Prozac in kitties?

[donutte]

I'm gonna be picking up a prescription for Prozac for Maple in a few. I'm curious if there are any side effects in cats that I need to watch out for. I've been on it myself, plus I work in the pharmacy industry, so VERY well aware of side effects in humans. Are there any that cats typically experience with it though? Long-term or short-term?

I completely forgot to ask my vet all these questions unfortunately. I'm still giving it to her regardless, but I like to know if there's anything I should look out for. I imagine if there was anything potentially bad he would have mentioned it (eg, the potential reactions cats have to methimazole).

 

[margd]

There are some reported side effects of prozac in cats.

1.  Meowing

2.  Loss of appetite

3.  Restlessness or lethargy

4.  Trouble breathing

5.   Aggressiveness or irritability

6.   Initial doses may cause vomiting or diarrhea. 

Unfortunately, I have no idea how common these side effects are.  Since prozac has been used so successfully in cats, I'm assuming they are relatively rare, but you should double check with your vet.  Since you just were in the office, it is perfectly acceptable for you to call back with a follow-up question.  

 

[donutte]

I am looking more I think for real experience if anyone has it. Usually that's what I ask my vet for too. If no one does that I will definitely call him by tomorrow. I'm not super-worried about it. Diarrhea makes me a little nervous - omg, I hope not, since she's still not 100% using the litter box!

Also, is anyone aware of whether or not it has a bad taste? I can put it in her food, but I'm nervous about her not eating all of it, so would like to put it in a pill pocket. She'd love more treats! Sara eats pill pockets with Pepcid but I question whether she has a sense of taste these days. My vet is giving her a "normal" cat dose for now, to see how it works, but she's a 17 lb kitty so really want to make sure she gets all of it.

 

[margd]

I am looking more I think for real experience if anyone has it. Usually that's what I ask my vet for too. If no one does that I will definitely call him by tomorrow. I'm not super-worried about it. Diarrhea makes me a little nervous - omg, I hope not, since she's still not 100% using the litter box!

Also, is anyone aware of whether or not it has a bad taste? I can put it in her food, but I'm nervous about her not eating all of it, so would like to put it in a pill pocket. She'd love more treats! Sara eats pill pockets with Pepcid but I question whether she has a sense of taste these days. My vet is giving her a "normal" cat dose for now, to see how it works, but she's a 17 lb kitty so really want to make sure she gets all of it.

Ah, yes.  There is nothing like the voice of experience.  

   Hopefully someone will chime in soon.  

Do you know about the transdermal form of Prozac?   I know it's expensive but if Sara really gives you a hard time with the prozac, it's worth a try.   

 

[donutte]

Ah, yes.  There is nothing like the voice of experience.  :nod:    Hopefully someone will chime in soon.  :cross:

Do you know about the transdermal form of Prozac?   I know it's expensive but if Sara really gives you a hard time with the prozac, it's worth a try.   

Haha, sorry, I was talking about two different kitties.

Maple is the one taking the Prozac, which may or may not be bitter. I'm guessing not if he suggested smooshing it and putting it in food.

Sara is on nasty-tasting medicine, yet somehow still takes it via pill pocket (which usually isn't recommended). Even my kitten tasted a pill pocket that had touched the Pepcid and the look on his face was just... wow. So I think Sara is just losing her sense or taste or something, so not sure I could use her ability to use pill pockets for things as a good point of reference.

I hope that made sense :lol3: I have no idea how I keep all this stuff straight some days.

 

[margd]

Haha, sorry, I was talking about two different kitties.

Maple is the one taking the Prozac, which may or may not be bitter. I'm guessing not if he suggested smooshing it and putting it in food.

Sara is on nasty-tasting medicine, yet somehow still takes it via pill pocket (which usually isn't recommended). Even my kitten tasted a pill pocket that had touched the Pepcid and the look on his face was just... wow. So I think Sara is just losing her sense or taste or something, so not sure I could use her ability to use pill pockets for things as a good point of reference.

I hope that made sense

I have no idea how I keep all this stuff straight some days.

I knew something didn't seem right while I was answering but I chalked it up to my bad memory!  

  Now I understand!   I have not had good luck with pill pockets.  My cats have never taken them more than once.  They were fast learners!  

I just googled "What does prozac taste like?"  The word is:  bitter.    That's human taste buds interacting with human prozac so don't know if it means anything.

 

[donutte]

Both Sara and Lucky took pretty well to pill pockets. Lucky suddenly not taking them that one awful weekend before being diagnosed was one of several things that told me something was very, very wrong. Sara takes them, but I think she likes them less as a result of me sometimes giving me another treat that she likes better. Other times, she takes it without any problem whatsoever.

