Dangers Of Mirtazapine (Page 18)

It seems to me that Mirtazapine is a potentially dangerous drug with little information known about it. My veterinarian prescribed this drug in small quantities for my cat as an appetite stimulant, so I began reading articles on the drug and its effects. Although it is supposed to be used as an antidepressant for humans, it has a wide reputation for causing suicidal tendencies in children and young adults. It causes weight gain (the side effect my vet was looking for in my cat's case). It also can cause feelings of depression, and wooziness. I spoke with a nurse who took it and she said the effects of sluggishness and dizziness lasted 2 to 3 days. It can also cause nausea and headaches. It seems to me that these side effects are anything but what a person who is already depressed should be feeling. (suicidal tendencies that they didn't originally have, feeling tired and unwell physically, and weight gain that could cause feelings of insecurity or increased depression) Giving this drug to my cat was the worst thing I ever did. About an hour after administering it to her, she began crying, looking confused, and she could not walk straight. We figured the effects would wear off, but they seemed to worsen. The next day she was holding her head down, walking in circles (trying to walk straight) and she could not focus her eyes. We brought her to the emergency animal hospital, and they called a poison center. Even the poison center had so little information on this drug (especially being prescribed to cats) that they did not know how to counteract the effects. We believe that the drug actually caused a mild stroke in our cat, and the vet said this looked like it might be the case. On top of that, it has a 72 hour half life, so we just had to wait the drug out for her to even feel better. If this drug could cause a mild stroke in my cat, I could only imagine what it could also do to a human. With so little knowledge of the effects, and such long-lasting effects, it seems to me that it is a dangerous and harmful drug for doctors to be prescribing. A few years from now, when it actually is studied more, I bet that it will be taken off the market as another one of those trial drugs that did not work out. Until then, how many people (and animals) will it harm?

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Dear AMtnAngel, I rather suspect your cat has gastro-intestinal problems and the answer is not to give her mirtazapine at all. Your vet needs to take a stool sample and carry out an ultrasound scan before prescribing any medication other than, perhaps, a broad spectrum antibiotic until he gets the results of his investigations back from.his pathology laboratory. You do not say whether the blood in your cat's stools was bright or dark red. If bright, she will need urgent and thorough investigation. In any case, a substantial amount of blood in the stools requires immediate veterinary attention. Was your cat's temperature raised? Your vet should have taken it when you took her to him. Has she lost weight? This could also be a sign of intestinal trouble. I suggest you take her back to the vet as soon as possible for a thorough investigation. Good luck and keep us all posted, please.

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Vet Prescribed this for my 2yr old cat who is Not Eating. I will Not give it to her. So glad I found this Post. Do Not like Drugs to begin with. Too many side effects.

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Hi
I am interested in finding out how you
obtained this drug that prevents tumor recurrence. Can you tell me?

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Vet prescribed 1/4 tablet 15mg once for 3 days

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Dear Becky and EVERYONE.

This might be helpful to ALL pet owners who have found their pets foam at the mouth and dribble when given mirtazapine (or any other tablets which cause distress due to their bitterness). There is a 'putty' available online (or at the vets) which you can mold around tablets and administer. I have also discovered that one can buy empty gelatin capsules which you can put medication into - particularly tablets which have been halved or quartered and likely to crumble. I use this method for giving my cat her meds and it works a treat. Capsules are available in all sizes from 000 to size 5 - 5 being the smallest. Half a 2mg. mirtazapine would fit into a size 4 or 3 capsule and would be easily swallowed by a cat.

Trust you're well, Becky.

With warmest best wishes.

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We have a 14 year old male cat who has only one functioning kidney. His appetite had been derailed and was losing weight because of his condition. Our vet prescribed Mirtazapine to help his appetite. We have been giving a 1/4 of a pill to him every 3 days and he has done well on it. His appetite has returned, he has gained almost 2 pounds in the last 2 months, which for him is a lot, he's not a big cat to begin with. I am very sorry for the bad results indicated by some of the people who posted. I'm sure drugs for cats are like drugs for people, they all react differently. My concern is that people who read all the negative results will veto even the thought of using this drug on their cats. The only side effect we have noticed is a little more vocalization, but he was quite vocal before so this didn't disturb us too much, and he seems to get very cuddly and afftectionate for the first 24 hours or so. It has helped him immensely both in gaining some weight back and he has gotten a little of his joie de vivre back and has more energy than before. For our beloved Sarge, we have gotten him back like he used to be and I am grateful for that. He seems to be back in his good spirits again.

