Cats & Mirtazapine (Page 6) (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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My 16 year old too, carrying on like she didn't feel well, threw up. I stopped giving to her, apparently she is sensitive to drugs. Only if she is not eating, will I give it to her again, not worth torturing her.

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Indiana Lady, my two 16 year olds were prescribed 1/4 pill every 72 hours and are responding well. However, I would like to ween them off as they gain back some of their weight. Can you share the name of the food? Mine are on and off picky; fortunately we have one younger indoor/outdoor (kept safe on the porch and his personal pen in the back yard) who is happy to eat what they don't so not much goes to waste. Thanks.

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TampaDaddy, I'm so glad your kitties are doing well on the magazine. You inquired about the food I found online for my kitty. It is called Life's Abundandance. I buy the dry food. It is not prescription food, so the sodium and phosphorous levels are higher than prescription food, but lower than most over the counter cat food.

Check out the website and you can also talk to the vet on staff.

I still think the prescription food is best.....I just couldn't get her to eat it.

Best wishes for you and your cats!

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Yes, I have also learned that lesson, as difficult as it was.

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After reading all the horror stories about this drug I'm afraid to give it to my cat !! The vet just prescribed it for her . Keefe has kidney stones and a slight heart murmur .. SO. What else can I Give her ,, her body has finally started making red blood cells ,, but Now she is hardly eating and I'm just a nervous wreck !!!!!!! Please anyone , what else can I do ,, she is also on flomodine ... Not sure that has really helped this week ... She also had antibiotic shot 9 days ago .... Please HELP .....

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Cheryl,
Yes, there have been horror stories about this drug, as there are with any drug, especially if overprescribed or if the dose is too high. I had to use it for my cat, Patti. (my post is several posts down) It really helped her.... in fact, it may have saved her life. She is back to normal now, except that she sometimes likes to talk a lot, usually on the day I give her her pill. We are giving her just HALF of a 7.5mg tablet every three days. Not all pharmacies carry the 7.5mg size pill. You might have to call around to find it.
I hope that helped.

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I'm so scared to try this drug , I've read about too many cats dying from it . My cat has kidney stones , her bloodwork is k at the moment but she is not eating much .. She has energy , which surprises me since she is not eating that well . There has to be something else I can do for her appetite !!!! Any suggestions . She is a little cat , 15 years old

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I haven't given it to her yet , but the dose given was 1/4 of a 15 mg pill . She is only 7.1 pounds . I'm wondering if that is still too much should I decide to try it .. I'm still very nervous about this med .

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God bless your kitty - hoping she returns to total A1 health!

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My cat weighed about 7.4 pounds at the lowest, but is more now since she started eating again.

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I've used some cat toppers beef/chicken and she ate decent amount yesterday and so far today has been fairly good . Hopefully this will continue to work ..

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Thought I would update on my Cleo, now 19 (original post #33). The mirtazapine finally stopped working earlier this year as an appetite stimulant. Cleo's new vet prescribed cyproheptadine, an antihistamine and what she described as "an old fashioned drug, safer than mirtazapine). Unfortunately it made Cleo even more wobbly and didn't increase her appetite, so the vet said to take her off of it. She's lost a lot of weight and is now literally skin and bones. She's less than 1/2 the weight she was before the stroke. Tonight I just gave her a tiny bit of the old mirtazapine to see what would happen and while she was a little more active, she still hasn't touched her food. I have not tried B12 injections but my gut is telling me it's getting close to the time to say goodbye.

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Cleo passed away the day after I posted the update, April 3, 2014.

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Hi Niko. I'm so sorry to hear about Cleo's passing. You took a good care of her.

I just arrived at this thread now after wanting more info on the drug. My cat Romeo's main problem is heart disease and he's on benazepril and furosemide. But furosemide's constant dehydration is now giving Romeo kidney disease, as well. In the past few days, he seemed to be really dehydrated and is doing some lip smacking, so I actually gave a very small dose of fluids (we're talking about like 10mL-20mL) against doctors orders. (His heart is only mildly enlarged).

