By calming an animal, Prozac helps the pet learn more easily, psychologist Valerie Chalcraft says. Once derided as a cop-out for treating behavioral disorders in animals, medications such as Prozac that contain serotonin re-uptake inhibitors are now a routine part of veterinary care. They are given to cats that spray walls with urine, pet parrots that might self-mutilate when bored, dogs that get spooked by thunderstorms or obsessively lick their paws, and zoo animals suffering outside their natural habitats. This year, targeting dogs with separation anxiety, it licensed beef-flavored Reconcile tablets containing fluoxetine hydrochloride, the generic name for Prozac. After the FDA approved Reconcile, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Britain charged that giving dogs drugs to treat behavioral problems merely masks symptoms of a deeper problem. The most common adverse reactions to Reconcile include anorexia or weight loss, lethargy or depression, shaking, vomiting, restlessness and excessive vocalization, including whining. Read More

[Tags]prozac, dogs, pet, animals, behavioral, care, natural pet health[/Tags]