I’ve talked some about my own anxiety and depression before here at Writer Tamago, and I feel very fortunate that I’ve been lucky enough to have these problems in a very minor way, and have them controlled with minor medication. I know many people who have these issues to varying degrees, but you know, there’s someone involved in my life who I’ve overlooked for a long time, who has been very uneasy to the point that she’s lost hair and has a personality that vacillates at the drop of a hat.
That someone is my cat Sekhmet. We’ve just recently started giving her kitty prozac. The difference is phenomenal in just one short month.
We took Sekhmet in for her physical at the beginning of July. Sekhmet was looking pretty sad. She had licked all the fur off her belly up to her chest, and large patches of fur had been licked off her back. She’s been anxious all her life, and after she and her sister had cat divorce, Sekhmet moved upstairs and became more anxious. We treated her nicely and worried about her, and every year we asked the vet about it, and he’d treat it as though it were no biggie.
Until this year. First, he emptied her anal sacs, because he was convinced that was why she’d licked off so much belly fur. That’s one of the grosser cat procedures, and she was so very, very unhappy, but Dr. Miller was right. That licking stopped immediately.
And he prescribed half a kitty prozac a day.
The difference happened almost over night. She came downstairs. She stopped licking herself raw. She rolled over on her back and showed us her belly, the mark of a happy kitty. She did hate taking the pills, and Bryon stopped them after a week because he thought that the psychological trauma of taking them was doing her more harm.
***
We took a trip to Minneapolis a couple of weeks back, and when we got home, Sekhmet was running a fever. When cats run fevers, they don’t eat, and Bryon thought we might be losing her. Sekhmet had a tumor removed in the past, and we were afraid that was what was affecting her appetite. So, we called the doc. The first thing he reassured my angsty spouse was that just because a cat is sick, it doesn’t mean they are dying. They made an appointment for the following morning, and Bryon toddled off with her to the vet while I went to work.
The practical upshot of that? After a very thorough physical exam, Sekhmet was declared to be running a mysterious kitty fever and had some inflammation. There were no infections, no recurrences of cancer, no parasites. Just a sick kitty. She received some antibiotics.
Bryon told the doctor about how he had stopped giving her prozac. Dr. Miller was unhappy with him. “Of course she’s going to be mad about taking the pills,” he said. “What’s wrong with you? Do the right thing for your cat.” And since she lost one pound (down to 8, kinda skinny), the doc said, “Give her some wet food. She’s thirteen. She can eat what she wants.”
So, Bryon sucked it up. We now do a doubleteamed cat approach where I pick her up and hold her while Bryon prizes her jaw open and drops the pill in. Bryon didn’t want me participating before because he didn’t want her hating both of us. I had to reassure him this week that Sekhmet doesn’t hate him, and I think he’s coming around to the idea. She loves her new food and eats it all.
And now Sekhmet lives downstairs most of the time. She growls and snarls during pill time, but she never bites or scratches, and she recovers her good nature fairly fast. She comes upstairs for her stroll around with me before I shower. This is where she shows me her stuff by stopping and rubbing her cheeks on it when I pet her. And she purrs and plays and actively wants petting. Her fur is glossy and black, like midnight, her eyes bright moons and her kitty demeanor cute and relaxed.
The big moment of triumph this week was when she and her sister Bastet, who is slowly but steadily getting used to the new arrangement, both purred in the same room at the same time.
So…if you’ve ever wondered about medicating your pet, at least our experience has been very positive, and we’d say go for it. The doctor has given us permission to pill her every other day now that she has improved.
Yaaaaaay!
Have you tried a pill shooter? They aren’t magical, but they can make cat-pilling much quicker and easier (and thus less traumatic).
Or if she loves her new food, maybe sneak it into that? Yeah, I know… ha.
I’m catching up on your blog. Curtis and I use the same doubleteam approach to give Max thyroid pills. He also gets squishy canned food immediately after the pill, so there’s some positive feedback: “put up with this, then the food you like.” He too is an old cat–15 years–and is doing well with this approach.