Crazy Cats - Prozac?

[MishB]

Amethyste''s thread on her overgrooming kitty has prompted this.. some background:

We have 2 adopted shelter kitties, the first, my husbands cat is a male about 7 years old, he is generally well behaved (eats/toilets well, doesn''t spray) except for 2 very bad habits - at about 5 am every morning he becomes desperate to be let outside (they are allowed outside during daylight hours, but inside at night) and rampages through the house leaping on all the furniture, and on and off our beds - and us - until we either let him out or shut the door and put our earplugs in. His second bad habit is scratching one area of one of our couches and the rug in the living room. In the 3 years we''ve had him he has managed to shred the entire arm so that the stuffing is exposed. He does this mainly during the night or early in the morning, I think he does it to get our attention.

He''s also mildly psychotic in other ways that we can live with.

Cat no 2 (my cat) is an angel.. except for what seems to be a case of bulimia, she eats so quickly she vomits, often. Unpleasant, but not a real problem. She likes to excercise her claws on our leather dining chairs and in the 18 months we''ve had her has managed to put scratches in all 6 chairs, they are now pretty much ruined.

We''ve tried a lot of things, yelling at them, water sprays, double sided tape/clingwrap on the scratched areas, Feliway, they have a very nice scratching post etc. I''ve done lots of reading/research and none of the suggested methods have worked.

We''re moving house in a couple of months and want to buy new furniture. I don''t want it ruined but am unsure about how to handle the scratching situation and also don''t want them unneccessarily stressed by the moving process.

Does anyone have any advice I might not have heard before? Anyone in Australia, do vets here prescribe the ''prozac'' mentioned in Amethyste''s thread? This isn''t something I''d want to do long term (I don''t want to change their personalities), but it might help them through the move and then gradually reducing the dosage.

Thanks for reading, any advice welcome!

BTW - declawing is NOT an option, and I''ve never heard of the ''claw tips'' here in Australia.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

ha, well, i was talking to a vet (friend - not a vet to my pets) and the concept of prozac was joked about. yes, it is prescribed. I do not think giving your cats prozac until your move to your new house & get new furniture, then taper will solve the problem. If the prozac works, wouldn''t you KEEP the pet on it? Isn''t it said that once the meds work, it''s NOT the time to quite taking them? I''m not for medicating pets, but what if it''s your only option?

all that blah I posted above, aside, all I can say is that cats are neurotic. . .I''ve had MANY cats and have yet to have lived with a normal one (if there is such a thing).

 

[Amethyste]

ahhhhhhhhhh... I am going to see my vet friday and see what she says about my overly stressed kitty and her mutilating licking behaviour...
I''ll report to you what has been told...

i wish I could help you... But its true, when a cat is on a medication, you should keep it on... Just like humans. i am on Celexa for anxiety and I feel so much better and it has not really changed my core personality, just makes me more relax and less anxious. It might do your cat some good...

 

[radiantquest]

If you decide to not take the medication route you may want to try soft paws. I got them for my kitties. They come in assorted colors so that you can pick a color that will show the kitties personality. They come with instructions. I think they do pretty well. They do fall off. Not right away though. They last for about 5 or 6 days and then you will see one on the floor and you just glue it back on. After several days though they will all come off because the nails have grown out. You cut the nails down again the glue new soft paws back on. They saved our stuff.

 

[chelsea3]

I feel that I must chime in on this issue. I have a cat that is 11 years old. Starting when he was a kitten he would pee on bedding every now and then. I got fed up with constantly washing the bedding and took him to the doctor, several times over the years and he never had a urinary tract infection, rather the doctor said it was behavioral. The doctor recommended that I take the cat to a behavioral specialist. . . yup, really, he did, and I busted out laughing. Told him no way, I''m not taking time off work to take the cat to therapy. The doctor then recommended trying prozac. Let me tell you, the prozac has been a God send. I was at my wits end before the prozac and contemplated giving the cat away. Now we are all happy and I''m not washing bedding all the time. My cat is still active and playful. He has not gained weight from it. My cat normally eats dry food but with the prozac, I mix the dose into a third of a can of Fancy Feast, and he loves it. Good luck!

 

[HVVS]

I have no suggestions for one who rampages in the mornings. I have one that is very loving but he rampages like that until he gets fed. He''s dictated what time cat mealtimes are. He''s high intellect for a cat, and will just ramp it up and keep going, including attacking the other cats.

For the furniture problem, have you tried getting them carpeted cat trees? I bought two cat trees for my cats when they were kittens. It proved to be a really sound investment. The cats prefer their furniture to mine because theirs is higher height than mine and thus higher status. They scratch the posts of it, they lounge on it, they have no interest in any of my furniture. I also bought a tall carpeted scratching post, and a couple of the cardboard box ones. Worked well. One cat likes sisal, one likes carpet, and the third likes cardboard.