Maple's fat and will eat most anything that she can chew without too much problem. She does have that bad tooth though. Hmmm. I think I'll just crush it up and hope she doesn't notice. She inhales her food as a rule.

 

[jenny82]

Good luck with the prozac for Maple!

Its funny with pill pockets sometimes...Chessy decided he hated them awhile ago but then I guess he forgot because he started eating them again.

 

[donutte]

Thank you! I locked her in my bedroom with her food, hoping she eats all of it. I need to get a pate for her to eat so I can make sure she eats all of it.

I have to say those little pills are hard to crumble! I had to take a wrench to it. Cutting it was not so bad though.

 

[donutte]

So, I went into the bedroom after half an hour. There she was, on her chair. Her food in the bowl still looking untouched. Could still see most of the meds in there. I put a little bit of hot water in with it to warm it up, and then gave it to her again. She was obviously interested in the food, but then the moment she licked it, the look on her face was "yuck!" She tried licking a few times more because she wanted the food. But no, it tasted too bad.

Dumped the food in the toilet. My kitten was like, "No, no, I'll eat it, don't dump it!" Yeah yeah, I know, don't dump meds in the toilet, but couldn't chance the other cats getting into it. Anyway, I got the other half of the pill, shoved it into a pill pocket, and she ate it right up. I should have tried that to begin with. She was quite happy to get the treat as well.

 

[jenny82]

Aww. Glad she ate it!

 

[donutte]

I have 100% ruled out any food aversion since then. She ate her evening meal and morning meal without issue. She'll get another half-Prozac in the afternoon.

This is why there are some questions I ask here instead of the vet :lol3: Now if his cat has had a particular issue then he's talking from his own experience. But none of his cats have ever had Prozac I'm guessing because Maple will eat just about anything. At the very least, she'll lick the gravy off of it. She wouldn't even do THAT with this stuff.

 

[helen725]

My cat Monte has been on Prozac (Fluoxetine) for the past 2 and a half years. He takes one 5mg pill in a pill pocket every morning. He weighs just under 17 lbs.

The reason we put Monte on Prozac is because he had a few incidents with redirected aggression where he attacked our other cat and myself. Monte was a very anxious cat. He would constantly pace up and down the house and it seemed like he was constantly eating due to his anxiety. Little things would startle him and he was so jumpy before the Prozac. He also did not get good restful sleep. He always seemed tired all the time. He was 19 lbs when we first started him on 7mg of Prozac. We have since reduced his dose to 5mg.

Since Monte has been on Prozac he is more calm. He eats less. He has lost 2lbs. He sleeps throughout the night without any problems. He seems more happy and playful.

I Haven't seen any negative aspect to Monte being on Prozac and I would recommend it when everthing else is not working as well.

 

[helen725]

I forgot to mention that we give Monte his Prozac in pill form. They are so small that he hardly feels them in the pill pocket. On the rare times that he gives us a hard time with the pill pocket, I just cover it with his favourite food or butter.

We tried using the flavoured chews that the Prozac was formulated into by the vet, but they were much more expensive and harder to use. Also, I had to mix the chews into his food because he didn't like the taste of the chews on their own. He could still taste the medicine. And he would sometimes not eat all his food when I mixed it with the food.

Once Monte takes his pill in the pill pocket, I give him his food right away, so he knows once he takes his pill he can enjoy his food.

Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be happy to answer them.

 

[cinqchats]

Gizmo-sama was on Prozac for about a year. It made him nauseous, and he projectile vomited a few times when he first started taking it. Very impressively, I might add. All over the walls. He evened out after about 2-3 weeks.

I ended up crushing the pills and hiding them in his wet food at night. 

 

[donutte]

We stopped the Prozac temporarily because two days later, she showed signs of a UTI (blood in the urine). She'd been going in the litter box for awhile with the Cat Attract, then suddenly started going on the pee pad. She got a shot of antibiotic last week on Wednesday, then a couple days later started using the litter box again. For days, no poop or pee anywhere! No leaking even on the towel on her chair. Then yesterday I saw poopies EVERYWHERE and she also peed on the towel in her chair again. I didn't do the third cleaning of the litter box in my room yesterday so thought maybe that was the reason. Nope, more poopies in the house this morning and wet towel. I noticed the litter was getting low, so dumped the other half of the bag in the box. Now it's pretty high. So I will see what happens now.

The vet had wanted to stop the Prozac to see if addressing the UTI helped. I'm gonna give it one more night, then if there's poops/pee outside the litter box again, I'm calling the vet to see about putting her on Proazc again.

