Today's Veterinary Practice

MAY-JUN 2017

Today's Veterinary Practice provides comprehensive information to keep every small animal practitioner up to date on companion animal medicine and surgery as well as practice building and management.

Issue link: http://todaysveterinarypractice.epubxp.com/i/815220

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 101 of 113

98 FOCUS ON PHARMACOLOGY PEER REVIEWED affecting salivation we may affect related regions of the amygdala associated with distress. 7 Medications commonly used to treat fears, anxieties, and aggression in dogs are listed in Table 1 . Many other medications used to treat some aspect of behavioral abnormalities are beyond the scope of this article and so are not discussed here (but see Overall 2013 5 ). Table 1 compares many of these medications, by class, with respect to their effects on noradrenaline/norepinephrine (NA/NE) and serotonin (5-HT) receptors and sedation and anticholinergic effects. Table 2 indicates the relative effects of these medications on receptor classes. CONSIDERING RISK FACTORS Because so many behavioral conditions are comorbid or have wildly different behavioral presentations within a diagnosis (eg, dogs with noise phobia can freeze and hide or may run and destroy in panic), the best approach is probably one that allows combination of medications to address the neurochemical profile of the behavioral abnormality but minimizes somatic risk. Box 3 provides a general model for such an approach. • Urination • Defecation • Anal sac expression • Panting • Increased respiration and heart rates • Trembling/shaking • Muscle rigidity (usually with tremors) • Lip licking • Nose licking • Grimace (retraction of lips) • Head shaking • Smacking or popping lips/jaws together • Salivation/hypersalivation • Vocalization (excessive and/or out of context); often frequent repetitive sounds (including high-pitched whines, like those associated with isolation) • Yawning • Immobility/freezing or profoundly decreased activity • Pacing and profoundly increased activity • Hiding or hiding attempts • Escaping or escape attempts • Body language of social disengagement (turning head or body away from signaler) • Lowering of head and neck • Inability to meet a direct gaze • Staring at some middle distance • Body posture lower (in fear, the body is extremely lowered and tail tucked) • Ears lowered and possibly droopy because of changes in facial muscle tone • Mydriasis • Scanning • Hypervigilance/hyperalertness (may be noticed only when dog or cat is touched or interrupted; animal may hyperreact to stimuli that otherwise would not elicit this reaction) • Shifting legs • Lifting paw in an intention movement • Increased closeness to preferred associates • Decreased closeness to preferred associates • Profound alterations in eating and drinking (acute stress is usually associated with decreases in appetite and thirst; chronic stress is often associated with increases) • Increased grooming, possibly with self-mutilation • Decreased grooming • Possible appearance of ritualized or repetitive activities • Changes in other behaviors, including increased reactivity and increased aggressiveness (may be nonspecific) BOX 2. Common Nonspecific Signs of Anxiety 5

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Today's Veterinary Practice - MAY-JUN 2017