Drugs to calm a kitty down

Stumpy is booked into the vets on Tuesday to talk about her "behavioural issues".

For those who don't know her story, she's almost 2 and gets easily bored and when she does, she gets destructive. We've had her since she was 7 months old, and she hasn't gotten any better with age - if anything she's gotten worse.

She'll have a couple of days in a row (she's had 5 good days in a row at the moment) where she's a normal cat - eats, sleeps, plays and doesn't cause mischief. Then she'll have days like today where she goes everywhere she's not allowed, purely out of boredom I think. She walks around looking for mischief.

Anyway, so I'm going to talk to the vet about what drugs might work for her. Can anyone give me an idea of what drugs are out there for kitties that might work for this sort of behaviour? Keep in mind she's not aggressive, she's not like this 24/7 and we don't want her doped up to the eyeballs to the point where she doesn't move all day...

Try Apawthacarcy.com. Tranquility Blend. Our cat was wild after having been lost for 3 months. These are drops that you put in the wet food, and it takes all the anxiety out of them. Worked like a charm. Doesn't hurt them as it is homeopathic so not toxic.

I don't think it would be a good idea to medicate your cat already. At that age, she's not even a mature adult. In fact she's more like an early teenager. And you know how they can be!! When you say she "goes where she's not allowed" and she "walks around looking for mischief" makes me think there's some tension going on here between you. When a cat's humans are upset, the cat is going to be upset as well. Couple that with youthful, wilfull exuberance and boredom, and you have a cat that needs to work off steam every now and then. Have you tried more playtime?

If that's not the solution, I'd suggest trying some natural remedies first: Feliway, Bach's Rescue Remedy, flower essences. There's a website called SpiritEssence that has homeopathic remedies for these sorts of things.

Hopfully Stumpy will grow out of this phase in time and become a more relaxed and sedate cat.

Sarah, I hear your frustration, but I agree with Tim. I'm not a big fan of medicating cats for behaviour. Tim has made some great suggestions re the Feliway, Bach's Remedy.

Having said that, I believe I remember a couple members here who had issues with their cats and did have them on medication for behaviour. It seemed to work for them. I honestly can't remember who they were now, but hopefully they will come along, see your thread and reply.

I recall cats on TCS that have been medicated due to agression, but not "walking one-cat household destructor" disorder.

I agree 100% with trying the Feliway and Flower Essences. Rather than using Rescue Remedy, however, I would suggest that you research the individual flower essences to find a combination that you can blend that will specifically deal with what Stumpy is acting like.

That's what I did for Ferris. He needed a couple of special essences to deal with his panic and trauma issues, that were not a part of rescue remedy's concoction. I'm still giving him 3 drops daily in his wet food, to ease him through having moved into a new apartment, and he's doing fantastic - is being a really good little boy and getting more and more cuddly.

Good luck, keep us posted.

PS - Do you think she is reacting to the expected newcomer? Cats are really sensitive...she may be sensing that she's not going to be getting as much attention as she'd like sooner than she'd like...just a thought...

I agree - that she's probably well aware of what's coming and is nervous about her place in it all. It reminds me a little of what a lot of MD's have been saying lately, that the majority of ADD (which suddenly every second child apparently has) patients in fact are far more likely simply depressed and acting out, and should not be medicated. Youth is not a disease, and until the last generation, high spirits, difficulty concentrating and/or even 'bad' behavior was seen for what it was, and it would have been considered scandalous to medicate children for ... being children (inconvenient as they might be apparently). If we can't deal with our 'kids', human or animal, maybe we shouldn't be having them.

At one time I really had a big problem with my four year old Barkley who was a hellion on four paws. I spoke to the vet about this random destructive behavior (he has never once been aggressive, he is the sweetest little guy!) and the vet suggested either speaking to a Animal Behaviorist who would never actually see Barkley up close and personal but rather talk to me on the phone to discuss what might be his problem (this solution would cost me upward of $100 or more depending on how many sessions were needed), to placing him on a medication called Amytriplytine. I didnt have the funds for the AB so I went with the medication which consisted of a 30 supply of 10mg swabs of medicine that was rubbed into the skin on the inside of his ear.

Needless to say it didnt work out very well. Barkley did not like having to sit down and allow me to rub this into his ear and he seemed by all accounts to get worse. Finally after talking to the vet again Barkley was removed from taking anymore of this medication and it seems as though now as he is getting older that he is starting to age out on some of the negative behavior, although some days are still worse than others. I wish you all the luck with Stumpy!