As a life long dog owner and 6 year volunteer with the Humane Society bagging dog and cat food for senior citizens: I am disgusted that Pharma has taken it this far. It is a twisted money making scheme based at the heart of American citizens who are the most vulnerable.

Pet owners. Many victims of Hurricane Katrina would not relocate unless their dogs could go with them.

Americans in general have a hard time making ends meet. Some live in poverty, on the streets, or silently suffering middle class poverty paycheck to paycheck. Leaving a pet behind to work--hire a dog walker. Create a win/win situation,hire someone out of work to walk your dog and give it attention; and keep your dogs and cats off of meds.

Pfizer, not my dog too! Zoloft, Cerenia. and

Lilly not my dog too!; or you Pfizer! Chewable dog anti-depressants,canine separation disorder.

Dogs-for-depression! All this needs now is it's own "Day" and it's own colored ribbon and we're set to go.

But on a serious note, I see Reconcile as just another example of the sad fact that there are pets in this country that receive better health care than so many people. I mean, come on, plastic surgery for pets?

That is both hilarious and disgusting.

Why not just go ahead and give your dog a drug that keeps him or her in a coma on life support and just remove the dog when you want it around, or perhaps, why not adopt a new puppy every day and have it "put down" at the end of the day and adopt a new one tomorrow.

Excellent example of normal behavior, albeit normal canine behavior, being medicated. Is this the doggy parallel of adhd?

Therapy dogs inside psychiatric hospitals have proven to increase positive thinking, and help patients get well. There is an entire industry waiting to be tapped into, that does not medicate pets or people. My daughter was fortunate to have a therapy dog at one hospital.She loved that dog. She was able to see it at another hospital as well.

When I asked the owner to work with patients [cleared through the doctor, and who wanted to see/pet a dog]at the state hospital--the owner declined, declaring an unjustified stigma-fueled statement to me that her dog would not be safe there.

Here's the dog that my daughter loved so much. Sugarbear. Shug went to Children's and other private hospital--Shug wasn't allowed to go to the state hospital OR the residential care facility.

I bring this up, because when the most psychotic and sick and on psych meds--my daughter was not allowed to see Shug. If people can have paradoxical effects and suicidal thinking/behavior on psych meds-- imagine in a dog or cat.

If doctors don't understand how bad psych meds can make a human feel-- imagine a veterinarian being trained by Pharma reps with pre-planned speeches over Chinese food luncheons. Pharma reps are not doctors, yet leave medications behind that can kill and ruin lives.

Healing Paws--wouldn't go to the state hospital.

Sorry for the rant.

Well, why the hell not? If your kid is too demanding, there's Ritalin. If your dog's getting on your nerves, now there's Doggie Prozac. A pill for every ill. It's a brave new world so drug 'em up.

One interesting sidenote to this. People who have been in this game for awhile realize that drugs are rarely really for the benefit of the patients but rather for the caregivers, parents, school/hospital administrators -- you name it -- anyone but the actual patient. This new drive to medicate pets is really dramatic evidence of this practice carried to a ridiculous level. It's all about seducing owners with some supposedly quick fix and has nothing to do with the long term wellness of the pets.

I saw a parallel of how people treat mental patients (young and old)with how they treat their pets and I was going to make a joke cartoon advertisment out of it. I can't beleive they actually made a drug/medicine for dogs... whats next? playing with my lower lip and going bluba bluba bluba

Hi Philip,

"This is true in the marketplace of ideas for human psych products where there are virtually no countering forces against the barking of pharma companies--"Where does depression hurt?" goes the Cymbalta ad."

It might be timely to resurrect the 'Cymbalta Hurts Dog' video you featured a few months back:

Cymbalta Hurts Dog.

The dog anti-depressant and campaign? Ridiculous.

But I'm pretty sure Lilly "legitimized" itself not through the use of advocacy groups and silly marketing, but rather the large-scale production of insulin in the 1920s, followed by erythromycin in the 1940s, etc. et al.

The long view...always check the long view.

Forget the soft marketing the media has let Big Pharma get away with. This winter, rat poison in the dog and cat food got 3 weeks of broadcast TV coverage while expensive, human-killing, anti-psychotics got none. So, I guess rich people's pets are more important than poor, old, disadvantaged humans. Still, something really inside out here.

support? maybe they can get Pfizer to join in, a lot of pet owners need support after losing their dogs to Rimadyl....perhaps the FDA will come along for the hand holding ride after turning a blind eye to food safety for our pets as well. Sickening, especially when you look at the larger picture, how safety is overlooked for animals, and the same people and companies are marketing drugs to humans, overseeing the marketing....safety and all....

I wonder how long vets have been giving pets ssri's. I wonder if the late 20th century news stories about dogs mauling and killing children might be related, might be people who had complaints about a barking or nipping dog and took the dog to the vet, got a pill and came home, not with a dog that might growl and nip a kid on the ankle or but, but with a prozac pooch who would lose control and maul a human into a pulp...just wondering.

D-- that drug killed my gardening buddy,a golden retriever. Everyone here makes good points to watch over pets with regard to pharmaceuticals, because seriously-- how are trials in animals completed, without animals being able to give input other than death or horrific side effects.

It's all about seducing owners with some supposedly quick fix and has nothing to do with the long term wellness of the pets.

I operate a small, pampered-pet boarding kennel. The owners who bring in Prozac often bring in high-end dog food, supplements, and special "treats-du-jour" (wheat-free, one time; protein-free the next). These people truly care about their pets--but just like our medical professionals, there are always a few vets who PROFIT HANDSOMELY for such needless prescribing. A multi-dog owner myself, I value our canine companions and admit to more than a bit of anthropomorphizing. I resent that human owners are preyed upon by vet/pharma, using the same techniques that have been so successful in human treatment. BUT until doctors (and vets) who form the ONLY interface between patients and pharma are willing to step up and DO THE RIGHT THING--and insist that their brethren also DO THE RIGHT THING--I don't think consumers/patients can expect better treatment.

My veterinarian told me to go across the street to Costo[warehouse bulk shopping]and buy the human version of joint medication;[for my old dog, now gone] and the vet rx[for the same med] said "not for human consumption". Senior citizens, with limited, and fixed incomes, or AIDS patients--use vet rx meds.

There is MORE to this story. Sadly, mini-me pampered pooch owners will never understand that dimension of the marketing Pharma angle, and they won't understand what [alleged]killed their poodles.