Kitty Prozac?

[sarasansh]

Is anyone else's cat medicated? We have two cats. One is a cat. The other is a ball of anxiety and piss disguised as a cat. EVERYTHING freaks him out, and when he gets freaked out, he pees. We're at the end of our rope with him--the other day my purse (my Coach purse) fell off the hook and scared him, so he peed on it. We can't leave bags on the ground because they scare him and he pees on them. We bought Robin a balloon the other day and it scared him so he peed. I should buy stock in Nature's Miracle at this point.

We've already tried more litter boxes, different litter boxes, different litter, less litter boxes, litter boxes in different places, different foods, the plug-in pheromone things (Feliway?) and had him checked for illness/UI. So really he's just an asshole.

MH wants to get rid of him but I just can't. But I can't live in a pee house anymore either. Does anyone have experience with medicating their cat? Am I just doomed to live in pee?

[pegleg715]

It was suggested to my parents for one of their cats. But he was like 17 with cancer. So they didn't do it and waited it out.
We medicate my dog. And she's the second one I've had to use Prozac for (of roughly 15 so not bad odds) and it helped enormously. I figure it can't hurt.

[jfresh]

I don't have experience with cats but at work I do have a lot of cats and dogs on meds like that, so it's fairly common.

[somethingcleverer]

Feb 16, 2015 10:40:47 GMT -5 jfresh said:

I don't have experience with cats but at work I do have a lot of cats and dogs on meds like that, so it's fairly common.

I was going to say the same thing. I think it would be worth it to try the medication.

[trixi282]

Similar to Peg, I don't have experience with cats, but my sisters dog is/was on anxiety meds.

Definitely worth a chat with your vet and a try with the meds!

[heatherbee]

No personal experience, but I know it was helpful for a friend's cat. My dog was prescribed Zanax(sp?) for her fear of thunder, but I haven't tried it yet.

[nursedesi]

I did because we had a cat that was frequently peeing in laundry baskets and increasing the litter boxes didnt help. The prozac made her anxiety worse because we had to hold her down to give it. So she ended up hiding under the bed most of the time. So for us it didnt help or fix the problem, just created its own problem. We just got to the point where we couldnt leave the laundry baskets to wjere she could get to them. I hope you have a better experience with it.

[vanessalc]

Prozac MIGHT be helpful. It usually takes 4-6 weeks to see any changes, so don't expect immediate relief. If you have any compounding pharmacies around, you can get the meds in a flavored treat. Also, "Pill Pockets" can make a HUGE difference.
Has he always been like this? Any new cats in the neighborhood?

Also worth noting, Alprazolam can also be used in cats at a VERY low dose (0.125 mg/kg) (Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook). I have never seen a cat on alprazolam, not sure if it is a cost issue, or an efficacy issue, or a dose logistics issue(that's my bet), but could be worth a shot if Prozac doesn't work.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this issue.