I learned I can't crush it and put it in her food though. I tried that the very first day. She licked at the food like it had the nastiest taste ever. Fine. I put it in a pill pocket, and she ate it up. Woot! So at least I have that if she does need to go back on it again. And I really think she does, but we had to give the antibiotic its chance.

 

[helen725]

We stopped the Prozac temporarily because two days later, she showed signs of a UTI (blood in the urine). She'd been going in the litter box for awhile with the Cat Attract, then suddenly started going on the pee pad. She got a shot of antibiotic last week on Wednesday, then a couple days later started using the litter box again. For days, no poop or pee anywhere! No leaking even on the towel on her chair. Then yesterday I saw poopies EVERYWHERE and she also peed on the towel in her chair again. I didn't do the third cleaning of the litter box in my room yesterday so thought maybe that was the reason. Nope, more poopies in the house this morning and wet towel. I noticed the litter was getting low, so dumped the other half of the bag in the box. Now it's pretty high. So I will see what happens now.

The vet had wanted to stop the Prozac to see if addressing the UTI helped. I'm gonna give it one more night, then if there's poops/pee outside the litter box again, I'm calling the vet to see about putting her on Proazc again.

I learned I can't crush it and put it in her food though. I tried that the very first day. She licked at the food like it had the nastiest taste ever. Fine. I put it in a pill pocket, and she ate it up. Woot! So at least I have that if she does need to go back on it again. And I really think she does, but we had to give the antibiotic its chance.

What dosage of Prozac was your cat on?

With my cat Monte, he's a much happier cat than when he wasn't on Prozac. We lowered the dosage when he seemed to want to sleep all the time. Also the higher dose was when he weighed 2 lbs more than he does now. He's still a big boy even at just under 17lbs.

(I had a tuxedo cat named Oscar and my first cat was named Luckie)

 

[donutte]

What dosage of Prozac was your cat on?

With my cat Monte, he's a much happier cat than when he wasn't on Prozac. We lowered the dosage when he seemed to want to sleep all the time. Also the higher dose was when he weighed 2 lbs more than he does now. He's still a big boy even at just under 17lbs.

(I had a tuxedo cat named Oscar and my first cat was named Luckie)

Maple is on 5 mg a day. She's not unhappy but she is a very skittish cat, and has gotten more so the older she gets. She'll be 14 years old two weeks from yesterday, so no spring chicken either. She's also 17 lbs! QUITE a big girl. She had problems here and there before but she just stopped leaving my bedroom after we got a dog in July. We couldn't even find her the first four days! I mean, 17 lbs, not like there were many places she could hide. And yet, she did!

(Oscar is the kitty on the left in my avatar, along with his brother Oliver. They were 9 months old as of this past Monday! Lucky was a tux too, I miss him a lot. The boys really remind me of him, in so many ways.)

 

[zed xyzed]

Maple is on 5 mg a day. She's not unhappy but she is a very skittish cat, and has gotten more so the older she gets. She'll be 14 years old two weeks from yesterday, so no spring chicken either. She's also 17 lbs! QUITE a big girl. She had problems here and there before but she just stopped leaving my bedroom after we got a dog in July. We couldn't even find her the first four days! I mean, 17 lbs, not like there were many places she could hide. And yet, she did!

(Oscar is the kitty on the left in my avatar, along with his brother Oliver. They were 9 months old as of this past Monday! Lucky was a tux too, I miss him a lot. The boys really remind me of him, in so many ways.)

I found it very endearing how much uncle Lucky loved the two youngsters 

 

[helen725]

Maple is on 5 mg a day. She's not unhappy but she is a very skittish cat, and has gotten more so the older she gets. She'll be 14 years old two weeks from yesterday, so no spring chicken either. She's also 17 lbs! QUITE a big girl. She had problems here and there before but she just stopped leaving my bedroom after we got a dog in July. We couldn't even find her the first four days! I mean, 17 lbs, not like there were many places she could hide. And yet, she did!

(Oscar is the kitty on the left in my avatar, along with his brother Oliver. They were 9 months old as of this past Monday! Lucky was a tux too, I miss him a lot. The boys really remind me of him, in so many ways.)

Monte is an almost carbon copy of Oscar. He even has the same big appetite that Oscar had. Monte had a very hard start in life when he was small. He and his 2 brothers were dumped out of a van when they were only 1 week old and left to fend for themselves in a field. I think that's part of the reason that Monte also was very skittish. Here's a photo of them side by side. Oscar is on the left and Monte is on the right. We got Monte when Oscar passed away. Monte will be 12 years old in May. He's doing very well for his age. We lost his younger brother Shelby last June due to HCM. I know he misses having another cat in the house, but I feel that it will be stressful to get another cat with Monte's issues.

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• helen725
• Feb 17, 2016