# Meds for Aggressive Cat



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Thanks for getting behavior help for your cat!!

I've had quite a bit of experience with fluoxetine (prozac) and clomicalm with cats and dogs. It's definitely not something to feel like as a "last resort" or you are failing him in any way. If his brain chemistry is abnormal, this will help get more "normal" and those impacts on the brain. I'll be interested to hear about what option you use and how it goes for you.

Thanks for helping your cat,


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

I have a cat who is on prozac. She has always been somewhat of a bully, matter of fact, she used to stalk Jasper and he was terrified of her. She also was peeing inappropriately for several years. After ruling out all medical issues, we started her on prozac. She hasn't peed inappropriately since and she is not nearly as nasty to the other animals.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

I second what Fostermom said. I have a cat who has been on Prozac for 2 years for inappropriate urination, and a cat on buspar for aggression and the fact that she's nuts. I'm not opposed to medicating at all. In fact the cat who is on Prozac would have probably been put to sleep had we not found a solution. And its cheap. Like really cheap.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

Thanks guy! That makes me feel better. I just hope something will work for him. 

Taz Monkey, can you tell me about buspar? why that and not prozac for the aggressive cat?


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I agree with the others and am glad that you are considering using the meds for your kitty. I would think it would not be fun to be aggressive if you were the cat or the people around it. Plus the liability issues.


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## kaysy (Jan 9, 2010)

Don't have any experience with aggressive cats, but have you tried "Feliway" or whatever it is?


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## BajaOklahoma (Sep 27, 2009)

I just saw this wand was going to ask about Feiway too. Though it would probably be cheaper to use oral meds.  

As to why one med and not the other - you use what works. Just like in their humans, not every med works for every cat or dog. It's trial and error. The medication can take 4-6 to work, so don't make the mistake of giving up too quickly.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

[QUOTE He's been on behavioural management since he was wee, along with feliway. QUOTE]

It doesn't do a whole lot but it helps.


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## Taz Monkey (Feb 25, 2007)

jackie_hubert said:


> Thanks guy! That makes me feel better. I just hope something will work for him.
> 
> Taz Monkey, can you tell me about buspar? why that and not prozac for the aggressive cat?



I actually have no idea. But the buspar isn't working so I'm going to suggest the prozac next time I talk to my vet. But I can only say good things about prozac. And the prozac stopped the marking but didn't change his overall personality, which I was worried about.
My cat who is on the buspar, was on amitriptiline first, and it didn't work either. She's always been somewhat neurotic, but it seems to be getting worse with age, where she'll hiss and spit and lash out at any of the other animals for no reason. She isn't aggressive with people though.


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## firedancer722 (Apr 12, 2010)

I have a friend who used to have a rather psychotic cat that was on amitrypitline but after a couple of years it started to not work as well, so they changed her to Prozac, and it worked like a charm! She said they would have had to rehome the cat if it had not worked d/t having a baby, but she was fearful of medicating the cat. However, after kitty became tolerable, she was all for it!  I don't think there's anything wrong with doing something to help improve the quality of life for our pets or us (as long as it isn't harmful, which I don't believe those things have been proven to be as of yet). 

Good luck with the kitty!


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

These are really positive responses. Somehow vets always made me feel like some kind of failure for even suggesting medication. Anyone here tried clomicalm at


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## goldhaven (Sep 3, 2009)

I had a very aggressive cat that I hand raised after the mother abandoned her at birth. You would thing that she would have at least liked me but most of the time I was the target of her aggression. She would stalk me, jump out at me, bite and scratch me, and then run away. I tolerated this for some time because it was only me that she targeted. One day I had a client at the house who brought his 90 year old mother. Kit kat was rubbing up against her and jumpped up into her lap so the woman started petting her. Kit grabbed her hand and bit and scratched her (drawing blood) and then ran away. She has since gone to live with my sister in law where she is much happier and never attacks anyone. Maybe she just didn't like it here. She was an indoor cat here and now she is indoor/outdoor. Who knows maybe she was just born to be wild. I am not a behaviorist and I have no idea what was going through her mind. This is just my experience with a vicious cat.


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

goldhaven said:


> I had a very aggressive cat that I hand raised after the mother abandoned her at birth. You would thing that she would have at least liked me but most of the time I was the target of her aggression. She would stalk me, jump out at me, bite and scratch me, and then run away. I tolerated this for some time because it was only me that she targeted. One day I had a client at the house who brought his 90 year old mother. Kit kat was rubbing up against her and jumpped up into her lap so the woman started petting her. Kit grabbed her hand and bit and scratched her (drawing blood) and then ran away. She has since gone to live with my sister in law where she is much happier and never attacks anyone. Maybe she just didn't like it here. She was an indoor cat here and now she is indoor/outdoor. Who knows maybe she was just born to be wild. I am not a behaviorist and I have no idea what was going through her mind. This is just my experience with a vicious cat.


Thank you for this. This is very similar to Oscar's behaviour though I do not think he was taken away from his mother early. He rubs up against people and then attacks. He always runs away after like he's having fun. He is also an indoor only. Possibly this has something to do with it but being indoor/outdoor is not a possibility in our neighbourhood. Perhaps when we move next year we'll do supervised outdoor time, but when we used to take him out on a leash he actually became very aggressive on the leash sometimes so we stopped doing that as it seemed to make the situation worse...


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## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

So tonight after reading some articles online I decided to search Feliway on GRF and found this thread. Thanks for starting it Jackie and I'm glad I saw this information.

After a few years with nothing but increasing aggression towards us and poor Merlin I'm going to have a few tests run at the vet and try to find out if Prozac or something similar might help our cat calm down. He attacks us, stalks and attacks Merlin and I can't remember when the last time was he didn't wake me up 5 times a night. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so he can stay outside all night and we can sleep without fear of being bitten. 

There are times I wish Merlin would growl and act aggressive towards Butters, but at the same time I'm glad he's my sweet wimp. We've tried water bottles, treating good behavior, tried him in a separate room at night but he destroys things. Hell, he destroys things in any room in the middle of the night. Knocks lamps off tables....I've never had a cat like him in my life!

Anyway, I'm so glad to read this thread. Thanks for putting this information out there. Going to call my vet this week. Of course when I take him there he's the sweetest freaking cat that ever existed. Butters is butter in their hands. LOL!


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## jackie_hubert (Jun 2, 2010)

I'm glad this was helpful to you. I'm sorry you have to go through this, and your kitty too who I am sure is not happy either. I'd recommend chatting about Prozac, probably the most popular of the meds, and cheap! Now to pill the aggressive cat...I started a threat on that too, hehe!

We do both Feliway and amitryptaline and it's really improved things to the point where Oscar is just a pretty normal cat.


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