Prozac Dog Nation

Bo In Commentary:

Here’s a really depressing story, not because an animal was treated cruelly, but for what it says about the world we canines live in.

The makers of Prozac have launched their first ever antidepressant for dogs, a once-a-day chewable tablet flavoured with beef.

Huh? Beef flavored treats? Nobody said this drug was coming in a Flintstone vitamin delivery method. I’m starting to feel a bit anxious (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The product, known as Reconcile, received approval from the Federal Drugs Administration in the United States today for use on dogs suffering from separation anxiety from being left alone for long periods.

Eli Lilly, which makes the new drug, says that more than 10 million US dogs exhibit strange symptoms from being left alone too long.

Strange symptoms such as sleeping all day, begging for food all night and leaving the dirty dishes in the sink unwashed.

“Lilly research shows that 10.7 million, or up to 17 per cent, of US dogs suffer from separation anxiety,†said Steve Connell, Lilly’s manager of consumer services for companion animal health.

“We’re thrilled that our first product for dogs can help restore the human-pet bond.â€

“We will make a boat load of money off of humanity’s disregard for its best friend,†he said. Quickly adding, “Please don’t print that.â€

He said that in field studies of around 600 dogs, 73 per cent of dogs taking Reconcile and undergoing therapy showed better behaviour within eight weeks, compared to dogs receiving therapy alone.

Therapy? You mean even after taking the pill you have to sit on a couch with a Dr. Phil wannabe and listen to them bloviate about how bad you are? Well, if they let you on the couch, I guess it can’t be all bad.

In Britain, research among pet-owners carried out for Sainsbury’s Bank in 2003 indicated that 632,000 dogs and cats had suffered from depression in the previous year.

Nearly three times as many pets had suffered from behavioural problems that which could be linked to depression, often resulting in the animal damaging its home or becoming moody or aggressive, according to the research.

Symptoms included attacking furniture, reported by an estimated 1.86 million owners; moodiness, suffered by 1.8 million cats and dogs; loss of appetite linked to stress or emotional problems, 922,000; and incontinence, reported to affect an estimated 803,000 pets.

Eli Lilly warned however that Reconcile had shown side effects in a small minority of dogs, including anorexia, vomiting, diarrhoea, barking and fits.

Take Reconcile and a canine may stop peeing in the house and attacking the furniture as well as alleviating some emotional problems. In return, the dog could begin sticking its paw down its throat after eating, poop chocolate pudding in the house and start to have uncontrollable hissy fits.

You say it comes in beef flavor? That’s not a bad trade off.

(More up-to-date doggie news @ www.boknowsonline.com, a blog by a dog for all dogs)

I have a dog who takes a medication for anxiety. It's not prozac, but I still don't know that I find it a comical matter. Her anxiety prior to this medication was causing life-threatening health problems.

(And yes, she's extremely well trained, exercised, etc....she just has anxiety.)

Oh please... Are you kidding? Prozac for dogs? My vet told me I needed to get Gus on some doggie Prozac and I practically died laughing. Makes me think how dogs in the olden days lived without there expensive high quality clothing, food, collars, leashes, doggie beds... and Prozac.

i medicate my old dog during thunderstorm season. there is absolutely no reason for him to go through the stress and terror when there's medication available to make him feel less afraid. last year he took clomicalm and xanax. this year he'll be on prozac and xanax because clomicalm is contraindicated with his eye problem.

the veterinary behaviorists often recommend medication in combination with behavior modification. if the dog is so stressed that it can't see beyond that, you're never going to get anywhere.

i suppose it's funnier if you've never had a dog with a serious anxiety issue. i've seen dogs who've gone through second-story windows in terror, i've seen dogs who've torn up their feet and teeth clawing through kennels and walls, i've seen dogs put down because their people couldn't deal with their separation anxiety. how on earth is any of that funny?

I'm asking myself the same question, but not finding any answers. Of course I live with a dog who has, prior to medication, suffered stress related HGE...one case so severe they were not sure if she would come home with me again. So to those who thinks it's funny, just be thankful it's not your dog, and hope to God it doesn't ever BECOME your dog, because yes...anxieties can develop at any time. One trauma, one bad experience and you could get knocked off that perfect little high horse of yours and find out why medication can be invaluable and perhaps even a lifesaver.

and you don't even necessarily need a bad experience. some older dogs develop noise sensitivities without any bad experiences at all.

As a vet, I have multiple patients (cats and dogs) taking drugs for anxiety - I have cats and dogs that urinate around the house inappriopriately, I have dogs that cannot be left alone without trying to break out of the house (separation anxiety), I myself, like elegy, have a senior dog that was adopted that has SEVERE thunderstorm anxiety.

