Prozac for Cats

Edith_Bagot-Dix

Perhaps a bit weird, but I thought I'd ask.

My girlfriend and I have three cats. Two are neutered females that we adopted as kittens (not littermates though), the other is a neutered male that we rescued. Basically, one of of the females seems to be completely insane. As a kitten she was very gregarious and friendly, and she has gradually become more and more antisocial and aggressive over the past four years. It began with an aversion to strangers and graduated to full on aggression (blocking people and hissing and growling at them). She is a bit aggressive with the other cats but not too bad. The main issue right now is that, about a year and a half ago, she started "spritzing" certain places in the house with urine. This got worse last summer while my girlfriend was away for two months for work. She needed to do a similar rotation this year, and just returned from it. I have also been away (for the past seven months) so we had a friend checking on the cats daily. We also had my parents look after the male to reduce conflict. By all accounts the care the cats got was top notch. The cat in question has absolutely lost her mind, though. She has urinated all over the house, mostly in unusual places where she likes to nap (examples: top of the fridge, in a book case cubby hole). My girlfriend is barely able to handle her (cat growls and spits at her) and has taken her to the vet (only adding to the cat's anxiety, the vet said she was one of the most anxious cats she had ever seen) and received a prescription for anti-anxiety meds. We also keep feliway diffusers in the house. My girlfriend is at her wits end and is pretty broken up that this cat also seems to hate her now (the one saving grace is the cat has always been very sweet to her, and it is also her first pet, so she is pretty distraught about being rejected by it). I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this medication for cats and if there is any reason for hope.

Midshipman

I wish I had some actual advice to give you.

Hope this helps while waiting for someone to come along with the real thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Je1CEPkUM

Esh

Why don't you try giving it to the cat and see what happens? I don't think they'd prescribe it if they didn't think it might work.

Edith_Bagot-Dix

Esh wrote: »

Why don't you try giving it to the cat and see what happens? I don't think they'd prescribe it if they didn't think it might work.

Guess I should have elaborated - the cat is receiving it, but from what I understand from the vet, it's not an overnight thing. I guess I am just looking for a reason to be upbeat about it.

jedikuonji

Edith_Bagot-Dix wrote: »

Esh wrote: »

Why don't you try giving it to the cat and see what happens? I don't think they'd prescribe it if they didn't think it might work.

Guess I should have elaborated - the cat is receiving it, but from what I understand from the vet, it's not an overnight thing. I guess I am just looking for a reason to be upbeat about it.

My dad had a cat that needed kitty prozac. From what I recall the medication took the edge off and made the cat more mellow, but she never really returned to her "original" self. The medicated cat also developed issues with my dad's other cat and became aggressive towards my stepmom. The medication reduced the aggression but it never went away fully.

Sadly my parents ended up giving the cat up to another home but they've kept in touch and the cat seems to be doing well in her new house. I know that probably isn't the uplifiting story you are looking for, but I wanted to share my experience.

mts

our friend has both her cats on iit, for that very reason yours are on it

Feral

Edith_Bagot-Dix wrote: »

Esh wrote: »

Why don't you try giving it to the cat and see what happens? I don't think they'd prescribe it if they didn't think it might work.

Guess I should have elaborated - the cat is receiving it, but from what I understand from the vet, it's not an overnight thing. I guess I am just looking for a reason to be upbeat about it.

These drugs work in animals for mostly the same reason they work on humans. Cats and humans (and all vertebrates, really) have nervous systems that run on the same basic chemicals, so there's a lot of overlap between drugs that work on different species. (Note: don't take this as an excuse to feed your cat Tylenol - there are some things that are safe in humans that will kill a cat. Luckily, Prozac is not one of them. I know you know this, but it's H/A, so I just want to be safe.)

Keep in mind that psych meds are actually tested in animals (rats, usually) before they get to human clinical trials. Human trials are expensive and pharma companies only spend money on drugs that show desirable behavior changes in animals.

Just to echo jedi's post, they're not a magic bullet (nor are they a magic bullet in humans either) but they can help.

lessthanpi

My wife and I had a neurotic cat that ended up needing prozac for anxiety. Her problems were likely due to inbreeding. After about 2 weeks it made her tolerable enough that we were able to care for her until we could rehome her. It turned out more than anything she just needed more space.

