(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Top Comments: Sedation (Vet Version) Edition [1] ['View Profile', 'Lefty Coaster', 'Greg Dworkin'] Date: 2026-04-27 Today was a big day here at Casa Brillig. Our current pup, Simba, is a 4 year old Great Pyrenees/Pittie mix. He is 103lbs of the cuddliest, sweetest dog you could ever want to meet. He can be VERY exciteable when he’s meeting new people… or people he knows… or other dogs… but he truly is the goodest boy. However, he gets very anxious at the vet. Oh, he happily walks inside. Steps on the scale. Goes into an exam room, which we try to do immediately because if there are other dogs in the waiting room he wants to be a good friendly boy and go say hi and not every dog wants 100lbs of happy-to-see-you in their face at the vet! He’ll say hi to the vet tech and vet, take cookies and accepts pets. Nothing out of the ordinary here. But the moment he detects that the vibe has shifted to Vet Exam mode, he suddenly becomes a smol Chihuahua-sized dog hiding behind my legs and refusing to let anyone do anything. And unlike a smaller dog, if Simba does not want you drawing blood, you will not be drawing blood. To be clear, he isn’t aggressive or anything. He just makes clear he would prefer to be anywhere but there, and he’s large enough you can’t just pick him up or hold him still and do it. A year ago I took a wonderful online course on canine vet anxiety. Over the course of several months we learned about how our dogs respond at the vets, what works and what makes things worse, and about ways to make it all less stressful. For Simba, the biggest lessons I learned is that it is OK to say “My dog is never going to be comfortable being examined, can we use medication to make it less stressful”. So the last three times we’ve gone the anti-anxiety pre-meds route with a cocktail to make him less anxious a little loopy, and hopefully relaxed enough to allow an exam. Simba said Nope to all of that. Oh he gets loopy and dazed-eye looking, but the moment the Vet Portion begins he fights off the meds and tries to become invisible. So for this visit we tried another approach for the first time: Sedation. We used the usual premedication routine so he was as chill as possible. Full disclosure, it was a 6:30am dose so I’m a little tired myself right now! Then the vet tech took him to a back room (we thought he might be less stressed if he went for a walk with his now-favorite vet tech without me hovering) and gave him an intramuscular sedative injection (no vein needed, so they could do it with him awake) and he zonked out. Once he conked out (the vet tech said he laid down on her lap!) they did his well visit exam, cleaned his ears, trimmed his nails (he does NOT like his feet touched so while he was out cold, he got a nice pedicure!) and drew blood for a metabolic panel, heartworm and tick-borne disease check. When they were done, they reversed the sedation and after an hour I was able to take him home. Simba sleeping off the sedation When they brought him out, he was wobbly. Like leaving the party at 2am after drinking the bar dry wobbly. I am pretty sure in his canine brain he was smelling colors and hearing the taste of cheese. I carefully got him across the street and into the car, and got him home. Mr. Brillig helped get sleepy boy out of the car, up the stairs and into the house. He made it as far as the kitchen, looked aroung groggily, and fell asleep for an hour. He next spent the next hour or so outside soaking up the sun. I’m convinced the squirrels he loves to chase and has never caught could have snuggled next to him and he would not have moved. He then came in and shakily climbed onto his favorite raised bed. Where he Did. Not. Move for five hours. That blue blanket stayed exactly where it was from 2-7pm. It wasn’t until we were eating dinner that he roused and came in hoping for some dinner as well. As I draft this diary, he’s on the couch next to me, asleep again. I suspect he’ll be full of energy tomorrow, wondering about that weird day he had. I’ve been told that the sedation has a slight short-term memory affect, so that the experience doesn’t make them even more anxious at the vet. Later this week we’re gonna walk to the vet, go inside and get a cookie from the reception staff, and make sure he still likes to go visit. And thankfully, we don’t need another well visit for at least a year. So, how was your Monday? Come chat in the comments after we take a look at tonight’s Top Comments! 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