Anyway, he's been just really not eating for the last few days (less than a 3oz can a day) and I thought I don't have any choice now but to get an appetite stimulant. I think his lip smacking is probably due to him being nauseous from dehydration, so I will see if mirtazapine would help. I think I'll start off with a 1/16 of a tablet to be on the safer side.

This thread has been very helpful; and I'm grateful that posterers are coming back with updates on their cats.

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I have been using Mirtazapine on a cat with sickness and it is great no side affects at all and it works

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Thank you all for the information. My cat who has kidney disease has not eaten in 3 days. I am giving her sub q fluids and she is drinking, but she has not touched a bite of food. She is elderly (not sure exactly how old as I got her from a shelter) and has thyroid problems as well. She has always been quite tiny-especially with her thyroid problems-but she is down to 4 pounds now.
I took the warnings here seriously, but I have no other options as if this doesn't work, I need to start considering her quality of life, so I had to give this a try. I just gave her the first dose, and am praying to see her eat something soon.

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Hi everybody. I REALLY appreciate all your tips. I have a 14 yr 3 month old Somali girl cat named Charly. She was showing (you know) those signs of not feeling well for at least the last 9 months, hiding, scrunching herself up, turning her back to me but I couldn't find anything wrong. Blood tests were normal. Then in April, her urine specific gravity was slightly dilute. About a month ago she started vomiting a lot. Of course, I attributed this to eating grass or hairballs (which she did have), so I gave her hairball medicine which she promptly threw up in volume. Luckily, I had a vet appointment to check her teeth that week. When I got there I said "There is a new problem, she wont stop throwing up". The vet freaked out a bit, and she never does that. It turns out Charly's weight was way down to 7 something pounds and she was pretty bony. Somehow, I had missed this. So she gave her a B-12 shot an anti-emetic shot, sub cutaneous fluids (about 100 ml) and a few Mirtazapine tablets, 7.5 mg and a probably diagnosis of renal failure. My instructions were to give her a half tablet every 3 days. After the first night of giving her a 1/2 tablet I thought I was going to have to take her to the emergency vet. She was staggering and had her head cocked in a strange position that did not change. I watched her that night and in the morning she was okay. I took her off the mirtazapine and she began to vomit again. I put her back on 1/4 tablet which would be about 1.875 mg. She vomited less, but I could tell it was not enough, so I took a chance and put her back on a half tablet again. It seems to be working quite well now and not making her stagger. I guess she just has to get used to it. One problem that I am working on is that the 7.5 mg tabs are not really meant to be split, which I'm concerned may affect its pharmacological properties. So what I am doing in the interim is splitting a new 7.5 mg tablet in half and giving her a half but then for the next dose doing the same thing and not using the half that has already been split and sitting for three days. I think the tablets are supposed to be stored with a dessicant in the dark, but I am having trouble confirming that over the internet. So I'd be much more comfortable just giving her the dose she needs and not having to split the 7.5 mg pill. When I see the vet next week I am going to ask her what she thinks of the transdermal form, mirtazepine in a suspension and mirtazepine in a capsule (compounding pharmacy). By the way, Tanya's CRF site is fantastic and from there I got the idea of feeding her Gerber's Second Foods Chicken and Chicken Gravy. She loves the stuff and is currently keeping it down. She also (sometimes) loves Temptations "Mix-Ups" with the kitty ship's captain on it. Thanks again everyone.

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My cat just died of a convulsion fit after anxiety. It all set in after first quarter pill of the mzapine and doc said it would wear off...we waited, and he just died. 4 yrs old.

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I'm so very sorry to hear this. I learned the hard way - I would never give my cat Mirtazapine pills - my vet said the same thing - that it would wear off, but I read that there is something that they can take that can counteract the Mirtazapine if a bad reaction occurs. Also my vet said that Mirtazapine is given to a lot of very sick cats without problems but that doesn't mean that something bad can't happen. Also, I think it sounds like it would be better to give 1/8 a tablet to sick kitties. Your kitty was pretty young - my cat was 16 1/2.....I was devastated and it has been a year and I am still very sad about this whole thing.

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How very sad . Had you know you could have rushed your kitty to en emergency facility . There are medications that can be given for a bad reaction to this med

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