Mirtazapine

The vet presribed Mirtazapine for Logan today. We haven't given it to him yet - we were waiting to see if the anti-nausea medication helped improve his appetite.

Does anyone know how long it takes to take effect? Anyone have any negative experiences with it?

 

It usually works in an hour or so. Avery few cats have a bad reaction to it and surprisingly, the antidote is the other appetite stimulant cyproheptadine which is an antihistamine too. Mirtazapine also has anti-nausea properties.

 

I do believe it can make them very vocal too. Works pretty fast, as Larry said, but don't be worried if your kitty suddenly starts talking a lot while on it!

 

starts acting on cleo in 23-25 minutes. she gets VERY vocal and happy, leaning on me like a drunken sailor.
she also gets very ravenous on it. extreme hunger lasts about 2 days.

after a few months on it, tho, her hunger still seems great on mirtz but she's starting to get fussy about what food she eats.

from my experience now, i think if you give it every 72 hrs religiously eventually it doesn't work as well. seems to work better to drive hunger/eating for cleo if she gets it every 4 days or longer instead. but at least in the beginning every 72 hrs worked well.

 

It made my Shiloh very restless and unsettled. He meowed constantly. It just didn't work very well. Donna

 

It worked great for Porky. When he came home from the vet after a bout of pancreatitis, he still wasn't that interested in food, but the mirtazapine gave him the munchies, which lasted for a day or two. He also got a little more vocal - but he likes to talk a lot, anyway!

 

When I gave it to Beeker, he didn't get a lot more vocal, but it kept him awake. I swear he didn't sleep for 2 days straight! When we need one we stick to cypro now because it just seems to work better for us, but lots of people in the lantus forum swear by it. It does seem to take effect in less than an hour. Try it and if it doesn't work you can always ask your vet to try cypro instead, but as was mentioned above they counteract each other so cypro can't be given until 72 hours after the mirtz was given. I hope it works for you. We worry so much when they're not eating.

 

Spader was on it for a bit. It worked pretty quickly, but made him a bit vocal and restless.

He also had good luck with cypro. We only switched to the mirtazapine at the end when he was on other meds that would have caused a reaction with the cypro.

 

Skipper, who is usually very polite, turned into a very loud, demanding drunk the one time that I gave her mirtazapine.
ECID and it apparently works well for many cats.