Has the cat been checked for thyroid problems?

Edith_Bagot-Dix

lessthanpi wrote: »

My wife and I had a neurotic cat that ended up needing prozac for anxiety. Her problems were likely due to inbreeding. After about 2 weeks it made her tolerable enough that we were able to care for her until we could rehome her. It turned out more than anything she just needed more space.

Has the cat been checked for thyroid problems?

Yes, I believe that was one of the things the vet checked her for the last time she was in.

Magic Pink

We had a cat that was on Prozac but it really didn't do any good. She was more mellow but when she DID flip out it was far more extreme then normal, mainly because she would be surprised easier. She would even attack people. But that's just one instance; your cat could end up just fine.

witch_ie

It sounds like your cat is acting very territorial. Does she have a space that is just hers and no one else's? I know it can be hard to do that with multiple cats in the house. Whenever our female cat starts to feel anxious and territorial (we have a younger male cat who follows her around like a puppy), I shut myself in a room with her for maybe 2 hours and it helps her relax.

Edith_Bagot-Dix

Yes, we have an upstairs guest bedroom that is basically for her exclusive use (except when we have actual guests, maybe a dozen nights a year tops). My girlfriend has actually secluded her in there the past few days (since the trip to the vet) and has put a litter box, food and water in the room for her. The room also has a kneeling wall storage area (we refer to it as "Narnia" because she disappears in there), but my girlfriend has closed that off for now as the cat peed in there and it's extremely difficult to clean. Latest report is that the cat has been given the medication (the delay was mostly because the cat was completely crazy after returning from the vet, and my girlfriend didn't want to try to force it to take the pill and wind up pulling back a stump, and of course the cat wouldn't eat the pill even with a treat wrapper) and is hiding under the bed in her room.

Esh

They make these pill giving devices for cats and dogs. It's what's my vet uses when she has to dose my cats with something. Better than shoving your hand in their mouths.

Edith_Bagot-Dix

Esh wrote: »

They make these pill giving devices for cats and dogs. It's what's my vet uses when she has to dose my cats with something. Better than shoving your hand in their mouths.

I can't believe I had not heard of these before. I think this is something we'll be getting.

Orogogus

Pilling my cats is real hard even with the little plunger stick thingamabob. You have to keep the cat's mouth open and pointed in sort of the right direction, then you have to try to get the stick + pill aligned and in the mouth and depress the plunger while the cat is generally not co-operating. Plus if the cat is a contrary cuss he/she might still just spit the stupid pill back out.

I'm just saying, it's not magic. Doubtless much easier with a second person, though.

Esh

Edith_Bagot-Dix wrote: »

Esh wrote: »

They make these pill giving devices for cats and dogs. It's what's my vet uses when she has to dose my cats with something. Better than shoving your hand in their mouths.

I can't believe I had not heard of these before. I think this is something we'll be getting.

How often do you have to pill the cat?

Edith_Bagot-Dix

Esh wrote: »

Edith_Bagot-Dix wrote: »

Esh wrote: »

They make these pill giving devices for cats and dogs. It's what's my vet uses when she has to dose my cats with something. Better than shoving your hand in their mouths.

I can't believe I had not heard of these before. I think this is something we'll be getting.

How often do you have to pill the cat?

It is going to be daily for at least two months.

Rokimiss

I actually work at a veterinary pharmacy as a technician. We have liquid medications (so you just hold their mouths ope and squirt) ((though they often foam at the mouth from it, and the medications are NASTY)) And we also have a transdermal gel that you can just put in their ears on the skin. Roadrunner Pharmacy, if you're interested, we ship everywhere.

Esh

Rokimiss wrote: »

I actually work at a veterinary pharmacy as a technician. We have liquid medications (so you just hold their mouths ope and squirt) ((though they often foam at the mouth from it, and the medications are NASTY)) And we also have a transdermal gel that you can just put in their ears on the skin. Roadrunner Pharmacy, if you're interested, we ship everywhere.

They should probably go through their vet for their medications...

Rokimiss

Well, yes the vet would call us and give us the information, we can't just hand out medication without a prescription.