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Hi, I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with giving their cat the drug Clomicalm? I'm about to give it to our cat who is overgrooming. It is believed by the vet that he suffers from Psychogenic Alopecia. My main concern is that because it is like Prozac that it might alter his personality. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks! :)
I believe Medusa or Catty1 uses this. You might want to PM them or search it on the threads lists.
Yes, I tried this on Storm because he began peeing due to stress and he was also becoming aggressive towards some of my other cats. It made him very tired the first few days. It stopped his inappropiate peeing but it did change his personality.
Later on it didn't seem to help with his aggressiveness so I weaned him off of it and now he's on Calm Spirit Tea Pills which are an herbal supplement and they're helping him a lot without changing his personality. I know that every cat is different so I hope that this will help your cat. Good luck.:)
Medusa uses Clomicalm and swears by it. I use Feliway on Oscar's collar to prevent a recurrence of idiopathic cystitis, which was caused by good stress!
Thanks for the responses. I went through some of the past threads and I think I'm not going to go the Clomicalm route. The Calm Spirit Tea pills sound like a good alternative. Do these come from a holistic vet or from the health food store? I'm not sure if we have this in Canada but I'll look into it. Paddy is so sweet and neat and interesting, I would hate myself if I gave him something that might take any of that away. I'm wondering using a multiple product approach would work. I could keep the Feliway plugged in and keep giving Rescue Remedy and try to find the Calm Spirit pills. (I should probably make sure I can give both the calm spirit pills and rescue remedy at the same time). At the very least, it should help with the new aggression towards our female cat. He sets his sights on her and his pupils get huge and then she starts growling at him and then he chases her and he then sits under wherever she has climbed to safety and he 'waits'. As soon as I noticed this going on (started yesterday) I separated them for a time. Not sure what is going on there.
Does anyone give rescue remedy mixed in wet food? I know alot of people put it in water but I have multiple water bowls around and he and the other cats drink from all of them.
Feliway is something I like because it is made from the facial pheromones of a cat. When your kitty rubs his/her head against you or something s/he likes, they are giving off that pheromone.
It is supposed to be 1 - 3 single shots a day for Oscar. It also has to 'soak in' to him for about 4 hours. Oscar doesn't STAY in any one area for 4 hours!
So what I did - and my vet loved it - was to get him a stretchy adjustable collar(any collar is ok if he won't choke on it), and put a squirt of Feliway right into the collar! (Shake bottle first, and don't spray on skin or fur).
If it's just the one cat that is aggressive, this might be a more economical way to go. Feliway can be up to $70 for a wee bottle - but it lasts MONTHS! :)
Maybe just keep it simple for now with that, and take it from there.
I hope Paddy might settle down on his own soon...double check with a vet.
Oh - and Feliway has not changed Oscar...he is still Mommy's boy! :D
I took Storm to holistic vet and she prescribed them but you can also buy them online here. It did take about 1 month before I noticed an improvement with his aggressiveness. He takes 1 pill 2 times a day and I put them in pill pockets so he thinks that he's getting a treat.:) He goes back to see the holistic vet in Feb. and then he'll probably only need to take 1 pill a day and then later on he may only need 1 pill a few days each week. Good luck.
I've also been using the feliway plugins but now I'm trying Pet Ease Plus by Nutri-Vet and you can buy it at Petsmart. It's a little bit cheaper than Feliway and it has St. John's Wart, Valerian Root, and Lavendar in it as well as the pheromones. Here's a link to it Pet Ease. I use 2 diffusers and I also spray my hallway, livingroom, and diningroom areas every night for added protection.
I also forgot to mention that my holistic vet made up an herbal spray that I can spray on Starr to help his stress. It's called Kalm Kitty and it has Valerian Flower and a few other things in it. So far it seems to be working well. Good luck.:)
I posted on your other thread about Clomicalm but in case you missed it, I can tell you that I've had no problems whatsoever w/it. It works wonders for behavior problems. I have 4 cats on it currently because they would be pee cats if not for Clomicalm. No personality changes, no physical side effects and it began working immediately. You have to trust your instincts, though, and if you feel it isn't the route you want to take, then the suggestions that other PTers have posted might work for you. Good luck whichever way you decide to go. We want Paddy to be happy and healthy. :)
My cat has Idiopathic Cystitis, which means the cause is psychological -- he has blood in his urine and over-grooms like crazy. The reason seems to be a stray cat who comes thorugh our catflap and eats his food.
After a blood test and trying steroids, the vet suggested a natural product called Zylkene, made from a protein found in milk. He is taking 75 mg a day for his weight (5 kg) and this has gone a long way to calming him down.
I live in the UK. If you cannot find the product in the US, Google it and order it from here. I ordered 100 from http://www.pills4pets.co.uk/search.a...03170013419269 for about $50 + Post and Packing.