Does Anyone Have Experience Treating Their Anxious Cat With Buspar/buspirone?

[pippapurring]

Hi everyone!

So if you take a look at my post history you'll see that I've been struggling to treat my cat Teddy's anxiety with behavior modification and other non-medical options for years now. Unfortunately none of those have worked to stop his anxious behavior and so at the recommendation of a vet and behaviorist I've started him on a course of anti-anxiety medication.

He's two days in to a twice daily dose of a medication called Buspirone, it's an anti-anxiety medication used for humans that is also supposed to be highly effective for cats with anxiety, specifically inappropriate elimination as a result of anxiety. Peeing inappropriately and constant crying are the two main symptoms of his anxiety.

I don't expect to know whether or not this is a good choice for Ted for a few weeks, but I would love to hear from others who have treated their cats with this medication. Doesn't matter if the experience is good or bad, I'm just interested to hear from people who have given their cats buspirone. Any input is super appreciated!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

No direct experience, but a friend had excellent results. Like every medication, the results can vary from cat to cat, but you have every reason to be hopeful.

 

[pippapurring]

My vet also said that buspirone is known to be highly effective with far fewer side effects in cats than it has in humans - one of those side effects being an increase in affectionate behavior which I certainly wouldn't complain about! Just curious to hear any anecdotes others might have Thanks for replying!!

 

[RufusGizmo]

My cat has been on it for about four weeks now. I have read on the internet that it takes at least that long for it to start taking effect. I'm not sure if it has or not, he seems to be getting slightly better. He has that feline hyperesthesia (which I'm sure I've misspelled). He chases and bites his own tail, but I do think it is getting better. as for the side affects, he is way more affectionate, but actually almost overly so.

 

[pippapurring]

Thanks for replying! I've also heard you need to give it at least a month to know for sure if it's a good choice for your cat, which I'm totally willing to do. He's not even a week in yet and he hates taking the pill but if it means he doesn't pee in the exact spot I sleep in any more I'm totally willing to give him a pill he hates forever haha!

I really hope your cat has success with it!

 

[RufusGizmo]

Thanks and good luck with the pill taking. at the risk of being laughed at for being wimpy, I have tried putting it in his food, the liquid form, putting it in pill pockets etc., and the only way he will take his pill is for me to form some home made beef stew around it. he looks forward to his twice a day little piece of stew.

 

[pippapurring]

My SO is the designated pill-giver. We started out trying to entice him to take it with food but he figured it out every time, so now my SO just opens his mouth and tosses it down not Teddy's favorite part of the day but he forgives us quickly and it gets the job done!

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, I wish I had a dime for every really funny set of instructions on how to give a cat a pill I have found on the internet! You seem to be doing famously!

 

[RufusGizmo]

how is it going with the buspirone. my cat seems better but sleeps quite a bit, and has very loud snoring and breathing, and moaning in his sleep. I was wondering if your cat was experiencing that.

 

[pippapurring]

Just wanted to post an update. We're three weeks in to the treatment and so far there hasn't been any noticeable effect on his behavior. I haven't lost hope because it can take up to six weeks to have any effect at all so we'll see. I have noticed that sometimes after his evening pill his behavior becomes a bit...strange. He seems to become restless and sometimes he shows a bit of increased aggression. He also does some caterwauling sometimes. He's still peeing inappropriately - we left the bedroom door open with the bed protected to test it out and he popped a squat right in front of my SO. Keeping our fingers crossed that it just hasn't kicked in yet - if we don't see a change by 8 weeks we'll probably take him back to the vet to try something else.

 

[RufusGizmo]

I'm into about week seven and I do think it helped my cat pretty much just started tocthough. Unfortunately not before he bit his own tail and gave himself an abcess but I would stick with it a little longer

 

[RufusGizmo]

I'm into about week seven and I do think it helped my cat pretty much just started tocthough. Unfortunately not before he bit his own tail and gave himself an abcess but I would stick with it a little longer

 

[pippapurring]

I definitely plan on giving it at least eight weeks before making a decision. Just have to stick with it and be patient I'll post another update in a few weeks!

