Clomicalm, Used For Cats?

claydust

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I would like to hear about any experiences with using Clomicalm for cats.

I am not one to take the use of any medications lightly and have some concerns.

I understand this med. is intended for dogs and have concerns about unwanted or detrimental effects on cats.

I contacted the manufacturer and my impression was they were non-commital about it's use for cats.

Our vet would prescribe it for our cat but I am cautious and not about to administer something that would be harmful in order to attempt to modify a behavioural issue.
 

blaise

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Welcome to TCS! (sorry, though that it's a problem that brings you here)

I have not used this drug, but remembered posting about it last year. There may be some useful info for you in that thread.

Interesting, that poster was Canadian too.....hmmmmmmmm... What's with these Canuk cats?

I'm not surprised the manufacturer is unhelpful...with "off-label" use of the drug, they won't want to be in any way involved.

What's the nature of that behavioural problem?

I'm wondering if you're "applying" the qualms of treating humans with drugs for behavioural issues to animals?

With a cat, the idea is to pause a behaviour pattern long enough to eliminate that pattern....in the thread I referenced, I spoke about having used a female hormone for a short period to eventually eliminate a spraying pattern post neutering.

If you were to decide to use that drug, pay close attention to some of the cautions cited in the MarVistaVet article.

You could also search TCS for Clomicalm references - I noticed several.
 
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claydust

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Originally Posted by BLAISE

Welcome to TCS! (sorry, though that it's a problem that brings you here)
Thanks, it isn't a big problem, I will elaborate.

Originally Posted by BLAISE

I'm wondering if you're "applying" the qualms of treating humans with drugs for behavioural issues to animals?.
It isn't that, I am concenrned about any physiological effects since cat's systems obviously differ from dogs, I don't want to administer anything that could cause some sort of damage.

Originally Posted by BLAISE

What's the nature of that behavioural problem?
It is aggression to one of our other two cats and especially my wife's silky terrier. All the cats are indoor cats.

I will try to keep this brief but it is difficult.

Kasey is an 8 to 10 year old torti that I recued from one of our company's sites.

She was brought there when she was a kitten for rodent control, they had her spayed and she had her shots. I go to the site occassionally as part of my job and the cat has known me for all these years.

As time went on, enevitable changes went on and she did not receive the best of care and in some cases I heard she was kicked around etc. Through all this, she retained a nice nature with people and craved attention. (Later examination showed an old injury to her left rear leg and the tips of the upper canines were broken off.)

Last April, I was on site for a few days and had seen enough, I came home and we talked about it and on the next run up there, I brought a cat carrier and took her home.

We did all the vet stuff and the recommended slow introduction from separate rooms etc. She did very well on good quality food and is in very good shape, now. She has basically "imprinted" on me.

The others;

Taz, a 10 year old, neutered ginger tabby tom. A 19 pound cat, not a Maine Coon but along those lines. We rescued him at about 12 weeks of age. He is a happy, "gentle giant".

Morgan is a 9 year old black and white, spayed, 10 pound female. She was rescued at about 6 weeks of age, having been thrown from a car. She is an affectionate, somewhat flighty and active cat.

Toby is a silkey terrier, rambunctious, as those dogs often are but is used to cats.


Kasey, the torti seems to like Taz, will go after him once and a while but doesn't push it, he will make a stand and is formidible when he does so. These two will eat from dishes place 12" apart and will sleep in the same spot in close proximity.

Kasey goes after Morgan, who doesn't stand up to her, she escapes by speed and the ability to jump 3 feet onto things from a standing start. Kasey goes after Morgan and Morgan is nervous of her.

Kasey and Toby have had some "set to's", usually when some point of interest brings them in close proximity in a narrow space. After one of these, it can take a couple days to settle them back down.


After reading "the Cat Who Cried For Help", I considered medication to try to modify Kasey's behaviour. However, I know medications have their side effects and since Clomicalm is not a cat med., I have my concerns regarding potential detrimental health effect and so at this point would not use it.
 

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Forgive me if I missed it ... but have you tried Feliway or Rescue remedy >>?? or maybe help the dog with Dap ( feliway for the dog)
 
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claydust

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Originally Posted by sharky

Forgive me if I missed it ... but have you tried Feliway or Rescue remedy >>?? or maybe help the dog with Dap ( feliway for the dog)
We tried Feliway when introducing the cats early on, I am not sure if it was benificial or not. It did not seem to have much effect on "the girls" (Kasey and Morgan) having their issues.

My wife has ordered a training system for the dog, she is out and I am not sure of the details of it. He does need to lear to settle down.

Except for this issue, Kassey is doing well. She has made the transition from a tough life at an industrial setting, to being a good house cat (except for the agression), she is very well behaved in the house and is very friendly to people.
 

sharky

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Nutri vet has a oil blend that is also a diffuser it has helped with one of mine a bit ...my vet recommended it
 
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claydust

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Thought that might be it.

I see from the site, they are sold by Pet Smart; there's one 25 minutes drive from here which I will check out.
 

mimosa

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It says in the product information it only works when used in conjunction with behavioural modification therapy.
In the netherlands (as is probably also the case elsewhere) vets are too fast to prescribe this drug without telling people to seek real help for their pet's problem behaviour.

I personally know two cats (different owners) who have been on Clomicalm for an extended period of time with no real improvement. Not surprising since that is the only measure their owners took.
Against my convictions I have given this drug to one of those cats when I was feeding/medicating him as his owner was on vacation, he still fought with one of the other cats and still sprayed, I have a movie of him behaving agressively if you want to see how well Clomicalm works on its own.

