Not a black dog, but he’s on Prozac

At Cremorne Veterinary Hospital, Dr Louise Stevenson said she prescribes about 10 times more behavioural medication than a decade ago.

Twenty years ago there was not a single person in Australia who treated mental health in animals, said Dr Andrew O’Shea, incoming president of the behavioural group of the Australian Veterinary Association. Today there are specialists, university courses in veterinary behavioural medicine, and sophisticated drugs.

The segment has grown significantly, agreed Andrew Palmer, a spokesman for Novartis, which sells Clomicalm, a separation-anxiety pill for dogs — via redwolf.newsvine.com