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America: Land of Doggy Doping

The business of pet pharmacology is booming

By Lev Weinstein, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 10, 2008 7:07 AM CDT

(Newser) – Americans spent $49 billion on their pets last year, with an ever-growing percentage paying for treatment of behavioral issues with tailor-made psychotropics, reports James Vlahos in the New York Times Magazine. Frustrated owners are feeding dogs drugs like Reconcile—beef-flavored Prozac—-for "mental illnesses that eerily resemble human ones," from separation anxiety to compusive disorder. There are even doggy diet pills.

"Owners want their pets to be more like little well-behaved children," says one industry observer. "People always want the magic pill," a veterinarian adds. For some, however, drugs may be the only thing saving a beloved out-of-control animal from euthanasia. "It's a lifesaving thing," says another vet.

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis produces Reconcile, an anti-anxiety medication for the canine set. (AP Photo/Keystone, Steffen Schmidt)

Prozac: it's not just for humans anymore (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Cleary, a canine in need of depression medication (Flickr)

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America: Land of Doggy Doping

The business of pet pharmacology is booming

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