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That's great news! I'm glad to see a happy story on here for a change. People just need to be caucious the first time using this for their pet.

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Thank you for this information and taking the time to post it! It was very helpful!

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Steveo59, who can prescribe for pets except vets? You say you wouldn't give ant meds that humans are prescribed from a vet or anyone else. That is an ignorant comment. There are many drugs that animals need that humans also use. Your experience with one drug does not mean you should never use a drug for your pet. People read your opinion and will latch onto it. Please be more careful when posting.

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One of my cats, Taz, has been in really rough shape.. he stopped eating and lost half his body weight in a short period time, dropping from 7kg to 3.5kg (approx 15lbs to 7.5lbs) which in turn resulted in him getting hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) and turning yellow from jaundice.. I probably should have picked up on warning signs sooner but I've been scatterbrained as my dad just passed away (plus I'm partially colour-blind so the yellow wasn't obvious to me.)

The only way to potentially reverse the liver disease it is through aggressive feeding to prevent more fat from getting converted in the liver. I tried force feeding him and the vet prescribed mirtazapine to hopefully help stimulate his appetite but I couldn't get anywhere close to the recommended amount of food into him, he'd just spit it out and couldn't even be bothered to clean it off his chin or move away... pretty much just circling the drain.

I took him for surgery to get an esophagostomy tube placed (feeding tube that comes out the side of his neck, bypassing the mouth)... I was somewhat hesitant to do this at first but after a little research I found that it wasn't nearly as barbaric as it sounds.

So, for the last 3 weeks I've been feeding him 4x a day through the tube (150ml can of Hill's a/d per day) and giving him 100mg/day of Zentonil Advanced, 2mEq/day of potassium, and 4mg every other day of Cerenia (anti-nauseant.) ... the Cerenia ran out last week but he hadn't had any issues with vomiting so I didn't bother getting it refilled. Of course, minutes after the vet closed for the weekend, he was constantly vomiting foam/bile everywhere and I was unable to feed him, not to mention the potential for him vomiting the tube up.

Unable to acquire Cerenia, I looked into the mirtazapine I had leftover and discovered it's sometimes prescribed off-label to treat nausea and vomiting. So with some careful timing, I gave him a single dose of mirtazapine, probably ~1.6mg... I found this thread first, so I gave him the smallest "eighth" of a 16mg tablet crushed/diluted in water in a syringe. The vomiting stopped right away and I was able to tube feed him again no problem about an hour later. Later on he actually went over to his dish for the first time in a month and snacked on a few kibbles. He's a little loopy and meowing up a storm, not unlike what others have mentioned, but the SMALL dose has definitely helped my little guy out... hopefully he keeps it up!

As a suggestion, if anyone's struggling to break the mirtazapine into small enough pieces while still being able to administer it to your cat, you can try crushing/diluting the 1/8th or 1/16th of a pill in water in a syringe and administering it the same way you'd give them other liquid medications... you can squirt just a small amount into his/her mouth, wait to see what kind of effect it has, then optionally give more of it if things are looking okay. You could easily give even 1/32nd of a pill this way without requiring microscopes/nanotechnology to pull it off. Just be sure to shake the syringe really well right before administering it since it doesn't fully dissolve.

Kris, regarding your last post, I've taken fish antibiotics (FishMox aka amoxicillin) to treat an ear infection before, worked like a charm... it was either that or sit in the ER in agonizing pain for hours and hours waiting to see a doctor to prescribe me the same thing.

Sorry for the long-winded post, got a little carried away!

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My 13 year old cat has intestinal lymphoma and is on chemo, Leukeran, which he is doing well on. He lost a good bit of weight prior to being diagnosed, and since then his weight has fluctuated...he gains then loses about 1/2 a pound, although now he is just slowly losing and not gaining any back. He just isn't interested in eating much. I have given him Mirtazipine, 1/4 of a 15 mg tab, twice to try to stimulate his appetite. Each time it made him eat a little, but not enough considering the side effects. Shortly after being given the medication, he starts yowling and does it CONSTANTLY for hours. I so wish he could talk and tell me just what he's feeling! It is disturbing enough that I've decided not to EVER give him this medication again! The same thing happened to a cat I used to cat sit for until she passed away at age 19. She had stopped eating and her vet prescribed Mirtazipine, and she had the yowling reaction as well. That was months before my kitty got sick. I don't know what this med is doing, but I will never give it to ANY of my cats again!

