How can I help my cat with her depression, OCD, or hyperesthesia?
March 16, 2011 12:11 PM   Subscribe

My cat will start taking antidepressants tomorrow. Should I be doing anything else?

My cat recently started pulling her fur out with her teeth.

Back story: We've been to the vet 3 times, and we've tested for parasites, bacteria, yeast, fungi, fleas (basically we ran the full gamut of tests). She had a bacteria infection which has cleared up, and we have completed 3 of 4 lime-sulfur dips (even though she tested negative, we're doing it just in case). We've changed her food to a non-allergy food, and we're going to start adding omega fatty acid supplements to that food. Other than the bacterial infection, she is in perfect health.

She is no longer itchy -- no rolling skin when I pet her, and no scratching -- but she does pull her fur out almost immediately. She's wearing a cone/e-collar.

Question: The vet is going to give her amitriptyline, which googling tells me is a tricyclic antidepressant. He thinks she might be OCD (literally) about fur-pulling, or might have hyperesthesia syndrome (which googling tells me is abnormally increased sensitivity of the skin). Have you heard of a cat doing this before? Do you have recommendations for anything I can do in addition, to help her? I play with her a lot, I've been trying to help her break this habit, anything topical on her skin is out for now, and I can't give her treats.

Bonus question: He said this medicine makes some cats aggressive. If you have given this (or similar) medicine to a cat, did you notice any mood changes, or aggressiveness?
posted by Houstonian to Pets & Animals (13 answers total)
 
Response by poster: How could I forget! She's shy around the paparazzi, but here's my little Lucky on a happier occasion (ie, with fur).
posted by Houstonian at 12:35 PM on March 16, 2011


wow, do you still have that dieffenbachia? it's kinda poisonous to cats & kids IIRC.
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:39 PM on March 16, 2011


I actually give two of my guys amitriptyline to make them less aggressive towards one another, but they started out aggressive. I also know of friends who've given their cats amitriptyline for inappropriate urination issues with no abnormal aggression as a result. I think this is probably one of those things that you won't know until you give it a shot.
posted by crankylex at 12:40 PM on March 16, 2011


Response by poster: No, the plant was given to me as a gift. As soon as the cat sniffed it (and I took a photo to go with a thank-you letter), I set it outside (my cat is 100% indoor cat only). That was over a year ago.
posted by Houstonian at 12:41 PM on March 16, 2011


good catch. Hope your cute kitty feels better soon!
posted by toodleydoodley at 12:42 PM on March 16, 2011


one of my cats did that for a while. it started when i was having health problems and very stressed, so I assume she was picking up on my stress. she didn't injure her skin, but she licked or bit all her fur off from her belly down to just above her paws.

the tricyclic antidepressants and daily quiet calm petting time fixed her up pretty well, and after the fur grew back she was fine.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:46 PM on March 16, 2011


Best answer: Our Sammy took Prozac for about 6 months of last year for a similar situation. He was overgrooming his entire tummy until it was completely bald, red, and oozing. We ended up doing two rounds of antibiotics for bacterial infections, and he was pretty depressed by having to wear the e-collar all the time. After lots of tests, we finally started Prozac.

The first couple of weeks, he was sort of stoned. Sammy is a very active, very outgoing, intensely friendly and loving cat, and all that behavior was toned down. He just slept more, and wasn't as insistent for attention as usually. He slowly got back to normal. There never was any aggressive behavior (to us or our other cat). We did see improvement in the overgrooming after about two weeks. At a month, it had pretty much stopped. However, we made the mistake of stopping the drugs too soon. Within a month he relapsed and started to overgroom again.

When we started the next round, he didn't have the pronounced stoned reaction the first time. This time we kept him his meds for about 4 months before weening him off. That was December. And no relapse!
posted by kimdog at 12:50 PM on March 16, 2011


One of my cats has kitty OCD and pulls hair. He starts to groom and just gets out of control.
I have had luck controlling this behavior with Bach flower remedies. Bach Rescue Remedy (the childrens formula is the same as the pet formula IIRC) is good for calming in stressful situations, such as moving, new animal, etc. For my problem cat the Crab Apple essence has worked very well. I can't say I really get how it works, but it is the only thing that has!

The hair pulling is so frustrating that your post got me to sign up after 3 years or so of lurking!
posted by cat_link at 12:53 PM on March 16, 2011 [1 favorite]


I had an over-grooming cat, cheerfully nicknamed Scabbers. I took him to multiple vets and we tried a bunch of hypoallergenic foods to rule out health problems. He seemed to get better when I clicker-trained him - probably a third of his food was coming from training, no treats b/c of allergy concerns.

He also got better when he was an outdoor cat - I think having stuff to do during the day helped a lot. Maybe a cat run?
posted by momus_window at 1:36 PM on March 16, 2011


My cat is on amitriptyline for the past six months for anxiety that manifests in over-grooming and urinating around the house when he's stressed. We have the lotion kind that rubs in his ear because the thought of making him swallow a nightly pill just seemed unrealistic. He's responded to it really well. No aggression whatsoever. He's absolutely his usual self, just a little less on edge. The meds are not cheap, but very much worth it. I was so relieved that it didn't make him groggy or wild.

You might also try making some minor tweaks to your home / routine. Consider if there are small things that might be stressing her out: people coming and going, noises in the hall, location of the litter box, location of food, feeding routine.

Do you brush her? When do you play with her or cuddle with her? This could help her relax, especially if it's done predictably.

If you haven't already, changing her food to a grain-free brand could be worth a shot as well.

My cat responded well to getting his own litterbox; before that he was sharing one box with our other cat. Apparently, he didn't like that arrangement.

Good luck!
posted by cymru_j at 7:04 PM on March 16, 2011


My cat took amitriptyline for awhile for her anxiety disorder that manifested itself in over-grooming and a refusal to leave my bedroom. It didn't do anything for her. We're on Xanax now which isn't fully doing it either. I'll probably check out some of the other recommendations in this thread.

But the amitriptyline did not make her more aggressive. If anything, I think it made her sleep more.
posted by whatideserve at 3:52 PM on March 17, 2011


Maybe she's stressed from boredom. Indoor environments offer little in the way of unpredictable stimulation says the RSPCA. Can she go outside at all?
posted by freya_lamb at 4:57 PM on March 17, 2011


Response by poster: This is a follow-up, now that the cat has been on antidepressants for a little over a week. As kimdog's cat, she was basically stoned for the first few days, but that has worn off. It never made her aggressive.

We did go outside a few times, and she played under my supervision but then went into a massive fit of fur-pulling. I've also increased our play time and brushing.

She now goes without pulling her fur for about an hour at a time. Several people mentioned that their cat was on this type of medicine for much longer than 10 days (the number of days our vet prescribed) -- thank you! Since I'm seeing some improvement but not complete improvement yet, I'm going to ask our vet if a longer stint would be appropriate for her.
posted by Houstonian at 4:46 AM on March 27, 2011


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