Prozac is becoming increasingly popular among pet owners and veterinarians as a way to treat depressed pets, a British veterinarian expert has told the BBC.
Romain Pizzi is a zoo and wildlife medicine specialist for the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the director of a consultancy firm called Zoological Medicine, and host of the television show Creature Clinic. He told the BBC that pet depression is a serious problem, and many owners respond by turning to drugs.
“Contrary to some people’s expectations, parrots are very intelligent and sensitive animals,” Pizzi said. “Typically if people go out to work all day, their parrot will get very bored and frustrated and eventually develop depression. Symptoms often include plucking out their feathers or self-harming, which is obviously very dangerous. When cockatoos in particular are depressed, they can start to self-mutilate and peck their own legs to the bone.”
An estimated 632,000 cats and dogs in the United Kingdom are also believed to suffer from depression, demonstrating symptoms including aggression, incessant scratching, loss of appetite and attacking furniture.
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“A dog can’t sit on the couch and discuss his worries, but he can howl the house down, chase his tail or chew everything to pieces,” veterinarian Mark Johnston said.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly markets Prozac for dogs as young as six months old, in the form of a beef-flavored chewable tablet. Parrots are given the drug in a liquid form.
But Pizzi warned that drugs should be a last resort. It would be better, he said, for people not to get parrots at all if they cannot provide them with the stimulating environment that the birds need to be healthy.
“Unfortunately there is a big proportion of people who buy these birds because they are pretty and they talk,” he said. “They are not thinking it through in terms of their lifestyle. Parrots require a lot of care and stimulation.”
November 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Can someone please tell me how to determine a depressed animal ? come on… this is just insane… why would anyone who loved their animal ever give them a drug like this ? I won’t take them myself so I certainly would not give it to my pets…
Must be because everyone is to poor to pay for the drugs so we have to find fools that will pay…
November 6th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
“It would be better, he said, for people not to get parrots at all if they cannot provide them with the stimulating environment that the birds need to be healthy.”
Yeah, my sister has a parrot that gets stimulated every time I’m around it – with a spray bottle.
It’s not depressed, just psycho. Psycho parrot. Yeah, that’s it.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Squawk! Who’s a pretty boy then? Squawk! Who’s a pretty boy then? Squawk!
Not me. My negative body image and subsequent lack of self-esteem has left me in need of anti-depressants. Squawk!
Who’s an emotionally crippled boy then? Squawk! Squawk!
November 6th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
My dog sat me down the other day and we had a lengthy discussion concerning her depression. She said when we adopted the two new kittens that she felt she was becoming ignored, what with all the attention we paid to the kittens. I assured her she was still my cutie pie and that she is still queen of the house. This made her feel better and she immediately ran outside to bark at the mailman like she used to do. Thank god she can be reasoned with, otherwise I would have taken her to the doggy psychiatrist and had her put on prozac, along with welbutrin to help her not to sleep too much from the prozac. Hmmmmm………but that welbutrin, maybe I will get her a prescription for it. I hear smokers who use it actually smoke less after beginning the drug. I will have to do a cost analysis to see if it would be cheaper to just let her continue to smoke a pack of Marlboros a day or if it is cheaper to get the welbutrin.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Pooh Bear,
Have you thought about Prozac for Eeyore? He always seems so sad.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
My sister’s cat had a sore spot on his neck which he kept scratching. She took him to the vet, who gave her cream to apply to it and some tablets for him but also told her that the cat could be depressed and this could be the source of the problem. My sister asked what could be done about it, the vet replied that she would have to drive the cat to Bristol (about 100 miles from where my sister lives) to see an analyst – a pet psychologist, and it would cost £300! I won’t tell you what my brother-in-law said. The tablets and cream worked.