Drug for Dogs

* Before we have too much fun giggling at the new “doggy antidepressant,” let’s get a few facts straight. Your Jan. 11 editorial is as cutely dismissive of Clomicalm as many people still are of Prozac. Separation anxiety and boredom are as different in dogs as depression and occasional bad moods are in humans. A bored dog entertains itself by tearing up toilet paper or snatching cookies; a separation-anxiety dog panics, often severely damaging walls or doors and bloodying its paws or mouth in an attempt to escape from its surroundings and find company. There’s nothing funny about a dog in terror.

One of my dogs, a sweet mixed-breed adopted at 9 years old from the animal shelter where I work, came with a terrible case of separation anxiety; he leaped out windows, ripped up carpet and tore out his fur when left alone. But thanks to a lot of training and a brief course of antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs, he’s now a happy and stable dog who spends his days giving demonstrations to schoolchildren and visiting nursing homes and hospitals. Laugh if you like, but I think he’s worth it.

ELIZA RUBENSTEIN

Laguna Beach