Puppy Prozac - Gimme a Break!

As pharmaceutical companies are wont to do, here is yet another way to squeeze a dollar out of people who value and adore their dogs.  This time it's for "separation anxiety."

The new drug named Reconcile (fluoxetine, 1 to 2 mg/kg/day [0.45 to 0.91 mg/lb/day]) is a whopping $64.99 for thirty pills - which is only one month's supply!  I've heard of people in the past who sometimes went without food, in order to give their beloved animals what they need.  $64.99 would be a terrible financial hardship for such people whose vets tell them that it's what their animal needs.

The drug is supposed to be administered in conjunction with an undefined behavior modification program.  More research turned up a prior drug used for canine separation anxiety, named:

Clomicalm (domipramine hydrochloride)

I checked medical dictionaries which are always too technical to understand really, but I found a good explanation of dibenzazepine at the Free Patents Online believe or not!

The symptoms requiring use of this drug are:

Inappropriate barking;

Destructive behavior;

Inappropriate elimination.

To me, this sounds like any dog new to a home.  All this can be controlled with some good training by the person responsible for looking after the dog.  I would dislike the idea intensely, of immediately turning to drugs that may or may not work for my pup.

We have a blond cocker spaniel.  I took her to training classes when she was only a few months old and made sure she that she often socialized with other dogs, people and young children.  She did have a hard time leaving the people in the house where she was born, but with lots of love and good training, she's now happy; well adjusted; not a danger to children and loves to play with other dogs.

We also leave her at a small kennel when we go away and according to the owners, she has a great time there with the other dogs when they're brought out to be walked four times a day.

Back to Reconcile again, these are the possible adverse reactions that your dog might experience while on the drug:

Would you want to put your dog through these symptoms, even if by chance? Locating the Reconcile web site, they say:

Now come on!

Reconcile has a form of diazepam which is one of the base components of Valium.  With symptoms like lethargy, weight loss and depression - don't even try to tell me that it's not an anti-depressant!  I'm just not that ill informed on the topic.

The company Eli Lilly is also responsible for the "wonder drug"  Prozac,  who also make Reconcile for  "canine separation anxiety." 

(emphasis, mine.)

So here we see that the company has lied - outright!  If people decide to use this for their pets because it makes them more docile and makes them sleep even more than dogs do anyway, it's such an injustice to them.

I happen to love my playful, not often annoying, but always lovable cocker.  When she misbehaves, she is disciplined, not with violence but with words and a tone that she understands.

Sources:

Farm News  by Joanne Marshall

Entirely Pets.com

PubMed

MSN Shopping

Discount Pet Drugs

The Bonkers Institute

Wikipedia

Image Sources:

Farm News

Reconcile

Entirely Pets.com