Zylkene- Safety Using Dog Pills/ Costs/ Long Term Safety For Cats Health

[monkeymind]

Any tips on getting zylkene cheaper? Ive seen zylkene for dogs in dosages of 250mg. Im wondering if it would be safe to buy them and divide dosages for our cat? As of now we get 30 pills of 75mg for $28-35. Crowley is on it daily and may need a dosage increase & money is tight.

Also any concerns about long term use of zylkene? The vet said its natural but that means different things to different people. I want to protect his health now & long term.

 

[Norachan]

Hi M monkeymind One of my cats is on Zylkene. The ones our vet gives us are for cats/small dogs. The size of the dose depends on the weight of the animal. I think it would be fine to get the ones for larger dogs and split them up into several cat sized doses. Susy is tiny, so she only gets half a capsule a day.

I think jcat has been using Zylkene for the shelter animals she works with for quite a while, she'll know more about long term use.

 

[KJMissy]

I would ask your vet. I do notice quite a few medication my vet gives me says for dogs only because the FDA did not yet approve it for cats. But I lean towards the safe side and would ask myself. I find most vets more the. Willing and understands cost including on line scripts that sometimes you can get for less

 

[jcat]

As Norachan said, the dosage depends on the animal's weight, and the smallest dosage sold is for small dogs or cats, so splitting a larger capsule would be okay, but not at all easy due to its powder form. The bigger the capsule, the harder it will be to divide it into even doses.

Zylkene is a nutraceutical (food) approved for short-term or long-term use. When we've used it "long term" at the shelter, it's been for 6 - 8 weeks to ease anxiety or fear aggression. "Short term" has been >one week, since it seems to take a few days to have any effect.

 

[Brian007]

It's a completely natural protein (casein) found in milk [it's thought to be the calming component of mother's breast milk]. Long term use is fine.

Here is the Zylkene page: zylkene for dogs (it says dogs but it means dogs, cats, any other mammal).

And here is an interesting account by a veterinarian who points out the dosage being 15mg per kg (7mg per lb) body weight : Zylkene: A Nutraceutical To Calm Anxious Pets | Rachele Baker, Veterinarian and Author

So, because it's a powder, you could either weigh it out on mg scales, or guestimate that a 5kg cat (average size) would require 1/3 of a 225mg dog capsule.

 

[cheeser]

For what it's worth, our vet told us we could empty the contents of the 75 mg. capsules of Zylkene into Buddy's food every day, and he never had any problems with it for the 2-3 years he was on it.

So if it's more cost effective for you to buy the 225 mg. capsules and divvy them up into three doses, I'd definitely give it a try if your vet is okay with that (and I can't see why he/she wouldn't be as long as it's the same formula).