Ping Christine Burel

wrote in message ...

I'm not sure why your vet feels 1/8 of the dose of Valium would be
effective. There are also concerns as in some cats valium can cause
*irreversible* liver failure. With so many other medications available I
would never consider using valium as a first try. Prozac is probably
your best bet as a first try as it has a relatively high safety margin
and has had no known side effects reported in cats. If it does not work,
however, it is a medication that the cat needs to be weaned off slowly
over a few weeks time. HTH.

Megan


We tried such a small dose to try to strike a balance between his
unmedicated agitation and too much sedation; we tried valium last year
around this time, and the recommended dose made poor Mikey staggering
drunk. Halving the dose made it better, but he was still more sedated
than we'd like to see. This year, we started with an eighth, and are
now using a quarter dose, which *does* seem to be helping. Last night
we were actually able to have a normal "crazy time" with chasing
mousies and shredding paper towels, a big improvement over his recent
obsessive behavior. He paces for *hours* and there's no distracting
him. Not petting, not conversation, not playing, not food, not
anything stops him. Whenever I try, he *looks* at me with the exact
expression of a busy human whose time is being wasted, and after a
moment goes right back to pacing.

I haven't insisted on trying any different medication mostly because
this is intended to be temporary -- holidays upset Mike because of the
altered routines, and Christmas, with the changed schedules, furniture
rearranged to accommodate the tree, new things coming into the house,
various people coming and going, etc., is a big upset for him. He
*likes* parts of all this (frex, he loves to sleep under the tree,
loves to "help" me wrap presents), but taken all in all it's just too
much for him, and he sprays *everything* and paces, literally for
hours without stopping, hissing and yowling at nothing. But after
Christmas, when things get back to normal, so does he, and it seems to
me that something like Prozac is meant to be longer-term, as it does
take some time to become effective, and then to work its way out of
the body. I don't expect to have to medicate him at all past early
January.

I did read up on the liver complications last year, when we started
with the valium, but honestly, I have crossed my fingers and hoped for
the best, since it is low-dose and short-term. I really don't know
what else to do.

I live in a very small town, right spang in the middle of a huge
expanse of very small towns, and when any of our animals have ever had
to have complex treatment, we've had to take them to the state
university's vet school, which is about a five-hour drive from here.
It's hardly worth hauling car-hating, vet-hating Mike that distance to
treat something related to *stress*, as the stress of that experience
would far outweigh the stress he's got now. *sigh*

I do appreciate your input, and would *very much* appreciate any
suggestions you might have. Poor Mikey is just not a happy cat right
now, and I hate to sedate him but am sort of out of other ideas,
without canceling all holidays altogether, which is not much of an
option as far as the human family is concerned. :-(

------
Krista

Lots of purrs for Mikey - and you,
--
Polonca & Soncek

"LOL" wrote in message
om...
We tried such a small dose to try to strike a balance between his
unmedicated agitation and too much sedation; we tried valium last year
around this time, and the recommended dose made poor Mikey staggering
drunk. Halving the dose made it better, but he was still more sedated
than we'd like to see. This year, we started with an eighth, and are
now using a quarter dose, which *does* seem to be helping. snip

LOL wrote:

I did read up on the liver complications last year, when we started

with the valium, but honestly, I have crossed my fingers and hoped for
the best, since it is low-dose and short-term. I really don't know
what else to do.

I live in a very small town, right spang in the middle of a huge
expanse of very small towns, and when any of our animals have ever had
to have complex treatment, we've had to take them to the state
university's vet school, which is about a five-hour drive from here.
It's hardly worth hauling car-hating, vet-hating Mike that distance to
treat something related to *stress*, as the stress of that experience
would far outweigh the stress he's got now. *sigh*

Krista, have you ever tried Rescue Remedy on him?

Mary

Mary Pelis wrote in message ...


Krista, have you ever tried Rescue Remedy on him?

Mary


Hi, Mary, that's a good thought. I never have tried Rescue Remedy,
because I'd always heard about people adding it to drinking water, and
Mike refuses to drink out of anything but a dripping faucet and will
*not* drink out of a bowl (unless it has camellias in it, because he's
weird). But I saw it while flipping through the Drs. Foster and Smith
catalog the other day, and it said you could add it to food, so I have
been thinking about trying it. Thanks for the reminder!

------
Krista

"LOL" wrote


Hi, Mary, that's a good thought. I never have tried Rescue Remedy,
because I'd always heard about people adding it to drinking water, and
Mike refuses to drink out of anything but a dripping faucet and will
*not* drink out of a bowl (unless it has camellias in it, because he's
weird). But I saw it while flipping through the Drs. Foster and Smith
catalog the other day, and it said you could add it to food, so I have
been thinking about trying it. Thanks for the reminder!

Just a word of warning - when I first opened the bottle of rescue Remedy, I
was shocked at the strong smell of... brandy! Turns out it's something like
95% brandy, but when you mix a drop or two into a large bowl of water (or
food), of course it's diluted pretty much. I have one bowl of water with RR
and one without, and Frank seems to prefer the one with it, and seems
unsettled if I've forgotten to put some in the one bowl. We've had a little
less yowling in the middle of the night since I started doctoring the water,
but he does still yowl sometimes.

--
Marina, wondering if Frank is becoming an alcoholic