My cat attacks my older cat. Should he be on anti-anxiety meds?

Hi there. Yes, there are definitely medications that can help with chronic anxiety in cats, and she would likely also benefit from other changes in her environment to help make her more comfortable. Ideally, I would strongly recommend getting in touch with a veterinary behaviorist who can evaluate her in person and help you put together a detailed treatment plan for her, including medication if he/she feels that it would be helpful in Sunny's case. You can search for one in your area here: www.dacvb.org If this isn't possible, then you can certainly work with your regular veterinarian if he/she is comfortable treating behavioral issues in cats. You will indeed need to have her seen for an exam in order to start any prescription medication - so you'll need to bring her into the clinic, or you can see if there are any vets in your area who offer housecall services. You can ask your veterinarian about using a calming supplement such as Anxitane or Zylkene before the visit to help make her a bit more comfortable, if needed.

You can speak to another vet about anti-anxiety medications for Prim, but I can recommend a few things you can do at home for her. First, I suggest trying Feliway. It's a plug in diffuser that spreads pheromones around the room, which helps with anxious cats. You can also use a Sentry calming collar on her, which will also release pheromones when in contact with her skin. Certainly get a second opinion about medications for her as well.

This is a very tough problem for you to have! I would have Toby seen by a vet, as there are prescription medications that can help a cat with anxiety. It sounds like you have tried all you can at home, and now it's time to look into using prescription drugs to see if that helps him. These medications could include prozac and zoloft. It would be up to your vet to determine if medication is appropriate for Toby, and what medication would be safest to use. I would make an appointment to have him seen on Monday. I hope this helps!

Actually now the recommend medication is gabapentin. Ask your veterinarian for some and give it before the visit. With this the cats are just mellow, easy to handle and not as drugged as with the other medications. Diazepam is not used much in cats now due to it causing liver problems. Apromazine can make them sedate but doesn’t reduce the aggression. I personally don’t find Xanax effective. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for your cat.

I legally cannot recommend doing this without seeing Molly in person. I would separate the cats, and slowly reintroduce them to each other. Take the cat who is aggressive, and put her in her own room with her own food, water, and litter box. Keep the door closed, and for a few days, feed them both treats on other side of door so they associate each other's smell with a good experience. Then let the other cat in the aggressive cat's room while the aggressive cat is in a cat carrier. They can smell each other, but not be in contact. If either becomes upset or show signs of aggression, remove the second cat from the room, and try again later. Praise them when they interact appropriately. When they are interacting well with each other through the carrier, you can let the aggressive cat out of her room, and see how she interacts with the other cat. Praise them when they interact appropriately, and separate them with any sign of aggression or upset. I would get a cat tree with lots of shelves to give the cats vertical space to get away from each other. I would keep the cat in her room when you go out until they are comfortable with each other. I hope this helps!

I don't know of a specific medication for anxiety in treat form, but there are treats with supplements for anxiety, the one I used most of is called Compoaure. However your vet can use a compounding pharmacy to get Prozac in treat form as well as that is likely going to be more effective than a supplement.

Kovu really does need a vet visit. It's never safe to give human medication prescribed for you to your cat, especially since cats are so sensitive to certain human drugs. In some cases, giving a cat your medications can be fatal. I would make an appointment for him to get a prescription for sedatives for when he travels. Best of luck.