Dogs O.D. on Human Antidepressants

N E W   Y O R K, Sept. 28 -- Pooches across America are developing a dangerous drug habit — accidental consumption of their owners’ Prozac-like drugs.

The National Animal Poison Control Center of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty says more dogs these days are chomping down — unintentionally, that is — their owners’ serotonin-enhancing antidepressants, such as Paxil and Prozac, than they were five years ago.

“Dogs are very dogged,” explains Dr. Steve Hansen, director of the Poison Control Center, which is located in Champaign-Urbana, Ill. “They will crush a bottle of pills with their back molars and lap up the drugs or they will quickly eat a tablet that an owner inadvertently dropped on the floor.”

Established in 1978, the fee-for-service National Animal Poison Control Center is the only 24-hour emergency telephone hotline staffed by 20 full-time veterinarians and five board-certified veterinary toxicologists in North America.

Unintended Use

While veterinarians now prescribe antidepressants to dogs to treat canine sadness, separation anxiety and other behavioral problems, the increasing problem with unintended ingestion of these drugs by dogs is due, most likely, to the rising popularity and use of this class of drugs by humans, Hansen says.

In 1995, 50 percent of the antidepressants accident cases were of the Prozac type, according to Jill Richardson, a veterinary poison information specialist at the animal poison center. By 1999, that number jumped to 80 percent of 500 total antidepressant case calls.

The danger antidepressant drugs pose to Fido depends on the amount wolfed down, the size of the dog and whether the dog had any pre-existing medical conditions that might make it susceptible to an overdose, Hansen says.

Danger Depends on Many Factors

Lethargy, vomiting and disorientation are among the symptoms a small dog, such as a Chihuahua, could experience with a large dose of a Prozac-like drug. “The animal will walk around with its front legs not in sync with its back legs, looking drunk,” Hansen says.