transitioning from prozac to paxil

[lauralite]

Does anyone have any experience in transitioning a dog from prozac to paxil?

My Great Dane mix has been on prozac for almost 5 years for separation anxiety. I’d like to change her over to paxil, and while my vet is on board with this, he doesn’t have any advice as to how to do it.

This can be a tricky transition in people, but I’m not sure about dogs.

[DrBeckett]

Why do you not want her on prozac any more? I’ve never used paxil. It’s an off-label medication. According to Plumb, the drug formulary, it can cause lethargy, salivation, GI effects, anxiety, anorexia, hyperactivity/insomnia. All the things you would see in a human. I was on it for a week. Didn’t sleep more than 20 minutes a night during that time. It was awful. I wouldn’t wish that drug on my worst enemy.

[lauralite]

Several reasons.

She is on a relatively high dose of prozac – 60mg is her typical dose but I increase it to 80 at times of increased stress.

I’ve never been sure that the prozac was really doing much for her, and was planning on weaning her off a few years ago my life situation changed causing us to encounter a few stressful situations and I think it is best to wean her off when things are more stable.

First we moved 800 miles two years ago. She went from an inside-mostly dog with run of the house to being outside most of the day and confined to my room when inside. Then this time last year I bought a house and we moved again (though only a few miles) PLUS one of the dogs she grew up with died (euthanized).These two events happened within a week of each other. We went from living in a quiet suburb to a very urban area with people going past on the sidewalk all day and often all night. We’re also across from a train yard … yeah. Lots of stimuli.

That said, I had thought about weaning her off now instead of changing to paxil, but the other dog she grew up with was diagnosed with heart failure a year ago and I’m not expecting her to live much longer (she wasn’t supposed to live this long). I’m not sure how hard it will be on Gracie when Abbey dies, but it doesn’t seem prudent to pick this time to stop her psych med. So I’ve decided to keep her on something until several months after Abbey dies (whenever that may be) and then slowly start to wean her off.

Paxil is also easier to get. When I first put her on the prozac it was on the kroger/walmart/etc $4 list. Now I have to mail-order it to be able to afford it and that can be somewhat unpredictable. I just today got a shipment from them that was sent on 3/20. It is very frustrating, so I’m trying to cut down on the meds I get via the mail and if her conversion to paxil is successful then it will only be Abbey’s vetmedin that I mail order.

All psych meds have different effects on different individuals. I know people who have had a hard time with both prozac and paxil. I’m hoping that Gracie will respond well to the paxil but if not we can go back to the prozac.

[lauralite]

Just wanted to update this in case it helps anyone else.

We are still transitioning from the prozac to the paxil, and I expect it to take a few more months.

I can’t remember how I originally tried to do this, but it failed. Gracie started showing increased signs of separation anxiety, so I backed up and went back to being on both the prozac and the paxil for several weeks, then I started the wean again.

She’s on a three-week plan. Every three weeks, I decrease by 1 pill (20mg) every other day. If I were to do this over again, I’d probably start after being on the new med for 2-3 weeks.

So, for 3 weeks she got 3 pills one day, 2 pills the next. After three weeks, I decreased to 2 pills a day. After three weeks of that, I decreased to 2 pills one day, 1 pill the next. After three weeks of that, I decreased to 1 pill daily. We’ve been doing the 1 pill daily for a week now, and in two more weeks we’ll move to a pill every other day. After that we’ll move to a pill every three days, and then one pill weekly until the prozac is gone.

This plan is working out really well. I’m not noticing any behavioral issues at all. The only physical issue I’ve noticed is occasional (rare) peeing in the house while I’m at work/waking me up at night to go out to pee. Apparently the prozac was causing some urinary retention and now that she doesn’t have as much of it in her system she can’t hold it as long. She’s starting to realize this, however, and is getting better about going out more often when the others go out.

[horsenut_8700]

We added trazodone to my dog’s prozac protocol with amazing results (ie I can actually live with her without wanting to strangle her and her compulsive barking is much decreased). Good luck with your pup!