amitriptyline for aggressive behavior

stephanie42

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jake has been a bit of an issue the last few months... i spoke about it a bit here:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/290069/still-having-trouble-with-jake.  short story is he started seriously bullying our younger female but will play with the older female.  he also bit me once due to overstimulation and also ends up scratching me about 75% of the times we interact.  we have tried everything within our means at this point.  we went to the vet this past weekend and explained the situation and went over what we've tried.  she prescribed 10mg of amitriptyline (Elavil) daily.  we did not give jake the dose on saturday evening because he had received vaccines and we figured one thing at a time.  so we gave him the first dose last night.  (side note: pill pockets were a big NOPE.  we hit the pill in a piece of american cheese and down it went.)

jake ate normally last night before bed and this morning did not wake us up by trying to beat the crap out of samantha (youngest) under our bed.  when it was time for breakfast, he stomped around the kitchen with the girls, who were very wary of him - particularly piglet.  jake often would smack them if they rubbed on him or got too close to him while i was making their breakfast; he seemed a bit surprised that piglet growled at him and preemptively smacked at him.  i kept separating him to keep the girls from hitting him before he hit them (since he wasn't hitting them) and fed everyone.  jake ate normally, maybe a bit slower than usual.  

this morning, he is definitely slow.  i know amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant so it has a serious sedating effect.  i've read threads where people describe their cats as 'zombies' for a couple of weeks.  i approached jake to pet him and he put up with it for a minute, then halfheartedly wrapped his arms around me and nibbled my hand to get me to stop.  i called him into the bedroom and jake jumped on the bed, settling down to nap.  i sat with him for a minute and petted him; he allowed me to do so and then put his head down to sleep. 

this is a HUGE difference from what jake is usually like.  i haven't tried to get him to play or anything because i'm not sure how else the amitriptyline will affect him.  i'm hopeful that this will work because rehoming was really our next step and is out of the question, so i'd just have to put up with it.

tl;dr - jake started amitriptyline last night (10mg/daily) and already seems flat, disinterested, and sleepy.  does anyone have any experience with amitriptyline who would be willing to share their experiences - how long does the 'zombie' state last, what side effects should i look for, etc.  the vet said jake has a SLIGHT heart murmur but is not concerned; she wants him back in 6 weeks for bloodwork.  tia.
 

Columbine

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I don't have feline experience of amitriptyline, but I take it myself (to control fibromyalgia symptoms). It does a a 'doping' effect - for that reason my doctor suggested that I take it before bed instead of in the morning. 10mg does sound quite high for a little cat body (I'm not questioning your vet's approach btw...just trying to explain side effects. I started on 25mg and built up to 75mg. It's no longer used in higher doses than that in people because of the degree of sedation that it causes). It's not surprising that he's a little doped at the moment. My experience is that it takes 2-4 weeks for the body to adjust to side effects from this kind of medication. As far as I'm aware, the doping is the primary side effect, and the most common. Try not to worry, it should pass. He'll gradually adjust, so you'll probably see minor improvements day on day after the first week or so. If you're really concerned about the level of side effects and Jake doesn't seem to be adjusting well, you can always go back to your vet and ask about starting Jake on a lower initial dose and gradually increasing it to allow his body to adjust better. I hope he does well and adjusts quickly :vibes:

I'm sorry if this isn't the help you were after, but it's the best I can offer :)
 

ciarabd

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My cat was prescribed this for 21 days for aggression and absolutely nothing changed with her. Still trying to kill the youngest cat, still very much herself unfortunately as far as agressiveness to other cats. It's crazy how cats and people can have such a wide variety of reactions to medications!
 

detmut

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My cat was prescribed this for 21 days for aggression and absolutely nothing changed with her. Still trying to kill the youngest cat, still very much herself unfortunately as far as agressiveness to other cats. It's crazy how cats and people can have such a wide variety of reactions to medications!
what was the dose?
 

ciarabd

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what was the dose?
The bottle does not specify, sadly. I only thought it was working over the first few days because she would just sit near to Leon and not immediately try to eat him alive but I believe she was just a little confused about the E-cone he had to wear for a few days because the second it came off she got extremely aggressive with him again. Maybe it was a very low dose because I sadly did not notice any differences.
 
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stephanie42

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thanks for the replies.  now our issue is pilling him.  jake completely refused to even CONSIDER the greenies pill pockets (that's $6 wasted....).  i'm thinking of checking another pet store to see if there is another brand/flavor he might like.  we put the pill in american cheese the first night and got it down no problem.  putting it in cheese the second night, well jake was already onto that and nibbled the cheese from around it.  dh took about four tries to pill him but got him to swallow it.  

jake did not try to beat the cr@p out of samantha under our bed like he had been.  he did not try to fight with the girls at breakfast (although piglet still preemptively swats at him - i think she's worried he's going to go after her).  jake seems sedate and pretty calm. he still got frustrated when i was trying to pick him up and move him and got a little mouthy with me.  i'm not going to lie - being able to sleep past 5:30am without hearing jake and samantha growling and hissing and fighting under the bed was pretty nice.
 

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I know its not ideal, but have you tried thoroughly coating the pill in a strong flavoured paté? That's been known to work for all but one of my cats. Glad the amitriptyline is working :)
 

artyjill

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Well l haven't had to give a cat amitrptyline but l have and still take them to go with my pain tablets but l take them at night and even after years of taking them they still make me go to sleep, Before l took them pain would wake me and most people l know take them an hour before sleep. with taking them at this time  i sleep it of. I would think it would be best to find the right time to give him them . If he still is the same give him them earlier.

Hope it works well for him,

     Jill
 
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stephanie42

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jake has been on amitriptyline for five days now.  he's kind of like a cat zombie - pupils usually pretty big, he's not interacting with anyone really.  but no screeching or fighting on his part.  i feel bad because piglet and samantha are still preemptively swatting at jake.  today was the first time jake played since we started him on the medications.  i got him to chase a laser light for a bit :)  jake seems kind of pissed at us and isn't purring at all but i'm hoping it will just take some time.
 

artyjill

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Its maybe he needs the medication reduced. Its like us when taking  pills as there often reduced.

Jill
 
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stephanie42

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almost two weeks in (if i'm counting right) to giving jake amitriptyline.  we dropped it to half a pill for two days to see what happened - jake seemed a little more like himself.  i'm concerned that the main reason this is 'working' is because it's sedating him, which makes me kind of sad.  jake spends most of his day sleeping, which of course is completely normal because he's a housecat.  feeding time is becoming much calmer because piglet seems to be understanding that jake won't be attacking her for no reason.  samantha doesn't preemptively strike out at jake as much, and there's no screeching and fighting in the morning - we are actually able to sleep.  

dh is also getting very good at pilling him.  jake hates it, but hd is WAY better at it than i am.  i gave jake his pill the other night and it took me forever, plus three scratches.  dh gets him to swallow it in about 90 seconds; apparently he learned from watching my mom pill our old cats and that is not a skill that is inherited.  (my mother could get any animal to swallow any pill.  no idea how she did it, but she was great at it.)  we are going to continue with a full pill for another week and see if jake 'normalizes' - most people say it takes about two weeks for the zombie-like affect to go away.  if it doesn't, i'm going to buy a pill splitter and give him half.  from what i've read online, most people say 13 pounds is the cutoff where you switch from half pill to whole pill.  
 
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