Anyone have any luck with Prozac for marking?

[ligwa]

Hello Everyone,
Jasper is 5 years old. He's always been an indoor/outdoor cat. About six weeks ago he got into a bad fight with a new neighbor cat. He was hurt really bad, with vet bills over $600. Since that time I have been keeping him inside, much to his dismay. He started marking all over the house and hasn't come up for air since. Our vet put him on Prozac 3 weeks ago. We started out with a very small dose and since have doubled it. He is currently on 2 ml once a day.

I'm about at my wits end with the urine cleanup. I've been just about following him around the house twice a day cleaning the stuff up. He does the marking mostly twice a day, early morning and early evening, the times I always let him go out. We are all pretty miserable right now and I'm feeling like a prisoner to cat pee. Aside from the marking he is crying for hours to be let out. I'm about to lose my mind.

I was wondering if anyone here has had any success with the Prozac. Our vet said they usually see some results by now so I'm pretty discouraged.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

 

[ligwa]

So, I guess there's nobody here that has ever had a cat on Prozac for marking.

 

[ligwa]

Well, no one is posting but someone is reading so I'll give an update.
Jasper hasn't sprayed since early yesterday morning. Believe me when I say that this is progress. That said; I am knocking on wood right now as I know things could change in a blink.. I want to believe the med is working but what I really think is that he hasn't seen the neighbor cat in the past 36 hours. That's the cat that he was in the fight with, right next door. He often comes into our yard and when he does, Jasper goes nuts. So, time will tell I suppose.

I have another kitty so I suppose I should feel lucky that she isn't spraying too.

I purchased one of those kitty pee finder black lights yesterday. Hm. I did find kitty pee that I didn't know about. It's not as easy as it sounds to find the stuff. You really have to look hard. It took me a long time. Then again, maybe the light I got isn't the best. It was the only one the pet store had.

 

[yayi]

I did read your post but I had no suggestions. Personally, I have never given drugs (nor will ever) to my cats for behavior issues. Glad to hear your boy is getting better though. If ever the neighbor's cat shows himself you could shoo him away to avoid upsetting Jasper again?

 

[ligwa]

I do chase the neighbor cat out of my yard. Whenever I see him out there. What would you do in place of a medication for your own cat? This was a last ditch effort. My guy has been crazy upset and bouncing off the walls, spraying everything in site and howling day and night. The Prozac was given to him to calm him down, thus hopefully altering the spraying habit in the process.
I doubt anyone would want a cat to spray urine all over their house all the time. I'm thinking giving him a medication is better than re-homing (who would want him?) or having him put to sleep. I do know that people do that.

Look, don't be so quick to say "never" that's all. You can't see into the future. You really cant' say what you would do without living it.

 

[yayi]

Originally Posted by Ligwa

Look, don't be so quick to say "never" that's all. You can't see into the future. You really cant' say what you would do without living it.

My apologies for offending you.

That is why I said it was a personal choice. I've had cats that had worse behavior issues than spraying. Vets recommended meds like they were the only solution. Anyway, sorry again.

 

[parsleysage]

Originally Posted by Ligwa

Well, no one is posting but someone is reading so I'll give an update.

Ligwa, one thing to keep in mind is that you do not have to register in order to read posts - if you scroll down on the home page, you'll see a box on the bottom that says how many people are viewing the boards... right now it says current users are 143, but only 17 of those are registered and can post.

In other words, people might be reading but may not be able to respond due to not being registered.

Hang in there... hopefully someone will be able to chime in with some advice.

 

[ligwa]

It's ok. I do know that everyone has very different views on every subject pertaining to our babies. My vet consulted with a very good behaviorists before prescribing the med. We had tried all sorts of different things before caving to the med. The last thing I wanted was to turn my guy into a zombie or change his personality. He's ok so far. Today he is not as active and that kind of bothers me a bit. If that continues I will reduce the amount of medication. It's so hard to tell if he is having a crappy side effect or not. He's acting himself (aside from today). He's eating well, playing, still getting on my lap at night and is not aggressive nor lethargic. I was very worried about all of that. I did not make this choice lightly. I would not have done it all all but for the fact that he was so darn miserable and I just couldn't continue to chase him around with a bottle of anti icky poo. Granted, it's not over with. My vet told me it was going to be hard, as Jasper has always been an outdoor guy (he came that way) and he hates being kept inside. But I'm doing the very best I can. If I didn't love this cat he wouldn't be here.

 

[greycat2]

I have one foster cat that is on Prozac for spraying and a slight aggression towards our other cats. He seems to be doing much better with the Prozac (less spraying and less aggression). He was also an inside/outside cat who was abandoned by his previous owners (along with his brother). If anything I noticed is he is slightly less active but it's better that then having him hurt either himself or someone else IMHO.

I'd rather not give him medication but he is doing better with it. He's also on long term steriods for mouth ulcers due to an immune system issues (the spraying started before the ulcers and aggression flared up).

 

[elayman]

You can also try searching this site. I found this through Google on +spraying +prozac. Hope it works for you ! :


An older thread that may be of some help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=167487

 

[ligwa]

Originally Posted by greycat2

I have one foster cat that is on Prozac for spraying and a slight aggression towards our other cats. He seems to be doing much better with the Prozac (less spraying and less aggression). He was also an inside/outside cat who was abandoned by his previous owners (along with his brother). If anything I noticed is he is slightly less active but it's better that then having him hurt either himself or someone else IMHO.