I don't think it's a laughing matter. I don't find it funny, I don't think it's comical, and I don't see anything humorous or satirical to be writing biting posts about.

It sounds funny, but its not.

Nor is it some indication of how irresponsible we are as a society.

Frankly, you have a distructive animal who can't be left alone . . . you still have to earn a living. So if its your living or your dog, the dog is, in most cases going to a shelter . . . where it will be destroyed, because no one wants a dog that destroys the house while they are at work (or hurts themselves in their crate, etc). If Prozac can help (and I've heard it does) then give the dang dog Prozac and save its life. That's a no brainer for me. That's the right thing to do. Yes, you should be behavioral therapy as well . . . but giving the dog Prozac may well be what saves its life.

Because it is not fair to ask ordinary people with ordinary jobs to deal with an animal that constantly and spectacularly destroys everything or hurts him or herself while you are gone. Frankly, a lot of people can't do it, no matter how much they love thier dog. If medication helps, then GREAT.

If only Prozac had worked for Conrad. We actually tried it, as well as one other anti-depressant/anti-anxiety med, for his separation anxiety, but it didn't work. It doesn't work in all cases.

I've been actually thinking of talking to my vet again about some kind of medication for Conrad as we make a big push to finally get his various issues under control (finally at the age of 8), with a behaviorist and classes, and a few months of medication may help as well.

It's really not that funny. Unlike a family member with a behavior problem, dogs with behavior problems are quite frequently euthanized.

Not funny at all...

Anxiety is a very real thing. Seperation anxiety can cause serious health issues like Shadowfacedanes has experienced, or bodily harm because they stop at nothing to try and get out of the house when their owners leave. Paws mangled from tearing at their crates to escape, diarrhea everywhere, some dogs will even go through glass windows. Seperation anxiety can be much more serious than a dog barking in its crate or a dog chewing on your new armchair. What about those cases where seperation anxiety can harm or even kill your dog?

Be grateful that your dog does not suffer from anxiety so great that it is a problem. I have used it for a foster we had and today she no longer has to take them. She is one of the lucky ones that used in conjunction with behavior modification she is able to be left alone for short periods (albeit in her crate) without seriously breaking down. Her experiences in life before rescue were horrendous and perhaps without them she never would have found the family she now has.

Go ahead, be a sceptic, and I hope you never have to experience anxieties so great that one day you will need it.

^^Agrees with all the above. We have an older dog at FOHA (8 years old, came from shelter in Mason County WV that was closing) who was returned the day after he was adopted because the owners left for two hours to go out to eat and came back to their house to find the whole lower level destroyed (we didn't know he had this issue, he just came straight to us from another shelter). The man showed us pictures, and the level of distruction was unbeleivable. I can't imagine the stress that dog must have gone through to disembowel a house like he did. If medication can help a dog like that, then I'm all for it!

When I teched at one clinic, there was a black lab named Dimples who had, quite possibly, the worse anxiety about storms I had ever seen. Luckily her owners lived less than a mile from the clinic, because she was a constant patient.

Every time a storm would come, thirty minutes to an hour prior, Dimples would begin panicking.

The owners bought a crate for her, she destroyed it and got out, at the cost of great bodily damage. Numerous lacerations, tears, etc.

Another occurrence, Dimples went through the plate glass window, nearly severing her jugular. I discovered her while I was leaving work, standing in the middle of rush hour traffic, neck severed, dazed and bleeding. I picked her up and rushed her back to the clinic.

These are only two of the literally dozens of times we saw Dimples for anxiety related traumas.

Sadly, during another storm, Dimples escaped (once again THROUGH a window) and was struck and killed on the road.

This was many years ago before "Doggie Prozac" was available. But I bet it could've saved her life.

If anyone still finds this a laughable matter, I question where your compassion is, because until you've seen a dog with this much anxiety, you have no clue, and should not be so quick to laugh....it's truly heartbreaking.

Wow Bo... if it helps any, I thought it was funny.

To clarify...The post is not making fun of depression. The commentary is a statement on society, how easy it is to get medication without the underlying issue being examined. Sometimes the medication has so many side effects it ends up being worse than the original issue. There needs to be a balance between the two. Mom suffers from chronic pain which causes depression, they go hand in hand (what a couple), so this statement is made from experience. She went to more doctors then I can count and all of them were ready to give a prescription for narcotics, which doesn't help nerve pain, but no one would listen. She was looked at as a sum of parts and not a whole. Finally, she did end up at a pain mgmt. center who did listen and they got her the right medication. The medication does have a lot of side effects (like she walks downstairs to get me a milkbone and by the time she gets there she forgets to give it to me) but it is necessary and the pros do outweigh the cons. All I'm saying is it's so easy to write a prescription without delving into the issues.