"When Pets Need Anti-Depressants" article
From the Chicago Tribune on line, "Julie's Health Club" column by Julie Deardorff about personal, family, and environmental health issues:
Originally posted: June 18, 2007
Pets on Prozac
A week after Chicago’s Katharine Pflaum adopted a temperamental calico cat named Stella, she knew she had a serious problem on her hands. Stella wasn’t just warlike during the day; she also pounced on Pflaum in the middle of the night.
But Pflaum didn’t want to give up on the cat, who already had been abandoned twice. So she started her on a behavioral program that included Prozac, the same antidepressant given to humans.
“Prozac has been an amazing thing for her,” said Pflaum, a nanny who works away from home 12 hours a day. “I definitely had reservations, but it has calmed her. Since we started, she hasn’t bitten anyone.”
Once derided as a cop-out for treating behavioral disorders in animals, medications such as Prozac that contain serotonin-reuptake inhibitors are now a routine part of veterinary care.
They are given to cats that spray walls with urine, pet parrots that might self-mutilate when bored, dogs that get spooked by thunderstorms or obsessively lick their paws, and zoo animals suffering outside their natural habitats.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved psychotropic drugs for dogs in 1999. This year, targeting dogs with separation anxiety, it licensed beef-flavored Reconcile tablets containing fluoxetine hydrochloride, the generic name for Prozac.
“Pets are an important part of society these days; they’re family members,” said Thomas Graves, chief of the small-animal internal-medicine section at the University of Illinois Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
“If there are ways to keep them healthier and living longer, you’re doing a favor for the pet and the people that love them. The idea that they shouldn’t get high-quality health care is one that is fading away.”
But are medications such as Prozac really high-quality health care? Or are they the easiest way to calm a pet when you’re out of the house all day? After the FDA approved Reconcile, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Britain charged that giving dogs drugs to treat behavioral problems merely masks symptoms of a deeper problem. Instead of medicating, it said, dogs should be given more exercise or companionship.
“Cats and dogs are basically people-pleasers unless they are forced into situations that are contrary to their instincts,” said Evanston artist and cat owner Jeanine Coupe Ryding, who considers Prozac to be a last resort before euthanizing a pet with major problems. “Abuse and loneliness affect pets like they would people. Prozac is not a cure, it just makes it easier on everyone who has to live with the person or pet who takes it.”
Most animal behaviorists agree: Pill popping alone won’t eliminate the problem. But there is a place for medication if it’s used with other behavior-changing strategies, said Valerie Chalcraft, a psychologist who consults on companion-animal behavior. Even Reconcile is approved for use “in conjunction with a behavioral-modification plan.”
“Medication doesn’t teach new responses; it can only bring down the dog or cat’s level of anxiety to a point where he or she can learn more efficiently,” said Chalcraft, who turned Stella into a purring lap cat. “Just like a person, a calm dog or cat learns more easily than an anxious one.”
If you’re comfortable using prescription drugs, medicating your pet may not be an issue. If you’re ambivalent, Chalcraft recommends it particularly for chronic cases. “The longer it has been going on, the more entrenched it is in the dog or cat’s behavioral repertoire, so it takes longer to correct with behavior modification,” she said. “Medication may lead to improvement more quickly, giving the [pet owner] hope and keeping them on track with the exercises.”
Other tips:
Don’t share meds with your pet. Improper dosages can be fatal.
Be aware of side effects. The most common adverse reactions to Reconcile include anorexia or weight loss, lethargy or depression, shaking, vomiting, restlessness and excessive vocalization, including whining.
Short-term anti-anxiety medication, such as Valium, takes effect quickly and can be used in cases of fearful behavior but not in cases that involve aggression, Chalcraft said. In some behavior cases, it can make aggression worse. Long-term anti-anxiety medication poses this risk to a much lesser extent.
