the expensive stuff!

Amy, what form does it come in? Like a pill or a powder? And what dosage? It's worth a try for times when Jack needs to take the edge off.

It comes in both capsule and liquid/dropper form. We used the liquid at first, because we could just squirt a 4-5 drops into Abby and Pepper's jaws (just pull out the little jaw fold and squirt it into that pocket), followed by yummy treats. It tastes nasty, so we had to be quick, but they would let us do it. Bodie was a different story. He would have nothing to do with the dropper and we caused more stress just trying to catch hime and dose him! So we switched to the capsules. I can't remember the exact recommended mg dosage, but it's something like a few mg/lb body weight--it came out to about one cap per dog, well hidden in something soft and yummy. It usually kicks in within a half hour--we still use it for nail dremeling day, particularly on a certain beagle who does not appreciate a pedicure. The V makes a huge difference!

Are there any side effects?

This is what I have on my website about it:

The Veterinary Botanical Medicine Association states the following:

"Stress: In laboratory stress tests, humans given valerian showed decreases in
heart rate and blood pressure. Cats given 10mg/kg valerian extract by gastric
lavage showed significant decreases in restless, fearful and aggressive behaviors.

Cardiovascular: Valerian has shown coronary vasodilating and antiarrhythmic
activity in laboratory rabbits and mice. In cats, intravenous valerian extract
significantly increased coronary blood flow while reducing heart rate and blood
pressure. No single chemical constituent has been shown to account for all of
Valerian's activity, therefore, herbalists believe that the clinical effects are due to synergy of all ingredients in the root."

The VBMA recommends the following:
Dried herb: 50 mg/lb BID
Dried concentrated extract: 2-3 mg/lb BID
Tincture: 1-2 drops/lb BID

Valerian can balance the nervous system and help calm a dog, yet cats are attracted to the scent, sniffing and rolling in it and enjoying a trance-like pleasure. The effect is short-term just like with catnip.

Dr. Pitcairn states in his book Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats p 184-186 “…It is my impression that many behavior problems have their roots in one or more of the following: poor nutrition and associated toxicity; inadequate exercise, insufficient psychological stimulation and attention; and the influence of the owner’s personality patterns, expectations or conditioning.” He recommends taking the hyper animal off of commercial pet food and any food that contains artificial preservatives and additives. He further suggests providing a vitamin supplement that is rich in vitamin B complex. He further suggests the addition of cod liver oil. He recommends the following herbs: Skullcap, Valerian, Chamomile, and Blue Vervain Dr. Pitcairn suggests a 7-day trial with a selected herb and look for a good response, if you don’t get one, try another until you find one that works for your individual dog.

Blue Vervain – Herbalists recommend it for balancing feelings of being driven or compulsive.

Valerian - Valerian root aids in relaxing the body and providing gentle sleep support.

Passion Flower - Has been used traditionally as a mild calmative. It supports the nervous system in a variety of ways. Many have found that it helps with relaxation of tense muscles.

Our dogs haven't experienced any ill effects. I seem to recall reading somewhere that like any sedative/calming agent, you wouldn't want to give valerian constantly over a long period of time. I think it can cause some stomach upset in higher doses too.

I did also read that it is like catnip to cats, and has totally the opposite effect on them! Keep kitteh out of the valerian!

I've used Rescue Remedy on Licorice for seperation anxiety and a few times to try and calm her down when she was very vocal in letting me know she didn't appreciate being locked in the dog run during our construction several months ago. It seemed to help, and didn't notice any side effects.

Jake is awful (thrashing around) when we try to clip his nails. The last groomer we went to suggested we have him sedated by a vet to do it. Would any of these things work for him? RR had no effect on Zoe.

It sounds like it's at least worth a shot, Stacy. I think I'm going to try some of the other methods suggested as well.

Nothing worked for KaeJae...he gets a magic pill from the vet and then I take him to the vet for her to trim his nails. He will nip if I touch his feet even just casually...major feet issues.

I've used rescue remedy with Ella, it did seem to help take the anxiety down just a notch when we lived in NYC, and everything she saw merited a freakout.

Another thought for Anaya could be a prescription drug that would help reduce anxiety, and possibly aggression. My mother gives her rescue Eskie dog Elavil (off label use), and it has been amazing for him. He had/has severe anxiety to the point where he chewed his nails bloody, aggression towards dogs in the house, dogs on walks, people entering the house, possesive aggression, territorial aggression. Total mess. In most situations, he was SO screwey and his threshhold was so low that it was almost impossible to even work with him since he was so aroused. With the drugs, she has been able to make significant progress--he hasn't had an 'incident' (dog or person bleeding from bite) in nearly 2 years (he's been on it about 2.5 yrs). The drugs go with behavior modification, and just like some people, I believe that some dogs are just chemically 'off', and these medications can be an amazing help. By no means a cure-all, but sometimes they can bring the aggression/anxiety/etc down to the level where you can make much better progress with behavioral stuff. Just a thought.

FYI, the Eskie is nearly 8, and has a major bite record with people in my family, family dogs, and foster dogs. He was biting so hard he was drawing blood (from us) before he was 6 months old. My mother put off trying drugs for years because she felt it was ridiculous to give them to dogs. Even with careful management, he was so aggressive in so many situations, and gave little/no warning, that it was basically the last thing to try before euthanizing him.