? Anyone have cat with anxiety on Prozac or any med?

Looking for advice, my cat has been acting so different. Excessively grooming to the point he's bald in spots, becoming aggressive even. Took him off lantus and started levemir 3 days ago but he's still licking, scratching and being mean almost. I'm starting to lean more towards anxiety because of the aggression. His pupils will be dilated even during the day in light and he's crouched ready to like attack. Once when I was gone on a trip he went bald on his head from stress. If I leave for even a few hours he's all over me when I get home. Won't eat while I'm away either. I've always thought he was anxious. I know he was taken from his previous owner. I don't think it was good living conditions. I've had him almost 4 years but didn't catch on to anxiety signs til it got this bad. Just wondering if any of you had some of the same signs you dealt with? We are seeing the vet in a few days again. I'm needing more of my anxiety medication because of all this on top of his diabetes and me trying to manage my issues and my MS. I'm just a wreck lately

 

Might want to talk to @lizzie685 . New member with a kitty on Prozac and separation anxiety.

 

Yes! My cats are both on Prozac. Frankie, who is diabetic and has extreme separation anxiety, is on 1/2 tablet 1x a day, which is a pretty high dose for her size - she's about 11 lbs. Gazpacho, my other cat (similar size), is on 1/4 tablet 1x a day which is the usual starting dose, mostly to manage his aggression toward Frankie (he has been terrible toward her after she needed to be hospitalized due to complications of her diabetes caused by anxiety when I left home for a few days). I have noticed a change in Frankie since starting Prozac, though it unfortunately hasn't been sufficient to manage her separation anxiety - some of the posters here have had suggestions on additional strategies for managing that, so you may want to check out my post from last night. I have noticed Gazpacho is less aggressive toward Frankie as long as he takes his Prozac regularly, though it's not a perfect solution him either (fewer issues, but not completely resolved).

The Prozac tablets are incredibly easy to split (you can break them apart by just pressing them against a counter or cutting board), and you can break them into small pieces or crush and hide in wet food - they are chicken-flavored and chewable. Neither of my cats seem to notice them in their food. It's also pretty affordable, especially compared to insulin, so it is definitely worth a shot to see if it helps your kitty. It does take about 4 weeks plus to really see an effect, but per my vet many owners see some change after a week or two (I did with Frankie).

 

Peanut has separation anxiety and I used to medicate him but now he doesn't act out badly enough to require medication but when he did the vet that I had at the time prescribed him Amitriptyline

 

Prozac only really works if it's taken constantly. You have to build it up in the body over the course of at least 2 weeks before you'll see a full benefit from it and then you can't stop. It's not one of those meds that just works whenever you take it, it's an SSRI and I know them all too well... I have several T-shirts from my trips and I'm a pharmacy tech to top it off. But anyway that's why you're seeing less aggression in Gazpacho when he takes it regularly.

Constantly was probably the wrong word, I meant regularly as in every 24 hours

 

Yes, I'm aware. My background is in psych so I actually knew plenty about Prozac from the human perspective before either of my cats started taking it. The regularly reference was alluding to an incident where I had a hectic couple of days and forgot to put it in his food 2 days in a row, and actually noticed a bit of a surge in aggression afterwards, even after a lapse of only a couple of days. He is otherwise taking it every day, and so is Frankie.

 

oh okay, I'm sorry I didn't mean to come off as a know it all I just thought that you didn't understand the SSRI and how it worked. I can believe you when you say that you saw a difference even in just a few days, I ran out of my Zoloft for a few days and I thought I was going to die. I had actual pain inside my head and there was a zapping pain behind my eyeballs when I tried to look around, it was awful.

 

Oh, not at all! You were just being helpful. Side note, because of my psych background, it slightly baffles me that Prozac works to combat aggression, because increased serotonin levels are often linked to *increased* aggression - at least in humans (which, if I remember correctly from the last time I studied this which was admittedly a long time ago, is part of the reason why there can be an increased risk of suicide after someone who is depressed starts taking an SSRI - they start feeling better emotionally, but are also more likely to act on suicidal thoughts). I need to do my research on that one because it bothers me that I don't fully get *why* it works, but it does seem to work! Let me know if you already know the answer to that little mystery. I'm sure there's an obvious neurological explanation that just hasn't occurred to me.

