Elvis got his first 1/4 tablet of Valium at 10:30 this morning. I knew that when I cut his toenails it would send him into a panic, and if that didn't do it, doing Skeeter's would since he screams and howls like I'm amputating his toes.
Sure enough...Elvis went into a full blown panic complete with gasping, struggling, coughing and people avoidance. I had called the clinic to give them a heads up on what I was going to do, so they're alerted. Now I just have to watch and be sure he reacts OK to it. I figure the first 15 minutes to 1 hour is the usual time to watch for an allergic reaction to the medicine. After that, I will need to keep an eye on the sedation/breathing.
I did ask about having to follow up with a Torbutrol in case he ever gets into a situation where the Valium doesn't completely do the trick. In a normal dog, Valium lasts 2-4 hours...we're not sure about him, so if he got a Torb, it would only be after monitoring him for his sedation level. This is one of those things that's not cut and dried, but more of an eyeball test. Unfortunate, but pretty much what I suspected.
One thing...I was only able to do his front feet before his stress level went through the roof and the struggling became a real worry. So I stopped. I'll have to do his back feet later, and I suspect I'll wait until this weekend. I don't want to get him ramped up, give him a Valium to bring him down and then ramp him right back up and not be able to give him anything to settle him back down. So I suspect Sunday will be the next time I go for his feet (and I want to give him a Valium first and then give it an hour to work).
Plans here are all predicated on him tolerating the Valium without trouble.
I'll post later today after I see how he does over the next few hours. (Randall did just come in and tell me that the Valium has seemed to calm him down because he's now out in the basket rather than cowering under the desk like I know he would have been. That means it's taken the Valium about 15-20 minutes to start having an effect.)
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