Cats & Mirtazapine (Page 3) (Top voted first)

Our 13 year old Maine Coon mix is in the last stages of renal failure. We didn't know anything was wrong until about a month ago when she stopped eating. It's been up and down ever since her diagnosis. Our vet prescribed Mirtazapine but, after reading the many negative comments, we put off giving it to her as long as we could. We finally had to because the effects of not eating in cats are liver shutdown and death. She's had no serious adverse reaction to Mirtazapine, and it has definitely helped her appetite. It is buying her a little more quality time with us.

I certainly wouldn't use or give this drug lightly, but as some posters have noted, in the end it's a risk v.s benefit judgment call.

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Cathy--I am so sorry to hear about your Gracie 'spassing. It is so hard, I know :( I'm so glad she had a good mom who loved her so much and took such good care of her. Too, when you are ready, I hope you will adopt another kitty. There are so many that desperately a loving home such as yours :) Take care.

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Cathy--that's great news about your adoptions :-) Heck, we sound like we might already acquainted--like minds about adoptions, etc. If you get a chance to join the group Official National Cat Day on FB...I'm there and there are a lot of other like-minded cat lovers there :-) They will be happy to share in the joy of your new kitties :-) Congrats!

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I took Josie off of it--we skipped her normal dose on Saturday--she seems to be eating fine now and it was making her way too agitated. Now that I see that it could potentially cause a stroke, I won't put her on it again. I understand valium can sometimes be used to help cats with their appetites. If Josie declines again, I may talk to my vet about using it instead.

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Hi, I just lost my only cat who was diagnosed with leukemia (bone marrow), the last drug he was given happened to be Mirtazapine, 1/4 tablet of 7.5mg prescribed by the vetinarian..he only took it once.
My cat was on prednisone tablet but having trouble giving it so we ask for a liquid form which is prednisolone which cost a little more but works faster and easier to give. My cat was eating until I decided to give him chemotheraphy as his blood count (white blood cells was high.
He had one shot still continuing on the prednisolone and after few days stopped eating that's when the vet prescribed Mirtazapine to boost his appetite.
He ate just a little and next day nothing he got so weak he started hiding and i felt he was dying, I had to frantically search for him as he is an indoor cat and try to feed him by mouth and hydrate him but it was all too late, he passed away .
I felt it like it was my son who passed away, We loved our cat so much it hurts because he gave back so much love..searching for answer, dont know if it was the chemo,mirtazapine or the combination with prednisolone but I knew he just got worse after taking Mirtazapine.

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I'm sure senior cats are just like senior people and the strength of the drug can have an adverse effect. We noticed that with the ear gel the dose was taken in slower, (absorbed thru the ear skin), than a tablet and seemed to work a lot better for Gracie. However any drug can adversely affect them as they have no way to tell us how it makes them feel. I kept a daily journal on Gracie for almost a year. It was the only way I could accurately track how much she was eating, what she wanted to eat, when she got what med, how she was reacting, etc. I encourage anyone medicating an animal to keep a daily log. You just can't remember all their history accurately and it helps shows patterns in their behavior, not to mention how it helps the vet at checkup time.

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Scrap has not taken Mirtazapine for 12 days now. Her appetite has been good. No ferocious eating but a good appetite. She has had only 3 doses of Cerenia. The shot, and 2 more half pills. She is still unsteady on her feet but has her full voice back. I know I am lucky that she is 21 but I always dreamed of her living to 25. The Cerenia does not seem to have any adverse affects on her tho I am concerned that is it made and approved only for dogs and there is little to no information on side effects. Even a dog should only take it 4 days in a row. She is supposed to take it daily but the vet said to go ahead and give it to her every 3-4 days or as needed. I will keep everyone posted.

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Our 15 yr old cat Bonzo has chronic renal failure for almost a year and we have to give him 1/4 of a mirtazapine 15 mg pill every 5 or 6 days. By day 5 he is almost eating nothing but I stretch to day 6. He gets more sleepy for a day but then is fine. We recommend Pill Pockets called feline greenies and they come in different flavours. It makes giving pills very very easy. I give him one in between doses so he won't associate it with pills.

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Thanks Paula! Scrap is hangin in there with the Cerenia!

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JCar, you're obviously giving Scrap the best of care as having her get to 21yo with renal failure is quite a feat. I think at some point the effectiveness of anti-emetics and other drugs, just as with subQ, decrease as the disease progresses. I'm sorry, I know what you're going through as I've had two cats with RF and neither lived as long as your Scrap has. It's a rollercoaster and my heart goes out to you.

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I forgot to mention in my earlier post that Cleo was taking amlodipine for high blood pressure, which decreased her appetite. Now she's on a course of clindamycin for higher titers of inactive toxoplasmosis, and this really kills her appetite. If she doesn't eat something right away, she'll throw up the clindamycin and the pill pocket.

I also did try giving her even smaller doses, about 1/8th of a tablet of mirtazapine. This dose works initially but over the next 3 days Cleo will eat less and less and become more lethargic. Tonight I'm trying a 1/4 tablet of mirtazapine, then when she's hungry will give her meds in pill pockets and then dinner. I hope this strategy works.

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Hi Bonzo, I happen to notice that most of the post regarding Mirtazapine had a doage of 1/4 tablet on 15mg.
My Vetinarian had prescribed 1/4 tablet of a 7.5mg when my cat stopped eating but he also was taking prednisolone at the same time as he had high white blood count.
I was wondering if 1/4 of the 15mg isn't too strong. You can read my original post if you like. Hope everything works out fine for your cat,try to do everything possble for him or her as its not a good feeling losing a a pet.

