Pets Now Prescribed Prozac

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ogs can be antsy little creatures. Does yours hide under the bed during thunderstorms and on the Fourth of July? What about barking incessantly when the mailman or neighbors come by the house? Before, only extensive amounts of training could provide any relief at all from these issues, and sometimes that wasn't enough. Now, some vets are prescribing Prozac to dogs to correct behavioral issues.

Previously assumed to be normal reactions, things such as fear of loud noises and barking are now considered to be symptoms of hyperactivity, separation anxiety, and "phobic behavior" (though, the last one seems kind of obvious, no?). And now, you can do something about them, thanks to Eli Lilly, the firm behind the antidepressant drug, Prozac.

"It's now not such a big deal to say you are going to see a pet psychiatrist or behavior counselor," Dr. Claire Corridan said (and no one believed her).

Their drug, called Reconcile, is used in the U.S. and is expected to get a license for Britain this year. Unfortunately, the method by which it is diagnosed seems a little goofy—at least we think so.

Dr. Claire Corridan, honorary secretary of the Companion Animal Behavior Therapy Study Group, said that 80 percent of dogs have one or more behavioral problems and said that women and "dog lovers" are less inclined to notice these "problems."

"It's now not such a big deal to say you are going to see a pet psychiatrist or behavior counselor," she said (and no one believed her). Call us crazy, but a pet psychiatrist seems a little nutty, if not just for the 1%—dogs do not have daddy issues, for starters, nor do they deal with work-related stress or addiction.

Beverly Cuddy, the editor of Dogs Today, is a bit more on our level, saying, "Maybe people are becoming a bit more perfectionist and want their dogs free of all negatives. But this means you are not tolerating normal doggy behavior. There are things you would prefer your dog not to do, but that is part of having a pet."

Aside from the craziness of this, we have to address the real problem: medicating dogs without getting them to talk about their problems. It all stemmed from their childhood, you see...