If you want to use it as part of a larger program it might be worth a shot.
 

northernglow

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I think I remember reading something about Clomicalm used on breeding studs can cause infertility or some other kind of problems like that but I'm not sure if I remember correctly. It could have been just wondering IF it could cause it or something.. I can't check that now because the cat forum where I read it from is (still) under maintenance.
(And now I wonder why I even wrote that 'coz it doesn't have any actual information..
)
 
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claydust

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I have ruled out Clomicalm and will consider the Nutri Vet products.

I saw an intersting "exchange" last night.

Kasey (the agressive torti) decided to engage Taz (19 pounds) in a "head hitting contest"; nothing really extreme just a lazy fight. They faced each other, sitting down and exchanged blows, hitting each other on the top of the head, it almost looked like slow motion.

She needed to realize she had several disadvantages, the big fella has a longer reach, is stronger and has a head that was made to take some punishment
.

The "bout" lasted about 10 seconds with Kasey giving up and walking away, they were not in any danger of hurting each other and it was over so quick I didn't stop it. They are back to being "buds" now.
 

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We've had our part-Siamese alpha male cat on Clomicalm for 8 years.  This drug is used off-label for cats and I had to sign a waiver at my Vet's office when putting Joe on it.  The reason Novartis won't give you an answer is because it is off-label for cats and was intended for dogs. The reason we put him on the Clomicalm, at our Vet's suggestion after a lengthy explanation, was excessive vocalization, anxiety as we started keeping all of our cats indoors and he missed being outside part of the day, and, most important, spraying even though he'd been fixed.  This drug worked wonders for Joe, and over the years, we've tried taking him off it but he wasn't "himself", would become too aggressive and would start his behavior issues all over again.  We always ended up putting him back on it after only 2-3 days.  He's a wonderful cat, extremely affectionate, sleeps with my husband every night under the covers with his head on hubby's arm, and we love him.  He's now 14.5 years old.  I wouldn't hesitate to give this drug to any cat whose behavior issues become nearly unbearable.  Some animals and humans just need to take their meds, and although I'm not a huge fan of any anti-psychotic drug, having been on lithium for years myself (and now off it), in this case, we've had no choice.
 

barbb

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One of my cats is super hyper to the extent that before we adopted her, the rescue group had her checked out for thyroid problems. But she was ok. However she has always been way up there on the "high maintenance" scale. She is a returned declawed pee cat and indeed she is a diva and it takes very little for her to become upset and pee somewhere. As some of you know from my other thread, our boy cat has lymphoma, and further to his chemo and the increased attention we are giving him, she started peeing again after challenging him for prized spots on the bed and such. 

I will skip all the various things we tried by way of making her feel a member of the pack and cut to the chase where I had a long talk with my vet, who told me that she has a cat like this one too, and she gives it clomicalm. I am extremely hesitant about giving meds for dogs to cats, so I asked her a lot of questions about it. She has had her cat on it for a very long time with no adverse effects. 

I did give it to my cat and I found that it made her seem kind of loopy and out of it, a little bit dazed. It did definitely stop her from peeing all over the house, but it seemed to also take away her personality and a certain amount of her awareness. I would not describe her as the same alert kitty who was just calmer. So I did not leave her on the clomicalm. Having said that, I didn't keep her on it for a full month or anything and maybe if I had given it more time as the previous poster did I might have seen a better adjustment. And in fact with these comments, we may end up going back to that for our kitty and stick with it longer at some point if the current marking/peeing continues. 

I have not found any other good alternatives and my cat needs WAY more than feliway and harp music to calm her. Like the vet said, she did a urine sample and told me that the urine was thicker and yellower but no infection etc. and she would swear it was some kind of hormonal thing that has yet to be figured out in the vet world. 
 
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pixxie girl

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Hello,

I have a 18 year old Siamese cat and about  a year ago she got into the habit of sleeping all day and roaming the house during the night. The big problem is that she is so vocal that she continuously wakes up me and  my husband during the night. Her cries are so gutural and frightening that you would think that she is in extreme pain or something,

I brought her to the vet and after numerous tests came back negative, the vet felt that she is in perfect health. The vet did feel that possibly my cat was suffering from Alzheimer's, that she had flipped her days and nights, was perhaps confused and anxious. She perscribed Clomicalm and 5 days ago I started giving my kitty half of a 5mg pill. This evening I feel that I may have made a mistake as she has not wanted to leave her cushion, sleeps all day and night, seems stunned, pupils are dilated  and most of all when I pet her there is absolutly no reaction, normally she would purr like crazy. These changes really have me worried. Any advice you can share would be appreciated. 
 

gabjoe

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I had to write to tell you of my positive experience with Clomicalm.  

We have two cats that lived happily together  for 9 years then one day they began to fight viscously due to a stray cat we were feeding outside.  Note to all do not feed stray cats anywhere you cat can see them.  

After this they could not be in the same room, we tried to separate them, and reintroduce them with food, had baby gates up for weeks, and nothing helped.  

My vet suggest Colmicalm and it worked, it took about a month and yes it was not pleasant, the cats were stoned and not themselves, but it did calm them down enough to get the together.  So I would recommend this as a last resort. Once they were ok around each other we halfed the dosage and then stopped it all together and all is good. Thank God!

Also one other note of interest. My vet said the time before summer soltice June 21 is the worst for cat fights, their hormones are on overdrive, even if they are spayed or neutered.  And after that date they are more calm, it happened exactly like that for our cats.  Hope this helps someone out there.  I know how desperate it is to have your little furry friends at odds.
 
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