We need to talk about the latest fad in dog care: trazodone. First, the fine print:
I am not a veterinarian, and cannot treat or diagnose your dog. I am a dog trainer, with a background in dog grooming, and what is presented here is my opinion and observations, nothing more.
Trazodone was introduced in 1981 as an anti-depressant. It is a serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor (SARI). It has a sedative effect, as well, and is frequently prescribed off-label for insomnia. Over time, largely on account of the numerous serious side effects and better, safer medication becoming available, trazodone has fallen out of favor in the human medical field, and is now being largely marketed to the animal medical field.
In the last few years, I and my colleagues in the dog world have seen two things happening:
1. Veterinary medicine practices being bought up by hedge funds, investment firms, etc., and cranking up prices to turn greater profit.
2. Trazodone being prescribed for everything and anything, from behavioral problems to post-op sedation to dogs literally just being dogs.
Both points are extremely concerning to me. These companies have a serious interest in making you pay more for your dog’s medical care, and what easier way to do that than to start throwing lifetime prescriptions at everyone? Traz is cheap, $15-40 a month. But multiply that by ten, twenty, a hundred animals… That’s a no-effort, lifetime cash cow.
Back when I was in dog grooming, there was a similar trendy medication: acepromazine. Introduced in the 1950s as an antipsychotic with a strong sedative effect, it eventually fell largely out of use in humans… And was instead marketed to veterinarians. Sound familiar?
Problem is, sedatives don’t fix behavior, they just strip away the animal’s agency and communication. So dogs who hated nail trims would come in doped up, unable to communicate anything at all, and would be forced through nail trims, baths, blow drying, hair cuts… They don’t understand WHY they can’t communicate, they only know they can’t, and it freaked them out. So one of three things happened, and I assure you, all three did:
1. The dog would progressively become more fearful and panicky, and need to be doped up every single time they went to the groomer, or in more severe cases, anytime they got in a car at all.
2. The sedative would wear off prematurely, and the dog, being in a panic and previously unable to communicate their fear, would viciously attack the groomer.
3. The owner would forget to sedate the dog, and the dog, having experienced many extremely fearful grooming appointments, would maul the groomer.
I knew many, many groomers who ended up in the ER because of acepromazine. I also knew many groomers who had a dog die on the table from being sedated and in extreme distress, and couldn’t show any signs of medical distress on account of being sedated. Eventually, the industry, sick of being attacked by terrified dogs and having dogs die in our care, pushed back and said that we would absolutely not work with animals under sedation.
So there went sedatives for grooming, and things got better for a while. This takes us to the current problem: a new sedative on the market, that’s cheap and prescribed for everything, and we’re seeing the exact same problems, yet again. This time, I’m back on the training side of the pet care world, but it’s no better over here, either. Let’s talk about three cases I’ve worked recently, and the effects that this drug has had on real animals, who I personally have worked and seen the effects of traz on. All names are changed for privacy.
Let’s start with Scrappy. Scrappy is a very normal dog, relaxed and fun-loving. He is, however, terrified of storms. His vet prescribed him trazodone, not just for storms, but to take twice a day, every single day, for the rest of his life. Since starting on it, I’ve seen him go from a bouncy, happy little dude to a reserved, quiet, somewhat shy dog. His first time staying with me after he started on traz, I watched him repeatedly stare at the wall next to his kennel, growling at it for up to an hour. He looked terrified, wide-eyed and shivering. There was nothing there. Nothing hanging on it, no shadows or lights, not a cobweb or a dust bunny. Truly nothing. Invariably, this happened within an hour of him taking it, morning and evening.
One of the side effects of trazodone is hallucinations, and I have no doubt that that’s exactly what this dog was experiencing. I informed his owner, who gave me permission to not give it to him, and he has had no issues since. Interesting to note, a friend of mine who was prescribed traz many years ago for her own depression confirmed that she also had horrifying hallucinations while taking it, among other severe side effects.
Case two, an Australian Shepherd. “Gemma” is a typical Aussie: wicked smart, curious, and can be a little bit of a bully when her owner doesn’t keep consistent with the rules. After moving to a new home, Gemma was a little uncertain, sometimes pacing around and occasionally barking a bit. Her owner, worried the new neighbors would take issue with Gemma’s barking, consulted the veterinarian, who prescribed trazodone. Gemma became extremely anxious, pacing non-stop, barking for hours on end, and urinating herself repeatedly. When the owner took her off the medication, she went back to her old self, and worked through the process of adjusting to her new home as normal.
Third case: Bingo. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Bingo since he came home. He’s a great dog, friendly and up for absolutely anything his people ask of him. Bingo sustained a pretty nasty injury, and the veterinarian prescribed trazodone as a sedative to calm him while he recovered. Bingo began doing what I can only describe as sundowning: in the evenings, he would become antsy and aggressive, growling and snarling at his own family, something he had never done before. Eventually, he attacked his owner, tearing into their arm and sending them to the ER. After taking him off trazodone, he went back to normal.
These three are some of the more extreme but very clear examples of trazodone harming these animals. There have been countless more who have gone on it and had bizarre, unpredictable behavior, and even more who were put on it for no logical reason at all. One who is on such an extreme dose, she sleeps most of the day and is wildly out of control until her next high dose. One whose respiratory function was so impacted, he was only pulling three breaths a minute while at rest. Another who was unable to go for walks anymore because he kept falling over. Another who started attacking the walls of her kennel. Another who started ripping up baseboards. Another who flipped out and bit a neighbor. I could go on, but out of the dozens and dozens and dozens of dogs I’ve seen put on this garbage, I have yet to see a single dog whose quality of life is actually improved by it.
This is why everyone in the pet care world needs to stay in their lane, but cooperate with each other. Every single person I’ve worked with whose dog was put on trazodone, I have asked if their veterinarian even asked about training. The answer is, universally, no, training was not recommended. Dogs pulling on leash, barking inappropriately, jumping on guests… These are training problems, not medical problems. These are dogs who need teaching, not sedation. You can’t medicate away problematic behavior, you can only mask it temporarily. I wonder what happens to these dogs in ten years when their hearts can’t handle sedation anymore. How many dogs will die because of this “quick fix” trend?
It’s with all of this in mind that I am joining with the other dog groomers, trainers, and sitters who have already started pushing back, and instituting a new policy: I will not, under any circumstances, sedate an animal in my home, nor accept an animal for boarding who is expected to be sedated. Quite frankly, if your animal is truly too unstable to function without sedation, they are too unstable to stay in my home. If you’re using it to mask problems you don’t want to deal with, it’s time to stop putting a bandage over the problem and address it. I do not want the liability of a dog dying in my care, I do not want to try to care for and work with an animal who cannot communicate with me, and I do not want to be part of the problem. If that’s an issue, hey, you’re welcome to go elsewhere, there are plenty of people happy to take your money and don’t really care about your dog’s long-term health and stability. Quite bluntly, this industry is chock-full of them. But I can’t and won’t keep gambling until something goes horribly wrong. I genuinely do care about these dogs, and I take the responsibility of their care, as well as my own safety and the safety of my family, very seriously. Trazodone and other sedative medications have no place in my home.