Anxious dogs overwhelm Calgary shelters as they face medication shortage
Anxious and stressed-out dogs continue to be surrendered in large numbers, and Calgary shelters are doing their best to keep up despite mounting challenges.
One of these challenges is a shortage of medication typically used to help treat anxiety and behaviour issues in dogs.
Lisa Olund is the Associate Director of Health Services at the Calgary Humane Society and says the drug Trazadone is used to treat both animals and humans for mood disorders.
“It’s a drug that we use to treat anxiety and stress in dogs, but it can help with other behaviour issues like separation anxiety, barking and howling.”
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She says many Calgary shelters and community vets rely on the medication for many key reasons, including coping with post-pandemic-related behavioural issues.
“People wanted pets, they were working from home, they weren’t socializing, so people got dogs. Now that people are going back to normal life, the dogs are not well socialized; they are not used to being around other people and other dogs,” says Olund.
Shelters are now seeing more of these behaviourally challenged dogs, as owners have surrendered them to their care. The typical protocol is to put dogs on Trazadone to help ease them into the shelter, which is often a scary environment for dogs because it is full of other animals and unfamiliar.
To cope with the shortage, the Calgary Humane Society has had to strategically use the medication by being careful about which animals they prescribe it to.
Olund says shelters have been over capacity for around four months, and one of the best ways to help Calgary shelters and the anxious dogs (and other animals in their care) during this challenging time is to donate and foster.
“Fostering helps with the anxiety; it gets them out of the shelter and into the homes.”
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