Jump to content
BC Boards

Clomipramine Shortage - Ouch!!


Root Beer
 Share

Recommended Posts

Dean has been on Clomipramine for many years now and has done well on it.

 

Now the drug is becoming very difficult to get. The generic seems to be gone altogether. The brand, Clomicalm, is still available, but who knows for how much longer?

 

I hate to mess with a good thing, but I may have to.

 

Have any of you switched a severely noise phobic/anxious dog to another drug, after using Clomipramine successfully?

 

Let me be clear - I will be working with my vet. And I am not asking anyone to prescribe over the internet. I am interested in your personal experiences with this. I know those will vary from dog to dog.

 

Did you ever find anything that worked as well/better?

 

Did any of you wean off completely? What was that like? What was the end result?

 

I know the information will be anecdotal, but that's what I'm interested in.

 

Thanks for any info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't share any experiences with you BUT have you looked at having it compounded? When drugs go on back order or become hard to get your hands on, compounding pharmacies can fill the gap. Sometimes having a drug compounded is actually less expensive than purchasing it as a generic or as a brand named drug - but not always and certainly not if it is a drug on the $4 Walmart Generic list. I might give a call over to Wedgewood Pharmacy or some other compounding pharmacy to look into it if the drug has worked so well for you - or ask your vet to do so for you. (I am a vet tech so calling the pharmacies are second nature to me.)

 

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

have you looked at having it compounded?

 

I can't say for sure, but it would be unusual to find a compounding pharmacy making up something as complex as a tricyclic antidepressant (which is what clomipramine is). Does the vet provide it for you, or do you get a veterinary prescription filled at a regular pharmacy?

 

I've not heard that there is a shortage of the human formulation, and I wonder if your vet can substitute that? The alprazolam that we use, for instance, for our elderly BCX for panic is a prescription we fill at the regular pharmacy. Tricyclic antidepressants for human use are a bit 'old fashioned', but they're still on the market. I imagine your vet would think of this, but it doesn't hurt to put it out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He was on the human generic for years until this summer I went to get it and the price had gone from about 35 dollars a bottle to 500. Yes - 500!! The pharmacy, as a courtesy, gave me his final bottle for the old price. So yes, I could get it, but there is no way I could afford it!! So at that time I got about a 4 month supply of generic Clomipramine from Drs. Foster and Smith. We are getting close to needing to restock and that's when I discovered that the generic is completely gone from all of the places like that. I called them today and all the info I could get was that there were no more supplies available.

 

I will talk to my vet about the possibility of getting it compounded. She looked into doing that for Adequan and it turned out it couldn't happen for some reason. But I know she will be willing to look into it for me.

 

I don't mind giving him the brand formulated for dogs, even though I will pay double what I paid for the generic. But I do worry that it might suddenly vanish, as well.

 

Liz, thank you for that suggestion. I will pass that info on to my vet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...