Can Prozac Help Dogs With Obsessive Personality Disorders?
I have a Vizsla mix (18-months, neutered male) who is highly excitable in the extreme and also exhibits a lot of obsessive behavior like running in circles for hours at a time trying to catch lizards or bees. I have been working with both a private behaviorist/trainer and the owner/operator of the kennel/day care where he goes.
After several months with him, they both have suggested that he needs Prozac, as the non-medication approaches we have pursued are not working. My vet seems reluctant to prescribe Prozac. What do you think about Prozac? I adopted him from the pound nine months ago and have tried my best, but now I am at my wits end with this dog.
Gary
San Diego, CA
The word Prozac has become associated with many ideas in our culture. At first, Prozac symbolized an easy solution to a complicated problem: clinical depression. Over time, as Prozac failed to live up to the unrealistic hype, the name has become associated in many people’s minds with disappointment. Among doctors and veterinarians, a Prozac prescription sometimes is seen, unfairly in many cases, as a cop out for professionals who can’t be bothered to engage in serious therapy (in humans) or behavior modification (in pets).
Prozac and other psychotropic medications can help with certain behavioral disorders in pets. But Prozac is not a panacea. It works best in conjunction with serious training and behavior modification. I always recommend that owners work the training and behavior modification angle before they give Prozac to their dogs. Prozac shouldn’t be a first choice.
Gary, your efforts to work with your dog sound commendable indeed. For a situation such as yours, in which a bona fide effort has been made to change behavior without medication, drugs such as Prozac are, in my opinion, an acceptable next step.
Talk to your vet about this matter again. Don’t expect a miracle, and be patient (the full effects of medicines such as Prozac might not be realized for over a month). Your dog will need regular blood tests while on the medication. But it sounds like it’s worth trying.
You have questions. 
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My 18 month old snoodoodle was recently put on prozac because of excessive agressiveness with my other dog. After about 2 months I saw a remarkable change and now they play and get along so well it’s almost frightening! :) The vet said that in about 6 months we will start to ease him off and see if that’s an option. Prozac might not be for every hyper dog but it sure has made a world of difference with my Benny. He went from a dog that was about to be taken back to the pound to a loving member of the family.
sorry – forgot to address the OCD behavior. Mine also ran around in circles – chased and bit his own tail and this has certainly calmed him down in that regard. He still goes around in circles when he’s excited and happy – but he has stopped biting his own tail which is a plus.
My rescue dog has been on Prozac for over a year. He was so full of anxiety it was painful to watch. The Prozac has helped him, but he is still living in his own little hell. I hope that one day I can wean him off of the medication. I wish I knew what the people who had him before me did to him to ruin his mental stability. It must have been horrible, but I am not going to give up on him. Good luck with your dog.
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