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Further to my last message (post 350), I just wanted to mention that the incessant meowing and loopy behaviour didn't occur during any subsequent doses of mirtazapine (I was giving him 1/8th of a pill every 3 days.) And.. I'm happy to say that Taz recovered from the hepatic lipidosis.. was quite the long (and expensive) journey but the feeding tube was finally removed last week!

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That's great news about Taz!!! Thanks for the update.

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I am a vet tech and can personally tell you that with mirtazapine there is always a risk for an adverse reaction. However, when it works, it works wonders. If your kitty does react poorly, there are other alternatives such as cyproheptadine that you can discuss with your vet as an alternative. Although these side effects have been reported, I have yet to see a cat or dog die from the adverse effects reported. I would not let this site deviate anyone who's pet is suffering from an illness that may be affecting appetite as it is a case by case situation. My 14 year old cat has high grade lymphoma which has a very poor prognosis of 3 to 6 months and thanks to this medication, he is eating voraciously and gaining weight. I was aware of the possible side effects prior to giving the medication and knew what signs to look for in the event my kitty reacted in such a way. You should also be aware that certain medications can increase the adverse effects reported such as reglan (metoclopramide) which is commonly used in veterinary medicine to treat nausea and sometimes prescribed in conjunction with treatment for certain diseases that could cause nausea (such as kidney failure, cancer, etc). Worth giving it a try but be aware of possible side effects so that you are able to better determine if your kitty is a good candidate for the medication. I have seen vets follow two different protocols, there's the 1/8 of a 15mg tablet every 24 hours or the 1/4 of a 15mg tablet every 72 hours. I have never seen a respectable veterinarian prescribe a full 15mg tablet to be administered at once nor should anyone follow those instructions if it is prescribed to your kitty. Hope this helped.

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Mia, I appreciate your information and opinion very much. I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty's lymphoma but it's great that he's gaining weight. My kitty is 13 and has low grade lymphoma (intestinal) and is on Leukeran. One year ago before getting sick he weighed 10 lbs, and is now 6.8. He is a petite cat though, with tiny paws. His appetite has increased recently on its own, thank goodness. He started getting sick last Fall, but wasn't diagnosed until this past April. The specialist said at that time he might have one more year. I just appreciate every day we have together. I have 5 other cats, and one of my females is really bonded with him...I will worry about her when that day comes. Thanks again for the info...I will consider it all should I have another situation with any of my cats not eating. The dose we were giving was 1/4 of a 15 mg tablet every 72 hours. I wish you the best for your beloved kitty.

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It was prescribed to my cat to stimulate appetite and it caused more problems than good. It was given to her Friday and still today she's not right. It's like her head hurts! I'm so upset and I feel so bad for my cat!!

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Cat - My cat had a bad reaction too so I feel your pain. Hopefully in the days to come she will be her normal self again. Hang in there.

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I was scared of Mirtazapine AND WEIGHT GAIN, BBBBBBBBBBBut I am on 45mg for the last 3 months and have lost a small amount of weight . I don't crave sweet foods and still eat to much at night

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NEVER GIVE THIS CRAP TO YOUR CAT! My cat was given Mirtazapine by our vet after surgery, as a appetite stimulant. Within 5 minutes of ingesting the drug, he became lethargic and started to massively drool and foam at the mouth. He was crying out long meows like he was in pain. He spent the night meowing and laying around staring into space. This is a human antidepressant. They don't even know how it works. It's use for cats is not approved by the FDA. It is an "off label" use. I was very scared something was going to happen to my precious boy after taking this awful drug. His appetite the morning after taking this "appetite stimulant" is no better than before. AVOID THIS HORRIBLE DRUG AT ALL COSTS!

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All of these posts seem to be about cats and mirtazapine. Dogs are also prescribed this med as an appetite stimulant; and I have to say that it's been a life-saver for my 7.5 pound 17-yr-old Maltese dog. Even though dogs can take it daily, I only give it to Tucker every third day. I give cyproheptadine on one of his "off-mirtazapine" days, and give no appetite stimulant at all on the third day. Then I start the 3-day rotation all over again. He's been on this schedule for over a year now, and has been able to regain and maintain his weight with no ill side effects.

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