Zylkene for fireworks?

[{97702}]

CC’s half-hearted attempts to acquire another dog have reminded me that poor little George is terrified of fireworks ??

My new local vets are suggesting Zylkene as a possible solution - has anyone used it for their dog & how did you find it? (I appreciate every dog is different & George might not react in the same way)

 

[Sandstone1]

Ive used it in the past. My old Gsd who is sadly no longer with us hated fireworks. It helped take the edge of her I think but certainly didnt solve the problem. Along with all the normal stuff ie curtains drawn tv turned up etc it helped but she was very scared of them. In later years she went deaf which I guess was a blessing in disguise.

 

[Bellasophia]

Sorry never used this one...with my previous poodle I used melatonin for the buildup period and Bach rescue remedy when things were full on...I’d say they helped but didn’t resolve her issues with fireworks.
We also turned up the household noise( tv etc) and kept the window shutters closed as early as possible.

 

[{97702}]

Hmmm I think that seems to be the same with anything I can find unfortunately, it just takes the edge off? I have a nice dark crate for him to hide in this year (or he can go under my duvet!) so I’ll do that/closed curtains/loud music or TV too....

Poor dogs, I do feel so sorry for them ?

 

[Parrotperson]

never worked for my JRT. we just warned the neighbours the telly would be extremely loud! that and a hideaway helped a lot.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I think Zylkene have definitely helped Blomma, during New Years Eves, but only if she gets it before she has gotten too stressed up. It doesn't make her not care at all, but it helps to keep her stress on a level she can cope with.
I think the leaflet recommends that you start giving the correct dose of pill/pills some days before the "big" day, and that is definitely something I also recommend that you do, if you decide to use them.

I also put on an Adaptil collar around 2 weeks before the big kaboom, but 2019 when I to be on the safe side wanted to buy some more, my veterinarian clinic had stopped selling Zylkene, and suggested a new, milder type of chewable treat/pill instead. I think my veterinarian clinic is great in all other ways, but thank God I did as usual, and started giving the replacement pill a few days early, because when there was a handful of early kabooms from people celebrating on beforehand, I could tell that the replacement was basically useless for this type of stress, and took out the can of Zylkene, and gave her of those the next day.
Have bought more Zylkene from a pharmacy for the upcoming New Years Eve.

ETA I spend my New Years Eve's listening to my Rammstein favourites on loud volume, + some type of DVD film on the TV.

 

[{97702}]

Thanks all that is really helpful - and good to know I can start it in advance FL, I agree that once the fireworks start it is too late to give the poor dog anything ? I suspect we will start getting random fireworks soon so I’ll ask my lovely super vet when I speak to him about Ace on Wednesday - he may well want to see the little fat terrier ? before he allows him to have anything, so we could do that Wednesday after work.

Hmmm, do hope I don’t have any meetings on Wednesday that will get in the way of my vet consultations ?

 

[FinnishLapphund]

I forgot to say that before the "worst" fireworks usually starts on New Years Eve's evening, I also gives my bitches lots of gnaw bones. Most times ending with me giving them a whole bull's penis each. Neither Jonna, nor Beata, can usually gnaw up their whole bull's penises, so when Blomma's is gone, she gnaws on theirs, too.
All this gnawing usually keeps them/her occupied for around 1 to 2 hours, and after that, Blomma (and the other two) is quite tired, which also helps her cope with the fireworks.

When I say a whole, I mean like the longest ones in this picture I found through Googling:

I also switch some of to their usual food to Hills w/d to prevent them from getting diarrhea from all the gnaw bones. I know it's not ideal to give them so much gnaw bones, that I need to give special food to keep their stomachs/intestines from also going "kaboom" on New Years Day, but as long as Blomma survives New Years Eve without dying of stress, I'm okay with it.

However, I just came to think about that I probably can't do the same as what I've done previous years, due to Jonna's old liver not working quite as well as before. She should now not eat too much animal protein, and I've switched a lot, but not all, of their gnaw bones to vegetarian ones.
And although Blomma happily eats them when there isn't any fireworks kaboom going on, they're clearly not as tempting as the real thing when I've put on the Fireworks DVD made for dog training, which I have.

Hm, I think I will try to start with the vegetarian bones, and then when Jonna is starting to reach the point where she doesn't want more, I'll switch to the other ones.


