April 27, 2007

• Jesus H! So now we're too lazy to train our dogs not to chew the chuffing couch, we just give 'em a pill? Any room left in that handcart?
• Just wait..... cats are next..... SAVE OUR MEMES!
• it's just prozac. marketed for dogs. Survey says! Meh.
• It seems like every antidepressant ad I see lately features a sad dog. In the context of the ads, the dog is sad because the owner is too depressed to play with him, but the tinfoil hatter in me is wondering if we're being prepared for dog mood-alerers.
• There are a lot more neurotic dogs out there (and one under my chair) than there used to be. Lots of pound hounds have separation issues, and a lot of dogs kept alone in backyards, 'apart'-ments, etc, while their owners are away 8-10 hours a day aren't mentally stable. City owners think they've helped their dogs with the the pack problem by taking their dogs to a dog park, and the dog does have fun and get exercise, but dog parks are not a stable pack of animals, strongly bonded, where a dog finds his place in the hierarchy and is mentally comfortable with the relatively long-term structure. Dogs evolved as pack animals, and when they moved in around our campfire, we became their pack. We then started to select for the most friendly, most emotionally dependent animals and let them breed. Up until 50 years ago, a dog spent most of his life either in a semi-feral pack, roaming the town with other dogs during the day and coming home at night, or in close contact with his master earning a living. It's only recently that we've tried to control the number of dogs by "saving" them instead of shooting them so they don't eat the chickens, savage the sheep, or turn rabid and bite the kids. There's a lot of dogs being bred irresponsibly, and we don't cull dogs now if they're neurotic or aggressive, we turn them into the pound and expect someone else to take care of the problem. People seem to want to "rescue" dogs with a sad story, rather than picking a dog that is stable and happy. The selection pressure for feral or semi-feral dogs in the past (and especially now in our cities) was for dogs that are more likely to be strongly attached to other canines preserving the pack structure and more likely to be shy or fearful of humans (thus being less likely to be caught and more likely to be "fear biters" if caught.) My dog Lucy is a prime example of a neurotic dog. She want to be constantly petted and underfoot, doesn't want to go outside with her buddy, Cash, and occasionally attacks him when she thinks he's getting more attention from anyone else. I can't pet poor Cash, or any other dog, unless she's not around. She won't stay outside on a lovely spring day by herself without getting out and going to a friends house looking for me--even when I'm in the house. We continually try to dog-proof the fences, and it doesn't work for long. She has this 'thing' about going out to eat supper at night. Breakfast is ok, she goes outside, but supper is iffy, and she won't eat if you put her out anyway. I tell my husband not to bother feeding her at night, but he thinks she should eat, so he makes her bowl up anyway, then feels rejected when she doesn't. (needs more drugs) That said, we don't need to put dogs on drugs, we need to select for healthy, stable, happy dogs that are tolerent of being left alone for long periods. Dogs don't need drugs; people need drugs.
• Beauty comments GramMa. Spay & Neuter too. I just this morning heard the tale of a (fortunately rescued) golden who's yuppie dumbsh*t owners just left him in the backyard then decided they didn't want him. Too many dogs & cats. Dog breeders aren't high on my list of "good things" either. /derail
• *bows in the general direction of the best Pete.
• Mr. WHiskers is a retired feral cat. He just decided one day, as an adult, to become domestic and that was that.
• Gosh. Unintended side effects can be jarring enough on humans; I fear to imagine a suicidal dog...
• Selling the pharmaceutical control of normal human emotional responses has been a growth industry for sometime. It's great that corporations and pet keepers have noticed that animals have emotions as well. We irrecoverably live in an age where thoughts and ideas can be owned. Soon we may live in place where the concept of emotional property has equal purchase. I'll make it clearer: don't buy a fucking dog if you can't look after it.
• fucking troll.
• i thought dogs and cats WERE anti-depressants... mine sure are.
• Yup, and horses, too. Been said long ago: The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a (wo)man.
• Actually it's not the first licensed behaviour modifying agent for use in dogs. Clomipramine, a tricyclic antidepressant, has been on the vet market for years and years, for use in various compulsive disorders: marketed as "Clomicalm". Works well, but is intended to be used alongside behaviour modification (fancy term for training). Often the training involves training the owners how to interact and communicate with their pets effectively (best left to professional behaviourists). My own wee cat was placed on a compounded version of Fluoxetine for about 3 months for a behaviour cycle she got herself into... some changes were required in my lifestyle in order to help her get better, but it worked. She's a happier cat. You may be surprised at the range of conditions that these 'antidepressants' can be used for in cats and dogs; such as destructive behaviours, obsessive-compulsive disorders, urinemarking or inapproriate elimination, anxiety, & self-mutilation for starters. Obviously the underlying reasons for the behaviour need to be established - if possible- and addressed first, before using the behaviour modifiers; but that doesn't mean they aren't very useful tools. Yeay for Kitty Prozac, yeay
• Wasneme your cat didn't get its 'behaviour cycle' on it's lonesome. Your cat was placed on Fluoxetine not by your vet or your mother or friends but by you. You put you cat on an antidepressant for behaviour you judged problematic and possibly had a significant part in creating. I don't judge your choices. With luck your cat will die very old and very happy, and you will learn that behaviour is most often a response to environment, and not simply genetic or inborn. Which is not to say that genes have zero to say on the matter. Putting it simply wasneme, grow up a little before getting another tragic tripped out cat.
• Nice one, randomaction. Love how you respect the other monkeys and conduct civil discourse. It's heartwarming. Save the namecalling for elsewhere, or take a break.
• Good on you, Wasneme, for seeing problematic behavior and doing what you needed to do to nip it in the bud. Kitty was able to have the stress relieved while you made the appropriate changes in her/your lifestyle. The fact that you recognized the problem and got onto it right away before it compounded, then assisted her by arranging your life differently suggests to me you are a very good care-cat-taker. This, to me, is an appropriate use of this type of drug. And anybody that has been suckered into calling the feline hellraisers 'my own wee cat' is a REAL softy
• Pre-drug Pet stress test (unclear if it works on sheep and/or poodles).
• Thank you kitty-hugging monkeys! Actually, I am a vet, so yes I placed my own cat on prozac, and you bet it was indicated. Like most others in this profession, I have taken on a virtually unadoptable cat who had big self-mutilation problems (and food allegies) (and some er, anger management issues) before I adopted her. Was kinda pleased to make it three years with a chilled-out, sweet, barf-free version of her, before I needed this kind of intervention, and even more delighted that I could wean her off so rapidly... what initiated her behaviour cycle was me being at work longer hours than usual. Bad mummy, bad mummy And I still think I'm a bad mummy, though the cats don't seem to think so
• If I ever do get a cat, pending the release of approval papers from the dogs of course, I'm naming him/her Fluoxetine. Ahh, ol' Fluoxy. Ooh, or maybe a band name. Fluoxy's Midnight Runners? *Ow!* Oh, like you didn't think of it too! Thanks for the insight wasneme! Glad to hear it!
• I think all the Monkeys' pets are pretty lucky critters.