Juni & Chloe are going on Prozac for a while

[Freedom]

I haven't picked up the prescription yet, but it is going to be compounded to taste like tuna fish, and I will put it on their food. The vet said it might take a full month for it to kick in.

I think it will be around $100 per month for the two of them, since it is compounded. If the drug works, I may try without compounding to make it a bit cheaper. We shall see.

Oh wish I'd known this earlier. Check out Wedgewood Pharmacy online. They are a compounding pharmacy, my vet and I both use them. Pricing is much lower, the meds arrive in your mail about 3 days later. Here is the link:
http://www.wedgewoodpharmacy.com/

Do a search on that site for the med name, see if they have the tuna flavor (I'm sure they do!) and then phone the toll free number, speak to someone and explain you are checking pricing. You ARE going to find it much less than what you have spent today.

[Queen of Poop]

The ear cream did not work for Diego. Neither did the liquid format. Now I get it in a chewable treat format, comes in different flavors too. This I mush up with some similar flavored "treat type" cat food and he eats it all down. I alternate with Fancy Feast and Whiskas wet. The vet calls it the McDonalds of kitty food, but has ok'd me using it for this purpose. I really don't care what it takes to get him to take the meds, so long as he's getting them and we have a peaceful household and Miss Cali, the white girl has no red bite marks on her sweet head.

[Cataholic]

The ear cream (trans dermal) does not work.

The compounded formula is difficult to correctly dose.

Have you tried pill pockets? I have two cats on prozac, and I place a 1/2 tab (5 mg) in each pill pocket and the cats eat it up without any trouble.

My sister in law's cats won't eat the pill pockets. She can easily pill her cats.

Some cats will eat a pat of creme cheese. Or, cubed. Maybe a small piece of chicken with it in there?

Kroger sells a month's supply of prozac for $4.00. Its cheap.

I noticed a difference nearly immediately- like 24 hours immediate- despite the vet's comments otherwise. Anecdotally, there are many people that notice an immediate change. I had those knock down drag out fights, and major peeing, and the fights stopped instantly. The peeing is moving in the right direction, with probably 90% success rate.

Good luck!

[sasvermont]

Well, Juni ate her meds with food and Chloe would not touch it. So I am going to continue giving it to Juni only. I will talk to the vet about getting just the pills and save myself the compounding expense. I hope that once I get in the habit of feeding Juni each afternoon, she will not notice the change and take it in pill form, if I smash it up.

This only day number two. Wish us luck.

[phesina]

Many prayers and good wishes are being sent that you'll come up with a satisfactory solution here. God bless you.

[Cataholic]

I woukd give it with the first meal of the day, when they would perhaps be the hungriest.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I'm sorry to hear that they're still fighting. Hopefully the prozac will do the trick. I also use pill pockets to pill my cats and it works out well. I actually cut the pill pockets into 4 pieces and roll them into tiny balls and then I wrap them around the pills. I don't know what I've do without them. Good luck.

[sasvermont]

The ear cream (trans dermal) does not work.

The compounded formula is difficult to correctly dose.

Have you tried pill pockets? I have two cats on prozac, and I place a 1/2 tab (5 mg) in each pill pocket and the cats eat it up without any trouble.

My sister in law's cats won't eat the pill pockets. She can easily pill her cats.

Some cats will eat a pat of creme cheese. Or, cubed. Maybe a small piece of chicken with it in there?

Kroger sells a month's supply of prozac for $4.00. Its cheap.

I noticed a difference nearly immediately- like 24 hours immediate- despite the vet's comments otherwise. Anecdotally, there are many people that notice an immediate change. I had those knock down drag out fights, and major peeing, and the fights stopped instantly. The peeing is moving in the right direction, with probably 90% success rate.

Good luck!

I have a problem with the pill concept. My vet wants to give them a dosage of 1 MG each, and pills come in 10 mg. How in the world can we cut the pill in 10 pieces for the pill pocket. I guess the difference in your cats' dosages and my cats' dosages has to do with their weight. But lets say my cat weighs in at 7 lbs. does that mean your cat weights 35 lbs? and can tolerate 5 mg! Wow, bid difference. I wonder if my vet has it right?

Also, my vet called the compounding guy to complain about how much they charged me. The guy said he would reconsider, since he charged me $45 for one cat's supply for a month and will do a three month supply for both cats for $79.00. There isn't much competition around here for compounding, so I don't have much of a choice. I will call the compounding place mentioned in an earlier post, to see if I can get it cheaper. $79 for three months isn't too bad, but Chloe doesn't seem to like it in her food. I will try it again. I bought pill pockets and they both ate the pockets in a second, so I am hopeful the pills will work. Now we have the dosage problem. Anyone have a suggestion as to how we can measure a un-crushed or crushed 10 mg. pill?

Juni seems to be less active having been on the liquid med for over a week now. I feel sorry for her being cooped up in one bedroom, by herself. I do let her do a run through the house from time to time, but I want it back the old way - doors open all the time.

C A T S !!!

[emily_the_spoiled]

The 10MG is the dose Oliver has been stabilized on for a number of years. He is a big guys but not 35 lbs I tried to decrease the dose over the years and it just was not worth the pain and suffering it caused for everyone else in the house, so he is staying on 10mg.

It sounds like your vet is titrating the dose to find out what will work for the guys. But 1mg every day sounds very low. We started at 5 mg and worked our way up (I used a vet who has a behavioral practice). Here is a link for you to read about what is available (there is a liquid) and the dosing for animals.

http://www.petplace.com/drug-library...zac/page1.aspx

[Karen]

Sas, another compounding pharmacy to try would be local to me, Johnson Drug. Because they are in NEw England, maybe it would ease the shipping costs a bit? Worth checking it out, in any case. http://www.naturalcompounder.com/ They've been in business long time, and are trustworthy, as far as I can tell!

[emily_the_spoiled]

BTW, I forgot to mention that the drowsiness is normal and will go away after a few weeks.

[sasvermont]

I will call my Vet tomorrow and discuss why she thinks such a low dose is necessary. Juni weighs 6.5 lbs. and Chloe weight 7.5, so they are pretty skinny and small. Maybe my vet is afraid it will cut into their food appetite too much. I don't know, but I do know that I just put the liquid on food for Chloe and she would not eat it. She can smell it, I guess. Juni runs to her dish to eat it! I have my work cut out for me.

I think I will just ask to have the prescription filled, and try to cut the pills in quarters. Half and then half again. That should be just a speck in the pill pocket. If that doesn't work, then I am out of tricks. Believe me, I will be able to catch Chloe maybe twice, to pill her, and then she will be no where to be found. That's the personality of the Abys! They hate to be contained and tended to.... they are their own little persons and you cannot make them do anything. I think that is why Barbara always took Filou to the vet for his subq's. Once at the vet, they usually are well behaved. Usually.

I am leaving the wet food with liquid meds on the counter so it could be that Lucy will eat it. Oh well. Can't hurt her. I really am going to aim for the pill pocket routine, probably tomorrow.

Thanks for listening.

I should go spend some quality time with Juni-get-down, before she thinks no one loves her!