Treating noise aversion and separation anxiety together

Noise aversion and separation anxiety are 2 canine behavior conditions with treatments that include individual drug therapies. The FDA recently approved tasipimidine oral solution (Tessie; Orion Corporation) as the first product approved by the agency for the treatment of both noise aversion and separation anxiety in dogs.¹

Christopher Pachel, DVM, DACVB, CABC, owner and lead clinician at Animal Behavior Clinic in Portland, Oregon, spoke with dvm360 about the benefits of having access to a drug that can treat both conditions simultaneously, as well as potential concerns and practical considerations for administering the therapy. In this video, the first in a series, Pachel describes how tasipimidine oral solution can be beneficial to dogs being treated for both noise aversion and separation anxiety.

The following is a transcript of the video:

dvm360: What is the value of a drug that treats both noise aversion and separation anxiety in dogs?

Christopher Pachel, DVM, DACVB, CABC: I love having an FDA-approved drug that is approved for both of those conditions for a couple of different reasons. No. 1: We often see these as comorbid or concurrently occurring conditions. It's not at all uncommon to see [that] dogs who struggle with some degree of separation anxiety or separation distress also struggle with noise aversion, so it's really helpful to know that we do have a medication that has FDA approval to treat both of those conditions. In addition, this particular balance of noise sensitivity or noise aversion, in combination with separation anxiety, [is] particularly challenging for those patients who might be actually making progress with their training and behavior modification.

But let's say we've been working on their noise phobia…. They happen to be home alone on garbage day, and we now get that sort of double whammy, [or] trigger stacking, that may set our progress back in both of those conditions. So knowing that we've got something that is providing therapeutic benefit for both of those conditions simultaneously will hopefully decrease some of that risk of recurrence or regression if we accidentally put that animal into an overthreshold situation.

RELATED ARTICLE: FDA approves first drug for both noise aversion and separation anxiety in dogs

Reference

FDA approves first drug to treat noise aversion and separation anxiety in dogs. News release. FDA. May 6, 2026. Accessed May 7, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/fda-approves-first-drug-treat-noise-aversion-and-separation-anxiety-dogs?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery