Melatonin for Anxiety

Hi All, 

We have been dealing with some sister/brother cat re-directed aggression. The vet prescribed Paxil for the male cat but the female is still anxious around the male cat and will hiss and growl whenever she feels he is too close. We spoke to some people and they suggested possibly giving the female cat some Melatonin to help chill her out. Has anyone used it before with their cat?

Have you tried to remove the situation that is causing the aggression.  Also, I would do a complete re-intro with these two. Have heard of prozac but never the other two meds used for cats.   My vet is very against using any drugs until all other things have been tried.  Plus, there is the ongoing expense for these items.  Are they both fixed?

Nikki Sly said:

 
Hi All, 

We have been dealing with some sister/brother cat re-directed aggression. The vet prescribed Paxil for the male cat but the female is still anxious around the male cat and will hiss and growl whenever she feels he is too close. We spoke to some people and they suggested possibly giving the female cat some Melatonin to help chill her out. Has anyone used it before with their cat?

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     Please don't give Melatonin unless it's been prescribed by the vet.. it can have side effects and it needs to suit the situation. I, personally, have taken Melatonin and had some very unwanted and unpleasant side effects.

I'm sure your vet has explored other ways around this and feels that Paxil is the way to go.   One of our advisors  ( @ShadowsRescue) suggested Composure to me when my boy was redirecting aggression to my girl due to an outside cat.  It did work.   Also, have you tried Feliway?

I have had great luck with Composure liquid Max calming supplement.  It is non sedating and works for very.  You can mix it into wet food 2x a day.  They also sell treats, but it takes a lot of treats and some cat don't like them.  I started with 1/2 t. in the mornings and 1/4 t. at night.  It took a few days to a week to work, but it worked so very well.  I used it on my territorial aggressive feral/stray cat.  He was on it for at least 6 months.