medicating anxious cat

[heatherita510]

My 9 year old cat, Martini, has been a scaredy cat for most of her life. Almost 2 years ago, Martini's sister died suddenly of a heart attack. Martini didn't really seem to grieve and was actually pretty happy. She was overly attached to me though, and I decided to get her a friend. After speaking with the vet, we decided a male kitten would be best because the kitten could adapt to her personality. Well, instead, Martini has let the kitten bully her. It's been over a year, and in the last few months, things got worse. Martini refuses to come downstairs. She pretty much lives in "her" bedroom. She also spends a lot of time hiding. We've tried rescue remedy and feliway, but neither helped her.

After a lot of thought, I decided to put her on Prozac. When she gets scared, she lashes out (she did that even when she was an only kitty for those 5 months) . I have a 6 month old niece and I don't think my sister in law will ever let her daughter stay at my house with martini (my sister in law is afraid of her, even though I tell her martini is actually really just afraid of her). So combined with her lashing out, and her new refusal to leave her room, I figured it was time to try Prozac.

She has had a full blood panel done and all her tests came back normal. Originally the vet put her on Zoloft, but it had to be compounded into a liquid. Martini did not like the liquid and trying to give it to her stressed BOTH of us out. So we tried Prozac. Today is day 4, and I don't know how I've managed to trick her into eating pill pockets for 4 days but I have!

Most of what I'm finding online is about Prozac helping for inappropriate peeing... but Martini doesn't do that. So I was just curious if anyone else had any success with Prozac helping a scaredy cat and how long it took!

 

[basschick]

i don't think much of your vet - every female adult cat we've had was bullied by adopted male kittens, and that continued into adulthood.  i'm sure it doesn't always happen, but it's happened with us three times out of three.

if you do a search here, you can see posts about prozac use.  the threads i've seen are mostly about aggressive behavior.  if your cat is being bullied, she does have something to be afraid of.  it's been a year - she's not happy with the other cat. 

 

[heatherita510]

sorry I wasn't clear, I made this post on a whim and I didn't include enough back story but her issues go way beyond just the kitten. that's just the tipping point in putting her on medication to help her anxiety. she is a very anxious cat and always has been, other cats or not. my vet (who I adore & trust completely) and I have been discussing this for a long time (way before the other cat was in our life), but I never felt comfortable putting her on medication. (I also didn't know how I would be able to medicate her, but she has surprisingly been taking the pills easily)

I probably used the wrong word by saying that Merlot bullies her. He just wants to lay next to her and play. I'm aware she's not happy with the other cat and the medication is a last ditch effort before I decide to rehome Merlot.  Even if Merlot was rehomed, I would still probably try medication at this point as I do not trust her around my niece.