By the way, when it isn't New Years Eve, I've always used a garden shears/loppers to cut up Bull's penises to more suitable lengths.

 

[Karran]

Zlkyene didn't work for Mrs Spaniel, she'd never ever reacted to them before but last year she was a shakey mess This year I'm trying Yucalm and possibly invest in a thundershirt.

 

[{97702}]

Having looked online it seems that VioVet do their ‘own brand’ calmer which has excellent reviews, and appears to have the same active ingredients as YuCalm - I might try that!

The cost reduced significantly when I remembered that I was buying for the 8kg terrier not the 36kg greyhound.....

 

[Bellasophia]

Isn’t that the truth re reduced costs for tiny dogs...my mastiff cost me approx 500 pounds to spay ,all her meds were quadruple in price compared to my later (half her size )poodles and then my little schnauzer.
...food bills too ,were halved when I had two st poodles compared to my 52 kg mastiff.

 

[Mynstrel]

I've had varying results with our pack but worth a go, maybe with a calming coat in reserve in case you need more. I've used rescue remedy in their drinking water too and that seemed to help them not wind each other up.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

If you don't want to buy a Thundershirt, there is DIY versions. When it comes to dogs scared of fireworks, I'm firmly in the Use both belt and suspenders at the same time to keep your trousers up - group.

I gladly recommend both training with Fireworks DVDs before New Years Eve, making them tired by giving them gnaw bones or doing something else, give them calming pills daily some days before + on New Years Eve, use Adaptil collars and/or diffusers, put them in a blackened out crate, play music/TV loudly, and wrap them up in bandages/Thundershirts....

Maybe some dogs needs only one or two of those things to cope, but I wouldn't suggest that anyone with a dog scared of fireworks went through a few New Years Eves only trying one remedy at a time. No, it seems more sensible to me to use a combination of things, and hope that one or some of them helps.

I have the fortune of having a Summer cabin a bit away from the city, where I've been spending several New Years Eves in a row now. The cabin is quite small, so instead of a crate, I just try to blacken out the windows as much as possible.
Or well, it was fortunate, until my closest neighbour decided to develop an interest in having their own fireworks display. The way I threw my door up, and shouted like a mad fishmonger last year when I realised they let off their fireworks in the direction of my cabin/garden, when they have no close neighbours on the other three sides (!), I hope they've toned it down this year. Otherwise next year I might be looking at hotels offering soundproof rooms. (And it's not as if they didn't know I was there, we've told them I'm there every New Years Eve with my dogs + they saw me in the garden earlier on the day.)

By the way, have anyone mentioned putting cotton in the dogs ears yet? It's said to help with muffling the sounds, and I tried it one year, but my ability to make cotton earplugs for dogs that stays in the ear isn't the best.



Sorry for writing an essay, when all I planned to do was to share instructions for how to make a DIY Thundershirt. I copied the how to instructions from this page: https://www.k9ofmine.com/diy-thundershirt/

"The ace bandage technique is the most common DIY Thundershirt strategy you’ll see around the web. You don’t have to use a bandage though – a scarf works too!

This strategy comes from the TTouch Wrap technique and is used successfully by many owners to calm stressed-out canines.

1. Start by placing the middle of an ace bandage across your dog’s chest. The size of bandage you use will depend on your dog’s size – use narrow bandages for small dogs, and wide for large dogs.

2. Next, bring both ends of the bandage up and cross them over your dog’s shoulders. Cross the bandage of the top of your dog’s shoulder blades, then cross the loose ends of the bandage under your dog’s stomach.

3. Lastly, tie the loose ends over the top of the lower back, away from the spine. You want to aim for snug, but not constricting – the pressure should feel like a nice hug!"

 

[splashgirl45]

i tried a thundershirt for my lurcher, made no difference. i used zylkene and it was the only thing which stopped her pacing,whining and shaking. she still wasnt happy but laid on her bed looking worried. so it did have an impact but i made sure i gave it to her before dark as once she heard even one firework it then didnt work at all...i feel for you as its such a pain with fireworks being set of at all times...

 

[MurphysMinder]

I have used the bandage wrap as shown by FL for Pickle who is petrified of fireworks, and it did seem to help. Last year I put his equifleece coat on which is pretty snug so I hoped would have the same effect as a thundershirt and again it did help, though I still can't persuade him in the garden when there are fireworks going off.