What can you use to safely sedate your dog before grooming?

Answer 1

If your dog needs sedation to be groomed, you should make an appointment with your veterinarian to examine the underlying cause - is the grooming facility or handling by the grooming staff causing anxiety? Does your dog have separation anxiety? Does your dog have an underlying metabolic disturbance that is exacerbated by the stress of grooming? If the problem appears to be a learned behavioral problem (associated fear/anxiety/aggression), a veterinary behaviorist or certified dog trainer may be able to help. Be warned - retraining a dog to overcome the learned fear/aggression is a very long process and may take a year or longer. You will need to work with a veterinarian for grooming needs during this process - your veterinarian is not a groomer but he/she should be willing to trim down a dog's nails or hair coat under sedation when it is a temporary resolution.

Your dog should not be under chemical sedation without a veterinarian being on site at the grooming facility - a veterinarian needs to be available in case there is an unusual reaction or the sedation needs to be reversed.

Answer 2

At home, there is nothing you should give your dog to try to sedate him - dogs react very differently to human medications and drugs (including alcohol) and you could easily give him a toxic or lethal dose.

Veterinarians have access to several different methods to sedate animals, most of which are controlled substance drugs that are regulated by the DEA.

Answer 3

You really need to talk with your veterinarian and your groomer about this. In some dogs, Benadryl can have the side effect of causing drowsiness or sleepiness, but it isn't a true sedation; Benadryl is actually an anti-histamine that dampens down allergic reactions.

Your veterinarian can talk with you about the different true sedations available (all of which require a veterinarian prescription, incidentally) as well as the potential problems with administering it to your dog. Your groomer needs to be in the conversation as well, particularly if the grooming site does not have a veterinary clinic on site or at hand to deal with any potential side effects (such as a bad slide from sedated to aware).

A better long-term option is to work with your dog and a professional trainer who has experience desensitizing dogs to acclimate your dog to the grooming location and process. You may also want to check out a different groomer and see if your dog has as bad a time there as he did at the last place.

Answer 4

Your Vet can give you several medications that are not too expensive to calm your dog.

We use Clomacalm for our dogs whenever there is going to be fireworks as they go nuts when they start exploding. The effects last about 12 hours and just makes then docile and sleepy. Do not try to give your pet human sedation as it is very easy to harm animals with human meds.

Answer 5

Maybe you chose the wrong wording, but definitely do NOT tranquilize your dog. Tranquilizing is used for wild animals in situations where you can do nothing else but that. I would recommend asking your dog's veterinarian if they offer a grooming service. And if your dog is really that vicious when confronted, you should once again seek a vet and see what's causing your dog's strange behaviors.

the vet can offer a tranquilizer or something to make your dog drouzy if he is unable to be groomed. but you should be very careful these can come with health issues they are a last resort. most salons WILL NOT groom a dog that is completely knocked out.

Answer 6

If a pet is found to be too difficult or aggressive to groom by a groomer, they usually will sedate the pet with the watchful eye of a vet or vet tech. If your pet does require sedation to be groomed, talk with your vet as they usually have a groomer they call upon who will groom your pet (dog or cat) whilst it is sedated.

Never trust a groomer who will sedate your pet outside of a vet clinic.

Answer 7

A scheduled visit to a vet is the only thing I'd recommend for sedating a dog. This is not safe stuff to experiment and improvise with.

Answer 8

This depends on the age, size, temperament and general state of health of your cat. Ask your veterinary. She or he will prescribe the right medication.

Answer 9

Give him/her an Aspirin. One regular or two baby.Do not use Tylenol!!!!