Peeing outside the litterbox - antidepressants the right way to go?

I am wondering if anyone has any feedback with using antidepressants
on cats?

I have 3 cats, one of them - a 5 year old male has started to
occasionally urinate outside of his litter box. We took him to the
vet for the full workup and he is in perfect health. The vet figures
it is behavioural and I think so too (I do have 4 large boxes, scoop
very often). This cat is a bit of a high strung guy - he doesn't go
outside free - he does go out in a cat run that I have, but he is
always trying to get out the door. He loves the cat run, and when he
is in the cat run that is where he is most relaxed. A couple of times
the innapropriate urination has happened when he has been trying to
tell me to let him out and I have been busy or distracted and didn't
let him out (now I am much quicker to let him outside into the cat
run!!) It has also happened when he saw some neighborhood cat laying
on the porch. It is starting to happen more and more and he does seem
more anxious than usual, it might be because the weather is nice, and
he wants to be outside more - during the week I can only let him out
in the morning and at night because we are not home during the day.

Anyway, the vet gave us a Feliway diffuser - after a couple of days I
noticed a nice change in him. Unfortunately another cat of mine had a
very bizarre reaction to it - it made him twitch really bad all over
(paws, back, sides) and that content cat became miserable and scared.
After discussion with the vet we unplugged the diffuser and within a
day his twitching stopped, we waited two weeks, put the diffuser back
and within a couple of days just like before he was twitching again -
so unfortunately that product is not an option for us.

The vet is giving us a prescription for an antidepressent that is a
gel that we will rub in his ears twice a day. I am wondering if there
is anything else I should try before using this medication? I am
hesitent to drug him if there is a better way.

Suddenly, without warning, evavaughn exclaimed (8/13/2008 6:05 PM):
I am wondering if anyone has any feedback with using antidepressants
on cats?

I have 3 cats, one of them - a 5 year old male has started to
occasionally urinate outside of his litter box. We took him to the
vet for the full workup and he is in perfect health. The vet figures
it is behavioural and I think so too (I do have 4 large boxes, scoop
very often). This cat is a bit of a high strung guy - he doesn't go
outside free - he does go out in a cat run that I have, but he is
always trying to get out the door. He loves the cat run, and when he
is in the cat run that is where he is most relaxed. A couple of times
the innapropriate urination has happened when he has been trying to
tell me to let him out and I have been busy or distracted and didn't
let him out (now I am much quicker to let him outside into the cat
run!!) It has also happened when he saw some neighborhood cat laying
on the porch. It is starting to happen more and more and he does seem
more anxious than usual, it might be because the weather is nice, and
he wants to be outside more - during the week I can only let him out
in the morning and at night because we are not home during the day.

Anyway, the vet gave us a Feliway diffuser - after a couple of days I
noticed a nice change in him. Unfortunately another cat of mine had a
very bizarre reaction to it - it made him twitch really bad all over
(paws, back, sides) and that content cat became miserable and scared.
After discussion with the vet we unplugged the diffuser and within a
day his twitching stopped, we waited two weeks, put the diffuser back
and within a couple of days just like before he was twitching again -
so unfortunately that product is not an option for us.

The vet is giving us a prescription for an antidepressent that is a
gel that we will rub in his ears twice a day. I am wondering if there
is anything else I should try before using this medication? I am
hesitent to drug him if there is a better way.

Depends on which one. Meep reacted badly to Clomicalm, becoming so
sedated that she wouldn't eat or use the litterbox.

However, on Amitryptyline (sp?) she did much better. She has undergone
the stress of an overseas move, followed by a cross-country road trip
and our extended "camping" in our own house because though we're here,
none of our stuff - or Meep's - is. Once we settled in here I took her
off the ami, and she continues to do quite well, though I think she's
still complaining about the lack of furniture

Both were in capsule form though. Never tried one that's rubbed into
the ears. What is the vet prescribing?

jmc

I'm puzzled as to why your other cat would twitch.

Have you tried something like Rescue Remedy in the water or wet food?

How many boxes do you have and how often do you scoop? It's possible
he might feel "trapped" while going in one of the boxes and another
cat approaches.

For the first question - the antidepressent is Amitryptyline. I just
got it yesterday. It comes in these needles where you squeeze out 1ml
and rub into the cats ear like a lotion twice a day. I was good with
that until I ready the instructions that said to wash the area with
soap and water first. That should be fun.

I can't start him on it for a couple of weeks. My Husband and I are
going away for a few days and I don't feel comfortable asking my
friend who's watching them to give him the medication and I'm pretty
sure she wouldn't want to do that. I don't think it's something he
should have a break in taking either so I will wait until we are back
and probably start it.

So last night I get home and put the medication on the table - it came
in this ziplocked bag. This morning my cat peed on it! I don't know
if that was a sign or what, it's been about 10 days since the last
incident.

For the other message - I totally think it's weird that the Feliway
made my other cat twitch too. I was convinced he had some sort of
neurilogical problem unrelated to the Feliway, but when we unplugged
it the twitching stopped and two weeks later when we plugged it back
in his twitching started again. My vet did say a very small
percentage of cats can react with aggresion when introduced to
Feliway, but he had never heard of the twitching. It was very
strange, and very unfortunate that I have what seems to be the only
cat in the world with a twitching reaction to Feliway, because it did
seem to work wonders for the other cat. On the other hand I am glad
that it was the Feliway, and my other cat is perfectly healthy now, I
was very concerned for him.

I have not heard of Rescue Remedy. I just did a google on it, and it
looks like something I should try, I will see if I can find some.

For the litter boxes - I have 4 large boxes, I scoop them in the
morning before work and then sometime again after I get home in the
evening. When one cat is in the litter box room and another one wants
in they will wait outside the door until the other cat comes out of
the room.