My dog is on Fluoxetine for anxiety. How long until it works?

I am sorry to hear what you and bongo are going through. Prozac usually takes up to 3-4 weeks to start working. Some people feel they notice benefit as early as 1-2 weeks. Many times dogs with extreme anxiety need multiple medications while waiting for the Prozac to reach peak affect ( ie using trazadone or alprazolam and Prozac together). Also working with a behaviorist in conjunction with medications is very important (especially with such a young dog) and will give you the most benefit.

In my experience the decrease in appetite associated with starting Prozac usually resolves in 3 - 5 days. Making the food extra tasty, as Dr. Elbeze has suggested, is a great idea. If the appetite loss continues after 5 days, talk with your vet about a temporary decrease in the dosage (often we'll halve the dose to see if the appetite comes back) and then gradually work back up to a full dose again.

I'm not 100% sure about the stability of fluoxetine outside of the capsule, but as long as a capsule is not extended release I will sometimes recommend that people put the contents in a meatball like you describe for pets who are difficult to pill. I would be concerned about the stability of the drug in the meatball for 10 days however - it would probably be best to make each meatball daily and leave the remaining medication in the capsule or a dark plastic bag so it isn't exposed to light or oxygen. You may also want to ask your vet about having the medication compounded into a liquid suspension through a compounding pharmacy which might make it easier to squirt into a meatball and would result in more accurate dosing.

Many medications work great in the beginning and then after some time they start to stop working to the same extent, in some cases the dosage can be upped to achieve the desirable effect, you need to contact your vet regarding this issue.

No worries. Just about all anti-anxiety medicaitons used in pets have a sedative effect in the first 2 weeks of use until steady levels are achieved in the bloodstream. As long as he is eating his food by end of day then I would not be too concerned. Also check his gums and make sure they are a nice pink color, which indicates his blood pressure is good. If you still have concerns then contact your vet and see if the dosage can be dropped a bit to reduce the sedative effects. Best wishes with Hershey moving forward. I hope everything gets better from here moving forward. Take care.

Fluoxetine and Trazodone are very safe medications and do not have any long term side effects that I have ever seen. There are the side effects of taking it such as sedation, incoordination, vomiting, etc. But as far as organ damage or an increased risk of cancer, to my knowledge, I have never heard of either drug causing a predisposition to either. These 2 drugs are used quite commonly and I have prescribed them both hundreds of times without ever seeing long term side effects. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

The answer to this really depends on the dog. A lot of dogs are able to wean off the medication if the appropriate behavioral training and work has been done. However, it’s totally safe if it’s really helping Sadie, you can keep her on the medication for the rest of her life. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.