I'd rather not give him medication but he is doing better with it. He's also on long term steriods for mouth ulcers due to an immune system issues (the spraying started before the ulcers and aggression flared up).

Thank you. I've been reading everything I can find over the past weeks.
I wish the medication would do more to calm him but he's a bit head strong. He's always been a very hyper guy. He used to calm down around 9 in the evening. Now he's crying and running around spraying way after midnight. And he's back up and at it around 4 a.m. I'm tired.

 

[ligwa]

Originally Posted by elayman

You can also try searching this site. I found this through Google on +spraying +prozac. Hope it works for you ! :


An older thread that may be of some help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=167487

Thank you. I will.

 

[ligwa]

I was outside with a flashlight at midnight last night trying to see what was making my guy go nuts. He was going from window to window crying and in between stopping off here and there throughout the house to mark.

What I don't get is he never used to act like this at night. I never let him out after dark so it's not like he's used to being outside at that time of night. In fact, Jasper only went outside twice a day,early morning and when I got home from work, for about 45 minutes each time. That's all he wanted or needed. He just wanted to go mark his territory and then he would come back in. Now, he's crying to go out all the time. It has to be the new cat. It doesn't matter if the windows are covered or not. He still knows when the other guy is around. If I close the curtains he will just spray on them, as opposed to the window.

The behaviorist told us to use WD40 around the yard to keep the other cat out. We tried it but he was still coming in. I think the spraying occurs much more often when Jasper knows that cat is somewhere around the yard. Last night I couldn't find him out there but I know he was somewhere. I really wish people who have outdoor kitties would keep them in at night. And as much as I wanted and needed spring, I know this would be easier if there was snow on the ground right now.

I thought about introducing these two cats in a proper fashion to see if they might get along better but my new neighbors are not approachable at all.

I haven't slept a whole night in over six weeks. I'm very tired and a bit discouraged right now.

 

[ligwa]

Originally Posted by elayman

You can also try searching this site. I found this through Google on +spraying +prozac. Hope it works for you ! :


An older thread that may be of some help:

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=167487

Thank you. Wow, that person had a hard time getting the med into kitty.
We have the liquid form that we just squirt in the back of Jasper's mouth. No foaming, thank goodness. He doesn't care for the whole process but it really only takes seconds and it's over with. I always give him a treat right after, just in case the taste of the medication is yucky to him.

 

[cococat]

I read but didn't see it listed, is he intact?
If you can get a cat safe fence you can help keep neighbor cats out of your yard.
http://www.purrfectfence.com/
I can tell you love your kitty a lot.

 

[ligwa]

Yes, Jasper is neutered. I don't know about the cat next door. My best guess is no. I can't put the fence up but I'm thinking about one of those "scarecrow sprinlers". I have read that they are pretty good. I think most of the problem is when the neighbor cat is in our front yard. If I can keep him out of there it may help. I'm going to go get the sprinkler this weekend. And keep my fingers crossed.

 

[parsleysage]

Ligwa, I can hear your heartache.

I don't have any advice and I'm so sorry, but know that we're thinking of you!

 

[cmedeiros17]

I understand your frustration!!!!! I have a female cat that is spayed and she was urinating all over my house as well. She would urinate on my kitchen counters(this was her favorite place), on the rugs, in the tub, on my clothes if they were left on the floor. It was horrible and I was at my wits end. She is an indoor kitty. There were no medical reasons found for her to be doing this. So as much as I didn't want to medicate her my vet really thought the prozac would help. So I did it. Within days she was no longer peeing on everytrhing!!!!! She was much more calm and even playful. She was on the prozac for a few months and then we took her off of it and so far no more problems........I'm nervous now about the windows being open because I think she was peeing in reaction to cats in the yard as well.

I know my vet mentioned that the prozac may not work and that there were other alternatives we could try.....you might want to talk to your vet if the prozac does not seem to be working.

Good Luck and hugs to you .......I understand the stress/frustration this causes all too much!!!!!

 

[benrie]

Is he neutered? If not... try that. I had a female who had MANY behavioral problems including marking. She would go into heat every other week, and would stay in heat for a week. It was hell.

I got her fixed (she was 2 years old at the time), and after that almost every behavioral problem she had was completely gone. She never went into heat again, and she never pee'd anywhere besides the litter box since.

She's still anti-social towards other cats... she much prefers human company.
But besides the odd scuffle when another one of my cats approaches her or gets in her "personal space", she's a whole different cat. Best choice I ever made as a life-long cat owner.

It's not guaranteed that neutering will work. But it's worth looking into.

I would for sure gather as many vet opinions as you can on this subject. Not every vet will resort to behavioral medication, and may have some additional advice for you.

I have personally gone to vets that were pill pushers and did try and sell me many medications and procedures that my cat did not need. I didn't know most of it was unnecessary until I took her to 2 other vets who told me the same thing.

 

[parsleysage]

Reference post:

Ligwa's cat, Jasper, is neutered.