 

Hmm, actually I googled and it looks like I'm just remembering wrong anyway. Some indications of higher serotonin levels early in life being linked to aggressive behavior, but the suicide link might actually be related to LOW serotonin levels - so the increased suicide risk when people start "feeling better" seems like it must be due to something else. Time to brush up on my neuropsych, it seems!

 

That is not a specific dosage since Prozac (Generic fluoxetine) since it is available in 10, 20, and 40 mg tablets.
My Thunder was on fluoxetine ( 1/2 of 10 mg tablet once daily) for aggression.
Fluoxetine is on many store's, like Target's, $4 prescription list

 

I'm a psych major too and that one kind of baffles me too. I think of the way that MDMA works and then I get it confused.

 

My vet gave me amitriptyline today for my boy. Did it effect your kitties numbers at all?

 

no it didn't and I gave it in a liquid form. I'm not sure if it contains sugar and I often wondered if it did. If you really want to make sure then you can send an email to the manufacturer and ask them, just tell them about your situation and they will usually reply and answer your question. If you're giving it in a pill form then I wouldn't worry about it at all. The medication also causes a sleepy effect so your kitty will seem much calmer, not to worry.

 

I was prescribed amitriptyline for migraines which never helped. I'm more interested in Frankie's separation anxiety. We had a Border Collie who was the Guardian Angel to nine cats, knew some basic sign language and walked without a leash for 12 years. With that kind of intelligence comes problems and Hannah was a bit neurotic but had separation anxiety you had to see to believe. We're getting another Collie, I know we should rescue but we've done our part with cats, and I don't want to face the same problems again. We also had to give her Valium for thunder and fireworks. Lizzie, how long has Frankie been on Prozac and are you considering upping the dose.
I know it's foolish to think you'll get the same dog or cat twice in a lifetime but this is why we miss her so much.

 

Thank you so much. I have it in pill form for him. He's also new to levemir now. For the first 6 days he's getting 5mg then going up to the full dose of 10mg. Today is day 5 of the amitriptyline. It does seem to be making him a tad sleepy but I suppose he will adjust like people do. I've been on a slew of these meds. So far numbers seem ok with it. I'm really hoping it helps his issues.

 

My cat has separation anxiety and just all out anxiety in general. I've had him 4 years already but he was removed from his prior home, the rescue would only say it was a bad situation so I think he may have been abused. He trusts me, but still gets jumpy at sudden movements. He overgrooms now that untrained noisy dogs are a few doors down. And screaming neighbors. Management is trying to help but I'm guessing it takes him back to a scary place. I feel so bad for him.

 

I gave it to Peanut with the purpose of knocking him out lol. That might seem cruel but I was about to have to give him up for adoption and I even went as far as asking the vet to take out his "meower". It was about 2 years into having him (I adopted him from someone else). He would pace through the apartment at all hours of the day AND night and just yowl and mew then moo and whatever other noise he could make. It was non stop, I was in college, and I got zero sleep because of it. The vet said that he was healthy, nothing was wrong with him. When he made these noises, there was nothing that I could do to make him stop and it was an endless cycle day in (and night) and day out. When I left, he would freak and panic then when I would come home, he would be hoarse and sound really bad. I wanted to give him Valium but the vet said no and the Amitriptyline was the first thing that we tried, luckily it worked. I could hold him while he was sleepy and just let him rest and over a course of a few months he outgrew the behavior and we stopped giving the med to him. He occasionally will act up now and mew but I can just hold him and he'll calm down. Best of luck using it with your kitty.

 

Thank you so much. I'm just hoping it doesn't effect his numbers. Today is only day 6. Tomorrow we go up to full dose of 10mg (he's a bigger kitty). I'm praying it helps.

 

Does it effect their BG numbers?

 

It never effected my cat's BG at all and he was on 10mg of liquid special fish flavored if that helps.

 

It started effecting Goudas so now we are going to try Prozac. He will start that on Friday.