Valium + Eli = Energizer Bunny

We were about to leave the house last night pick up a delicious dinner of Subway and Starbucks, when we glanced out the window and saw flashes of lightning over the Strip.  A few moments later we heard rumblings of thunder, and that was the end of our dinner plans.  Eli is such a nervous wreck when it comes to thunder that she can’t stay home alone, and Nancy didn’t feel like going out by herself, so instead we had frozen pizza and salad.  Eli had 30 mg of Valium in an attempt to calm her reaction to the impending storm.  She developed her fear of fireworks and thunder just a few years ago, and it seems to worsen with every passing year.  We tried acepromazine first, but just ended up with a stoned-yet-frightened dog—her eyes would get all red and bleary, as if she’d consumed a bottle of Thunderbird directly from the paperbag.  The vet then let us try Valium, and while it still doesn’t eliminate her fear of loud noises, it does help her control her bladder when stressed and that’s worth a lot.  Dogs can apparently withstand HUGE amounts of Valium.  If you consider that the largest pill made for people is 10mg (they also make 2mg and 5mg tablets), it’s amazing that 100 lb. Eli is prescribed 30mg for her anxiety.  Her dose can go as high as 80mg, but we’ve found that 20mg seems to be the best mix of “a bit groggy and doesn’t pee on the floor”.  I don’t know what I was thinking last night though, because I gave her 30mg, and was soon reminded that Valium turns Eli into an over-tired child.  Even if you don’t have kids of your own, I’m sure you’ve known kids who are exhausted, yet try to avoid going to bed by running around the house and acting like idiots.  That’s Eli on Valium.  She paces, she whines, she fusses, she bugs the cats, and does everything she can to avoid quietly resting (she does it all while drunkenly wobbling).  When she finally does put her head down, just like an over-tired kid, she crashes and sleeps for hours without moving.  It took an eternity for her to fall asleep last night, and the irony is that we didn’t even end up having a major thunderstorm.  There were two little rumbles that Eli didn’t even notice, and then the clouds moved on to someplace else.  She got her pills around 7pm, and was still poking at the cats at 3am.

Speaking of drunken wobbling, I wanted to mention a delicious little thing I found at the grocery store in the booze section: E & J Cask & Cream Caramel Temptation .  I don’t even like alcohol very much, except for the few times a year I indulge in some holiday Irish Cream or eggnog (or perhaps some really cheap wine), but this Caramel Tempation stuff is pretty darn tasty.  The make a Chocolate Tempation, too, and I want to look for that in the store—I need a small bottle, though, because large bottles just end up being wasted.  We bought Ouzo about 5 years ago for New Year’s Eve, and the bottle gets opened exactly once a year—New Year’s Eve—and about half an inch is consumed.  All things considered, we’d just rather have a Chantico.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 02/26 at 01:07 PM

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