Anti-depressants for pets? No, that’s not a joke — pets behaving suicidal

When we took Merlin the wonderful black cat into our home some years ago, he came with a covered litter box, a bag of dry food his previous owner had no use for -- and a bottle of pet anti-depressant pills of some sort. Merlin came from a "broken home" and suffered the stresses of an ongoing custody battle between the man and woman who had owned him. He was a fearful, often hostile critter. It took two days before he came out from under the bed on any regular basis to allow us his company.

Within a couple of weeks of his entry into our family, the fears and insecurities old Merlin felt had faded away and he was a happy part of our lives. I don't know that we ever gave him any of the prescribed anti-depressants, but if we did it wasn't for long.

Since we'd had first-hand experience in Merlin's case, the story I ran onto today about suicidal pets being prescribed anti-depressants caught my special interest. How perfectly awful. If you read the story I've linked to, you'll learn that prescribed anti-depressants are an extreme measure and generally tried only if environmental changes fail and the animals are at risk of hurting or killing themselves.

I want to resist the urge to generalize or pontificate here in any way -- BUT: What sort of commentary is it on our way of living that we find overwhelming increases in the prescription of anti-depressants first for adults, then our children, and now eve our pets??

Maybe if we just really all try really hard, we can find a way to treat each other AND our pets with the respect, concern, and love all deserve. Who knows? The entire world might be a better place for it.

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