New Meds For Fido

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

January 6, 1999 / 10:19 AM EST / CBS

Is your dog misbehaving when you're not there -- tearing up the couch, barking too much, or digging holes in the carpet? Maybe it's suffering from separation anxiety. Or, do you have an older dog that has developed behavioral problems? Help may be available for those problems in the form of two new drugs for dogs. CBS This Morning asks a veterinarian about it.

The first medications to treat behavioral problems in dogs have been approved by the FDA. One, from Novartis, treats separation anxiety and the other, from Pfizer, treats senility in geriatric dogs.

Dr. Bonnie Brown, a veterinarian at the North Shore Animal League in New York, explains that separation anxiety stems from a dog's attachment to its owner: When you leave the house, the dog gets very anxious, very upset, and will have a lot of different kind of behaviors that can destroy your house, such as urinating or defecating in the house, chewing or biting or digging a hole in your carpet. They are all things that can make life very difficult."

Many dogs have separation anxiety at some point in their life, Dr. Brown says. "Very often it's early on when they first get attached. It's very common in shelter dogs apparently because they have been left there by one owner and readopted, and they are afraid of being left again."

The new drug to treat this problem is Clomicalm. Brown explains: "It is to help with the anxiety itself, to calm the dog down. On its own, it really is not going to work. It requires behavior modification at the same time."

Cautions Brown, "You will still have to get your dog used to your not being there. That means slowly leaving your dog maybe for a minute at a time and then coming back. Then maybe two minutes at a time. Reassuring your dog every time you leave, you'll be back again. You can do this with some dogs and it doesn't work at all. This drug will help, along with behavior modification, to allow you to get your dog used to your absences from home."

News About Animals

The second new drug, Anipryl, deals with senility in dogs. Dr. Brown says the condition is called canine cognitive dysfunction (CDS) syndrome. It occurs in older dogs who exhibit disorientation, sleep irregularly, or stop eating properly and show decreased responsiveness to family members.

Anipryl, says Brown, "slows the progression of the senility" in dogs.

Spokeman Bob Fauteux of Pfizer says well over six and a half million dogs in the United States exhibit at least one symptom of CDS and the firm expects the market for this drug to be a sizeable one. The estimated cost of prescription per day is $1.50 to $2.00.

Brown says the drugs are not a panacea and you should still get a full evaluation by your vet.