11/24/2024
The dark side of addictive anti-depressants for dogs~
More and more mood-altering drugs are being prescribed to dogs. Are these more for the ‘owners benefit, or the dogs?
A new trend… Medicating dogs with psychotropic drugs.
We are now seeing dogs being prescribed drugs like
Buspirone, Alprazolam, Diazepam, Trazodone, and Fluoxetine. This has become common among dog owners: a 2016 survey of small-animal veterinarians found that 83 percent had prescribed the antidepressant fluoxetine to either dogs or cats. BTW,, fluoxetine is generic for Prozac.
The increase in mood-altering drug prescriptions for dogs comes with a dark side, too. While humans say aloud whether a prescription has negative side effects, dogs cannot. Am I the only one that questions clear moral standards regarding consent?
Medicating dogs with psychotropic drugs in most cases are more for the “owners' own comfort and are being used as a "quick fix" to drug difficult dogs into submission and in my experience, most behavior being drugged was created by the human in the first place.
With humans, the drugs should only be used when a qualified professional has identified a behavior pathology. Dog owners need to make sure that they are not simply medicating against normal dog behaviors like frequent barking, jumping, etc… The behavior has to be both abnormal and harmful, and only veterinarians who specialize in veterinary behavior (veterinary behaviorists) are capable of doing this!!!
A regular veterinarian has no training in this area.
These drugs on animals, unless it's really necessary in order to calm the animal down and prevent the worst symptoms of anxiety, should be avoided. Again this is my experience, but if you followed me around for one month and saw what I see, I believe you would agree. Would you give these to your children if they talked too much? What if they cried when you dropped them off at school? How about if they pitched a temper tantrum or were rude to a guest? Would you run to the medicine cabinet and get out the Prozac? If so, then have at it. But if you choose to drug your dog rather than do the work, then don’t be offended when you call me to fix in 4 weeks what it took you a year, sometimes 2 to create. Btw, if these meds are not addictive then why do they have to be weaned off them slowly? Or were you advised to wean them off? After all the dog can’t call 911 if he’s going thru withdrawals. Maybe he’ll go thru it while you’re at work and you won’t have to watch.
I dedicate this to Charlie, the Labrador I sat in the floor with all night for a week as he was trying to come off fluoxetine and trazodone for over a year for excessive barking,,, yes barking. He was so aggressive when he arrived I had to back the woman’s truck up to the kennel and just let him jump out the back or he would have bitten me as well as his owner. I took him off his multiple prescriptions, many being different versions of the same just different generic brands. When it was finally out of his system we had just a sweet old man who barked too much. We worked on that and now he will spend the rest of his days in a home with a family who is willing and continues to help him. I believe God allows me to see things to help prevent it from happening again to maybe others. My thoughts entirely.
