Behaviour modifiers in cats

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

janine redman — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 16:50:00 GMT

Clomicalm is quite useful but sometimes results in owners tolerating a situation where rehoming is a more ethical option . This is a dilemma I face with several clients who want to medicate cats that are frustrated by a restricted indoor environment in close proximity to other cats they don’t like .
it feels wrong to medicate them on a long term basis when they would be much better in a different environment

however there are a lot of dogs in inappropriate situations where I feel medical treatment is the lesser of twO evils sadly

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Clive Ansell — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 09:05:15 GMT

[quote userid="12930" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats/247838#247838"]

Clive, if the drug helps it then is that not clearly better than euthanasia? It would be hard to imagine what drug side effect would be so bad to eclipse death?

I find it hard to get anyone to take a cat, so a non-ideal home would usually be better than no home.

I've never given clomicalm to a cat, so perhaps I am missing a trick here? I'm not clear on what the downside is (though I haven't read the full link or researched it yet)

[/quote]

Therein lies the debate.

True, this cat is fine while on treatment, but relapses when treatment is stopped which has been tried several times now.

The cat is 4 - 5 years old now so might need another 10 years on treatment. Is it ethically right to give an animal brain chemistry altering drugs for the whole of its life?

Without treatment this cat is extremely stressed to the point it gets recurrent stress related cystitis, twice had a urethral blockage ending up in OOH clinics with huge bills, over grooms itself to the point of making its skin bleed, and fights with the many other cats in the household. This is not conducive with good animal welfare in my opinion.

A large part of this is a husbandy issue; cat is penned up in a small flat with god knows how many other cats, riddled with respiratory and GI diseases. Cannot go outdoors, and seems to me to have little chance of being able to behave like a cat and to do what cats do. This cat thus receives drugs to help it adapt to an unnatural and unpleasant (for him) environment. Is this in any way right or fair? to me it is not.

It is my belief this cat should be rehomed to somewhere it can lead a good life, where he can just get on with being and living like a cat. This a one off extreme case, but beyond that, euthanasia should be considered in my opinion.

[quote userid="12930" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats/247838#247838"]so a non-ideal home would usually be better than no home.[/quote]

I disagree, I don't think it always is.

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 22:28:07 GMT

[quote userid="12930" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats/247838#247838"]Clive, if the drug helps it then is that not clearly better than euthanasia? [/quote]

I think the opposite - only living animals suffer. You could argue, maybe a video for Arlo, that the very best thing we could ever do for animal welfare was to kill them all - nicely. The nicest for the animal is probably being shot.

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Beats — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 20:55:47 GMT

Clive, if the drug helps it then is that not clearly better than euthanasia? It would be hard to imagine what drug side effect would be so bad to eclipse death?

I find it hard to get anyone to take a cat, so a non-ideal home would usually be better than no home.

I've never given clomicalm to a cat, so perhaps I am missing a trick here? I'm not clear on what the downside is (though I haven't read the full link or researched it yet)

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Clive Ansell — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 19:14:15 GMT

[quote userid="8569" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats"]I wondered if anyone had any experience using medications in situations such as this?[/quote]

Yes, I have a similar case on the go at one of my regular practices, about 3 years down the line now.

Young neutered male Maine Coon, inappropriate urination, recurrent cystitis, and aggression towards owners and other cats. Very intense and neurotic owners. (Right cat wrong owner syndrome?)

Off label clomipramine (Clomicalm) has helped a lot and resolves all of the issues and he is calm and relaxed while on treatment, but we have tried stopping the drug several times now and the issues just recur as bad as before.

I guess it raises an ethical question? should the cat remain on the drug ad finitum? be rehomed ? or pts?

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Clive Ansell — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 19:04:59 GMT

[quote userid="3169" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats/247834#247834"]It's a no from me. Rehome the cat. [/quote]

Tend to agree.

I have used behaviour modifying drugs with some success in cats, and think short term use is aceptable to try and reach a resolution, but if not after say 3 months, cat should be rehomed or euthanased on welfare grounds

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Cinzia Gandini — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:32:29 GMT

[quote userid="8569" url="~/f/clinical-questions/31251/behaviour-modifiers-in-cats"] a number of cats[/quote]

In my humble opinion and if it was up to me I'd say that the sentence 'a number of cats' don't seem to get along with cats, the loner animal. Some are friendlier with each other, surely not fans of crowds. If you love cats, find a suitable family for the big one. It's useless to treat the normality.

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:17:10 GMT

It's a no from me. Rehome the cat.

RE: Behaviour modifiers in cats

Tom Ward — Thu, 09 Oct 2025 17:08:44 GMT

Edit: Certainly there is information about these (I presume from the US), but using drugs to make a cat tolerate an environment it's not happy in doesn't sit great with me. I certainly wouldn't advocate for long term use. www.dvm360.com/.../medicine-to-ease-the-feline-mind