Starting Prozac for two cats - advice?

[ellenature]

Hello everyone!

I've been reading many of the posts and have found a lot of the information to be soo helpful. A thank you to all who have posted about "interesting" behaviour from their cats.

I have a 6 yo Bengal male and a 3 yo Norwegian Forest Cat female.

My girl was sick with a sinus infection and then a UTI and about a week after she was feeling better she started to attack the male.

Hissing and growling. Very much NOT like herself.

My Bengal is wild, and this started three weeks of him going ballistic any time she showed anger towards him.

The result has been violent fighting and stressed out kitties. They are now kept apart.

I researched and found the stress sprays, collars, feliway plug-ins and homeopathic stress relief drops. These are not working.

I contacted our vet and he prescribed the ear application of Prozac. I will be starting this next week when it arrives.

What do you all think about using anti-depressants/anti-anxiety medications?

Can they (should they even) be used long term?

Is there any hope for my two cats to become friends again?

Thank you for any advice!

 

[foxden]

ellenature
Welcome to TCS. I'm sorry no one has answered you so far.

I believe medications for cats are appropriate and can help you work through problem behaviors.
Many times, the meds can be weaned off after 6-12 months. Time is required to retrain the problem behaviors.

Some cats need lifetime treatment. Several members have treated cats with prozac for more than 10 years.

I used prozac on one of my cats for 6 months or so several years ago. We were able to discontinue the med with no problems.

 

[ellenature]

Thsnks Foxden. I'm starting with the ear application. Have you tried this?

 

[foxden]

I did not try the ear application. We were able to pill Allison without too much trouble.

 

[ellenature]

How long did it take to see improvement?

 

[foxden]

I remember seeing small changes in 10-14 days. I think the behavior almost completely stopped by 4-6 weeks.

We continued treatment longer so the unwanted behavior was gone, and new habits were formed.

 

[ellenature]

I also posted this on a thread about cats on prozac but just in case anyone else is reading and needs updated info: I've just ordered Fluoxetine (Prozac) from an online pharmacy using the vet's prescription. This is for the transderma ear gel. For a one month tube at 5mg a day it cost $19 plus shipping. Really soo much cheaper than what I read from a few other people! I hope it works!