 

[RufusGizmo]

hope it works

 

[pippapurring]

Another update! Teddy has been on buspirone for about seven weeks now. He had a followup appointment with the vet today and I decided to protect our bed and leave the door to our bedroom open for several hours as a test before we spoke to the vet. Great news: he didn't pee!! In the past he would've immediately ran in and peed on my side of the bed, he's done it within a matter of minutes when we've forgotten to close the door before he was medicated.

That doesn't mean it'll never happen again, but I'll be experimenting with keeping the door open during the day now. Overall I've seen an improvement in his anxious behavior. He no longer wails at the door when we leave and he doesn't seem as obsessed with leaving our apartment whenever we open the door. He's also not as focused on following me everywhere and being by my side 100% of the time, which is improvement as well I think. He'll sleep in a different room or across the room from me, in the past he wanted to be as close as possible.

We've also got the pill-giving method down now, as long as we make sure the pill is basically thrown down his throat he doesn't have the weird aggressive side effects. I think that was a result of the pill dissolving in his mouth and either upsetting him or becoming active in his system too quickly.

One thing that hasn't changed is his pooping outside the cat box. Sometimes he poops *directly* next to it. We keep the cat boxes clean and he pees in them reliably. They're super XL cat boxes so he's not accidentally missing. Even when he does poop in the cat box, he never covers it. Sometimes one of our other cats will run in after him and cover it for him, but if they don't it stays out in the open. I'm starting to think this is more territorial (he's definitely the dominant cat in our family) than it is anxiety related. If this is the only thing I have to deal with going forward, I'll consider it a success.

The vet is having us keep him on another eight weeks of two pills daily, and if he doesn't pee in this time even with access to the bed we'll try dropping him down to one pill a day and eventually tapering off if everything goes well. If he slips up, we'll go back to the full dose and the vet said it's safe for him to stay on that forever.

I probably won't update again unless there's something significant to share, but if anyone has thoughts or questions I'm happy to help!

 

[RufusGizmo]

NICE! We are at nine weeks and he's doing pretty good still does his tail chase once in awhile and once in awhile still has his aggression after taking the pill but much less. We are going down to one pill a day in two weeks so will see what happens. I find the timing of the pill makes a difference. If I happen to be up at two am for any reason I pill him then and he never seems to get aggressive after that one. Good luck!

 

[pippapurring]

Glad to hear that RufusGizmo!! I was initially wary of using psych meds on a pet but I feel like I definitely made the right choice for him. As someone who has experienced anxiety myself I know how terrible it feels and I hope that both of our kitties are feeling much better now

 

[RufusGizmo]

hasn't chased his tail in forever, and I think in a week we can start weening him down to one a day! I get anxiety too, and know an anxious cat + anxious owner is not fun. Tail is healed, and he seems really calm lately. he seems to snore really loud lately though, does your cat do that?

 

[pippapurring]

Glad to hear it seems to be working for you!!

Unfortunately Teddy peed on the bed a few days after we started keeping the door open. The bed was protected at least but it's discouraging We haven't given up hope, we're going to keep him on the full dose for another month and try again. If he continues to pee we might switch to something else... it could be that the peeing isn't related to anxiety, as well. This issue is so difficult to figure out!

Teddy doesn't snore but I have noticed that he seems to sleep a bit more than usual. He's always been a pretty sleepy cat though. I get him moving with a feather toy and he does still play with my other cats so it's not something that worries me. He's actually lost half a kilo/one pound since we put him on these meds and starting paying better attention to his diet, which is good. He could stand to lose another half a kilo.

I do have an asthmatic cat that snores heavily. Snoring can be a sign of respiratory issues in cats, so if you notice anything else like coughing or wheezing I would take your kitty to get checked out by the vet. Snoring by itself isn't anything to worry about though.

 

[RufusGizmo]

Thanks and good luck!