Prozac for Pets

[Patience]

Is there no end to the greed of these pharmaceutical companies? This is truly a new low. This is an article from the Alliance for Natural Health.

 

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Prozac for Pets

 

Posted By ANH-USA On August 16, 2011 @ 4:33 pm In Uncategorized

http://www.anh-usa.org/prozac-for-pets/

 

Now Fido can have the same violent and psychotic breaks from SSRIs as humans. Please support our new Citizen Petition to the FDA!

 

The FDA has approved a reformulated version of the much-prescribed SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) Prozac, but this one is just for dogs. Reconcile was created to treat canine separation anxiety. It is a once-daily, chewable, dog-treat-flavored drug that is supposed to be used “in conjunction with a behavior modification plan.”

 

Reconcile’s full product label, which by law includes complete safety information, does not contain the black box warning that is mandatory on the drug for humans. Of course, that black box notice merely warns of increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, adolescents, and young adults. The label doesn’t make any mention of the documented connection between antidepressants and violence towards others, nor the drug’s propensity for causing mania, or increased feelings of hostility or anxiety in humans. Withdrawal from SSRIs can be similarly dangerous, ranging from nausea to suicidal ideations.

 

Given the tremendous risk of humans having a psychotic break when they take Prozac, what are the risks associated with animal use? No one knows—certainly not the FDA, which approved it. What if the dogs turn inexplicably violent? What if the breed is naturally aggressive (which would include the very breeds most prone to canine separation disorder)—will the drug heighten the aggression?

 

ANH-USA is submitting a Citizen Petition to the FDA to ask that information be added to the black box warning label for humans about the increased risk of violence from SSRIs, and to create a similar black box warning label for Reconcile for dogs as well.

 

A recent high-profile article in the New York Review of Books (links: part 1 and part 2) discusses the symbiotic relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatrists to push antidepressants. Some of the revelations:

 

• Many psychiatric drugs were created first, and then psychological abnormalities were postulated to fit the drug (not the other way around as is usually the case).
• The evidence that these drugs actually work is decidedly mixed, especially in the long term. Pharmaceutical companies have to provide the FDA with two clinical trials to prove efficacy of the drugs—and usually these successful trials are widely published. However, they never publish—and never make public—all the trials that were outright failures.
• Many pharmaceutical companies have close links with both the FDA (as we have reported in these pages many times before) as well as the medical industry.

Antidepressants, whether for humans or for pets, is a massive industry. According to the CDC, antidepressants are now among the top three classes of human medications prescribed in the US.

 

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Pushing drugs on animals is driven by the same profit incentive that we see with humans. Americans will spend over $50.8 billion on pet products and services this year. It is the fastest growing retail segment in our economy...

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Eli Lilly created its “companion animal” division at the beginning of 2007 and over the next three years hopes to release several other drugs. Pfizer, whose companion animal revenues have grown 57 percent since 2003 to nearly $1 billion, hopes to develop medications for pain, cancer and behavioral issues.

 

The FDA has approved other drugs for dogs as well: Slentrol is the country’s first canine anti-obesity medication, and Anipryl treats cognitive dysfunction so that absentminded pets can remember the location of the supper bowl or doggie door.

 

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We have a new Action Alert for you. Please write to the US Food and Drug Administration today in support of our Citizen Petition to put Black Box Warnings on all SSRI drugs—whether for humans or for dogs—that warn of the link between antidepressants and sudden violent behavior.

 

TO SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO THE FDA

 

Click THIS LINK to go to the Action Alert page. Once there, fill out the form with your name and address, etc., and customize your letter. We have a suggested message for you, but please feel free to add your own comments to the letter.

 

We’d also love to hear your comments about this article—just add your thoughts below—but remember that the messages below are only seen by our ANH-USA readers and not the FDA, Congress etc.

[Altostrata]

And the poor animals can't report side effects. Terrible.

[Baxter]

This makes me insane. The dogs that "need" SSRIs are typcially the highly social breeds which have really specific job descriptions like herding or guarding or companioning. PEOPLE who treat animals as accessories rather than sentient beings are the problem. You can train an animal to lie in a crate that is just about large enough for him/her to stand and turn in. You can leave him/her there for 10 hours while you are at work/on you commute. But the stress is going to have an impact on that animal's behavior.

 

Then I could go off on puppy mills but I will stop here. I know I am preaching to the choir.

[Altostrata]

One also suspects that humans, or their neglect, play a role in a dog's misbehavior.

 

Dogs are drugged into being manageable, same as children.

[Rhiannon]

This makes me insane. The dogs that "need" SSRIs are typcially the highly social breeds which have really specific job descriptions like herding or guarding or companioning. PEOPLE who treat animals as accessories rather than sentient beings are the problem. You can train an animal to lie in a crate that is just about large enough for him/her to stand and turn in. You can leave him/her there for 10 hours while you are at work/on you commute. But the stress is going to have an impact on that animal's behavior.

 

Then I could go off on puppy mills but I will stop here. I know I am preaching to the choir.

 

WORD.

 

I'll stop there or I"ll be here all day.

[summer]

Last week we got a 3 month old precious puppy for my granddaughter (really for me, but don't tell her ). Prozac... NEVER, in a million, zillion years!!!!!

[Lilu]

I watch a show called My Cat from Hell, and while Jackson's therapies are usually holistic, he does advocate putting some of the "crazy" and unmanageable cats on antidepressants or anti anxiety meds.

[meistersinger]

 

This makes me insane. The dogs that "need" SSRIs are typcially the highly social breeds which have really specific job descriptions like herding or guarding or companioning. PEOPLE who treat animals as accessories rather than sentient beings are the problem. You can train an animal to lie in a crate that is just about large enough for him/her to stand and turn in. You can leave him/her there for 10 hours while you are at work/on you commute. But the stress is going to have an impact on that animal's behavior.Then I could go off on puppy mills but I will stop here. I know I am preaching to the choir.

WORD.I'll stop there or I"ll be here all day.

Being that I live in one of the largest area of puppy mills (Since the Amish and Mennonites consider dogs and cats as nothing more than livestock), the conditions are atrocious. some of those dogs are so overbred, that no amount of training could make them bend to their owners will.

[alex]

I have no words to comment about this atrocity.

[Jamie1979]

Is that a joke? It isn´t, I fear...