Cat anxiety meds

[Freddieandchip]

What is the strongest anxiety medication you guys would feel ok giving your cats or have given your cats?

One of my cats is diagnosed with anxiety, he takes fluoxetine every day and I have feliway diffusers. He’s fine on the medication but before he started taking it he had extreme anxiety, he would cry all night and he eventually developed cystitis due to his anxiety. I moved over the summer and my vet prescribed gabapentin for him (100mg 2x daily) and also said I could double his dose of his fluoxetine for a few days. I gave him the max amount of everything and it still didn’t seem to help. I made a comfortable spot for him in the closet to try to help him calm down but after the move his anxiety was so much worse for weeks. The vet prescribed a weeks worth of gabapentin and even getting that every day didn’t make much of a difference. I unfortunately am moving again this summer and I’m really worried about how he’s going to react. I’d like to request something stronger from my vet but I dont want to give him something that’s going to make him overly sedated or disoriented

 

[klunick]

I have heard good things about some OTC stuff like Rescue Remedy and CBD oils. Might want to try some the cheaper things before spending more money on prescriptions that may or may not work. Good luck.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Sorry you haven't gotten more responses, but I think the issue is that no one here is going to know of anything more than what your vet could advise you to try. Maybe you can use the highest doses again, but add some OTC items like mentioned above. You'll have to confirm with the vet anyway about the CBD oils as they could be something you can't give along with fluoxetine.

Calming items like a heartbeat toy or ticking clock might be something else to try. And I would not discount cat music either - such as David Teie who creates music for cats. There is also cat music through RelaxMyCat and MusicForCats, and other sources including Spotify and YouTube. I was surprised to find out a lot of folks on this site have gotten results with the cat music.

If your presence helps to calm him, make sure that you place some worn unwashed clothes of yours with him when you move.