Expert: Jessica - 1/19/2007

Question
I brought a new 5 year old siamese into the house a few months ago.  I have both a male and female siamese already.  The new male took over the upstairs and was ok for the first couple months.  He would then sneak downstairs when my husband was watching tv and spray.  He was put on prozac but now a week later he is not the same cat.  He was extremely loveable and needy and now he wont even sleep with me.  He was only prescribed a half a pill a day but is it too much???

Answer
I would definitely call the vet.  Though Prozac has no noted side effects in cats, there ARE cats who have negative reactions to it, as can happen with any medication.  A sharp change in personality is cause for concern when a cat is put on any medication.

It's possible he may need to be put on a smaller dose to start.  Certainly something to discuss with the vet.  It may just be a good reason to try another medication, first.  I've had cats on Prozac and cats on Elavil, and I can assure you, neither is a "one-size-fits-all" drug.  Prozac is generally favored for spraying, but it's not the best choice for all cats.  Other medications like Clomicalm (recently became second most preferred for spraying), Elavil, Buspar and even Valium can all work better for certain cats than Prozac does.  With these medications, you may notice sleepiness and increased or decreased appetite, which are normal side effects of the medications (not adverse reactions) that generally go away within a couple weeks.