LDH internal tool
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← LDH Veterinary Decision Support
Dosing, recheck and weaning support for LDH North Melbourne and Cranbourne. Implements the SOP Shelter Stress Management – Dogs v1.2 — see what changed. For veterinary use only. Tool version 1.2.
Animal attendants: check the Before You Flag guide first — environment, pain and enrichment checks, plus a note for the vet team.
Tick the signs the dog is showing, choose the drug, and the tool gives the dose, the tablet breakdown and a note you can paste into Teams or Sheltermate.
Reassess every 48 to 72 hours until the signs settle, then weekly. Check in between 10am and 3pm so short-acting medications are onboard. Review the FAS scores on the medication sheet, the daily observation notes, and talk to the attendants.
Talk to an animal attendant for context and updates first — is the shelter stress excessive and constant, or only situational (e.g. during feeding or cleaning time)? Then stand at the FOP for 30 to 60 seconds, charting the behaviour signs, before ticking off below.
Less than 14 days, stop at exit and dispense nothing. 14 to 28 days, wean over 2 weeks: for clonidine and pregabalin that's a single 50% reduction; for trazodone and gabapentin it's mg/kg-gated, in 5-day steps (see below). More than 28 days, the tool builds a 4-week achievable ladder from the strengths LDH stocks, then writes the labels and the waiver text.
Trazodone and gabapentin over 14 to 28 days step down every 5 days, gated on mg/kg (see below); everything else steps weekly, 7 days per step. Override any step from the dropdown if clinical judgement calls for a different amount — the labels, quantities and waiver text all recalculate.
One label per drug strength. A strength used across several weeks stays on a single label; a change of strength starts a new one.
Who does what: behaviour vets advise on case management; shelter vets follow this procedure and escalate concerns; behaviour trainers and animal attendants flag dogs and help monitor.
Fear or shut-down signs point to trazodone first line; arousal or reactive signs point to clonidine first line.
Concerned about progress? Liaise with the behaviour department or behaviour veterinarian in the Shelter Stress Cases chat on Teams.
Trazodone is a serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor. If the dog is already on another serotonergic medication, do not exceed 7 mg/kg PO BID and contact the behaviour department and behaviour veterinarian for case management advice — email the behaviour department if guidance is required.
Dogs admitted already on behaviour medication are the usual source. Those cases go to the behaviour department anyway.
Serotonin syndrome almost always shows multiple signs across different body systems at once. Arousal is behavioural only — a dog that is pacing, vocalising, jumping and panting, but whose muscles and gait are normal, is not showing serotonin syndrome.
The Customer Experience or Pathways team flags the dog for a vet discussion at the point of exit.
This tool follows SOP v1.2. If you learned the protocol under an earlier version, these are the changes.
| Topic | SOP v1.1 | SOP v1.2 and this tool |
|---|---|---|
| First-line drug | Trazodone first line for every dog, regardless of size or presentation | Branches at first presentation: fear or shut-down starts trazodone, aroused or reactive starts clonidine — same starting doses as before |
| Second line, at the ceiling or ineffective | One add-on chosen on the presenting signs: clonidine for arousal, pregabalin for fear | Branch-paired: fear branch adds clonidine; arousal branch adds trazodone, or pregabalin if trazodone isn't suitable. If ineffective below the ceiling, the paired drug can be trialled immediately rather than waiting to reach it — keeping the current drug and increasing it by 25% is also always an option |
| Partial response | Not specified separately from ineffective — both simply titrated the current drug by 25% | Increase the current drug by 25%, as before. Pregabalin can now also be offered as an adjunct on a partial response, in either branch |
| Clonidine strengths | 100 mcg, 150 mcg and 1200 mcg tablets offered to every dog | 1200 mcg compounded tablet only from 10 kg up. Under 10 kg, 100 mcg and 150 mcg tablets stay available |
| Dose selection | A "dose actually given" dropdown let the vet override to any achievable tablet combination | Dropdown removed — the calculated nearest achievable dose is used directly |
| Serotonergic screening | Generic drug-class list | Named examples added (fluoxetine, paroxetine, venlafaxine); email the behaviour department if guidance is required |
| Court hold | Listed alongside the other diversion checks | Called out as a standout requirement: approval by local government before commencing medication, refer to the behaviour department |
| Recheck signs | Not recorded at recheck, only at the start | Fear, arousal and improved signs can be ticked at each recheck, with a prompt to check in with an animal attendant first and chart for 30–60 seconds at the FOP |