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Hi, I have recently started using this drug for my 11 lb cat who is on thyroid meds. and stopped eating for some reason. He was originally prescribed 1/4 of a 15mg tablet every 3 days, but I find it lasts just over a week, so I don't give it to him unless he has stopped eating for a day. He seems a little weird the first day, but it really works well with him when needed. He is 16 1/2 years old...

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Same problem with my nearly 16 year old cat. High Thyroid, meds then made it too low. Needed hydration and they gave her this med for appetite stimulation. So far just one dose, was a little chatty afterward, but Vet did warn about this. Don't think I'll give it to her unless she's not eating. If she is, then I'll leave her alone.

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I would like to give an update on my kitty that was given mirtazapine one year ago. She had an extremely adverse effect to the drug so I stopped giving it to her. She was diagnosed with CRF in June of 2012 and had begun to be a picky eater, refusing to eat a certain food after a few weeks. I was running out of foods to try. She refused the prescription food for kidney health. Praise God, I found a food online that is lower in sodium and phosphorous and she loves it. She has been on it for about 7 months now and her appetite is great!

Her BUN and creatinine levels are not in the normal range (a little high), but she is playful, eats well, her coat is soft and shiny and she looks perfectly healthy.

I want to add that she receives 150 ml of sub-q fluids every third day.

I am so thankful that she is doing so well....and wanted to post this update.
.

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I would like to again mention that Mirtazapine is available as a transdermal gel. Our Ickabod was in liver failure and he was skin and bones and his mouth was sore, so I told the vet I didn't want any pills or anything he had to swallow. They gave us the gel in a tube (like a needless syringe). The dosage was 0.2ml every other day. It was applied by rubbing it on the inside of his ear. The vet shaved the inside of one ear so the gel could make good contact with his skin. A couple things to note: The medicine was originally developed for people, so you need to put on surgical gloves to apply it or you will also be getting a dose of the medicine. It is light sensitive, so we stored it inside of a padded envelope in our pantry. I realize that there are concerns with the medicine, but when your animal is possibly dying, you have to make tough choices. I didn't note any adverse reactions to the transdermal gel. I am happy to report that Ickabod start gaining weight after a few weeks on the gel. We discontinued the medicine after about 3 months when his weight came back up to normal. Almost 2 years later he is as happy and healthy as can be and the vet till doesn't understand how he recovered from liver failure. Hope this info is helpful.

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Hi, I hope that your kitty is still doing fine. I had a 16 1/2 year old cat that developed hyperthyroidism - the day we took her to the vet she hadn't eaten her lunch - not at all normal for her - she was prescribed mirtazapine - 1/4 of a l5 mg pill. She also only weighed 6 lbs. l2 oz. (her ideal weight was 8 lbs). Shortly after giving her the pill I found that she was breathing harder than normal - which is not good for a cat with hyperthyroidism that could very possibly have heart issues. When she tried to eat she acted hyper and tried but then only ate a few bites, then stopped as if it was hard to eat in this state. I think that a cat that small in weight should only take 1/8 of a tablet or maybe even less to start. I know that there are many people on the site (which is very helpful) that said that it worked for their cat - it didn't for mine at that dosage - one, maybe because she was older, and, two, maybe because she weighed so little. I have read also on Tanya's CRF site that caution should be used when giving Mirtazapine to a hyperthyroid cat - it has something to do with the thyroid medication interacting with the Mirtazapine because it changes levels of some kind. I honestly think that the pill contributed to Smoky's death in the end. It is such a delicate balance when cat's become ill. I wish that I would have never tried that pill with a cat that had hyperthyroidism .

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Hi, just wanted to let you know that my cat also weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz (ideal weight 8 lbs). She was 16 1/2 years old and diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. Tried Mirtazapine - 1/4 tablet l5mg. I would say, if you are going to try this med, to give less - 1/4 tablet was too much for my cat - she started having labored breathing. I wish that I would have tried 1/8 or less first - to me it is better to be on the safe side, especially when you don't know how your cat will respond to a medication and also depending on what your cat has.

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Dear Cynthia,

I would definitely find out if your cat had a T4 count done for hyperthyroidism. My cat Smoky, who was 16 1/2, had perfect bloodwork, but had thrown up and not eaten lunch and we took her to the vet and she had hyperthyroidism. Weight loss is a big red flag and I also heard that dialated pupils can be a sign. Don't settle for things that don't make sense to you, you can never get your kitty back again so go with your gut, don't give up, and get to the bottom of things. Also, at 14 years of age, hyperthyroidism is very common and treatable.

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Treatment of this disease is quite complex. You may be able to prolong your cat's life with ALL the right treatments. Check out "Tanya's CKD" on Google. I am on the discussion board and it is awesome. We call mirtazapine "meowzapine" A little goes a long way. Hope your kitty is doing well

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My cat is taking Chlorambucil right now for lymphoplasmactic rhinitis, kind of a chronic nasal inflammation that causes her to have a runny nose and stuffy nose all the time. She doesn't feel good, sleeps a lot. Well the Chlorambucil makes her vomit half the time and I can tell the progression of her getting better goes backwards when she vomits. She also doesn't seem to want to each much on her own lately, but when I bring her food and sit with her she will eat decent. So the doctor is considering Mirtazapine but after reading all the reviews I am really nervous to give it. She said it should help with the nausea, increase her appetite and maybe perk her up. Not sure what to do, she has had a tough year. She had radio iodine last year to get rid of hyper thyroid, then had an FHO surgery to fix her hip. Now this.

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