Pet Pharm

White Pine Pictures presents

PET PHARM
Pets on Prozac – the height of compassion, or an overly indulgent society chasing its tail?

A film by Patrick Reed

World Broadcast Premiere on CBC Doc Zone

Thursday November 4 at 9 pm ET on CBC-TV & Friday November 5 at 10 pm ET/PT on CBC News Network

It’s often said you can know a society by how well it treats its children.  Increasingly, with nearly 140 million dogs and cats sharing our lives in North America (twice as many households now have pets than children), it seems we need to add pets to the equation.

Pet products are North America’s fastest growing retail sector, with over 53 billion dollars in annual sales.  Doggy spas offer “pawdicures” and “doga”, or canine yoga; celebrity chefs dish up treats at pet delis; and everything from braces to stem cell transplants to heart surgery is now available for your pet, assuming you can afford it.

Pet Pharm, a new film by Patrick Reed and White Pine, investigates the newest trend which is the most controversial and revealing:  psychoactive drugs for pets.  Identifying a multi-billion dollar untapped market, Big Pharma has just developed and released a handful of designer drugs for pets, treating aggression, separation anxiety, obesity and diminished mental capacity related to aging, with many more medications to follow.

In Pet Pharm, Reed looks at this unfolding phenomenon from a number of perspectives including those of experts in the field like Dr. Nicholas Dodman and Dr. Ian Dunbar, who represent the polar opposite positions on psychoactive drugs for pets. 

Dr. Dodman, founder of Tufts University Animal Behaviour Clinic near Boston, a pioneer in the field of animal behavioral pharmacology, is now the preeminent proponent of pet pharm.  At his clinic at Tufts University, Dodman treats pets with conditions once considered uniquely human – separation anxiety; misplaced aggression; obsessive compulsive disorder – attracting owners desperate for a quick fix.  Once called the Timothy Leary of the veterinary profession, Dodman counters with “People in general are very frightened of things they don’t understand.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Pet Pharm follows Dr. Ian Dunbar of Berkeley, California, a strong advocate of the benefits of training vs drugs, as he meets with clients who bring him dogs with behavioral problems. “Problems are allowed to develop”, says Dunbar, “where owners are frustrated and even pet professionals are pulling their hair out, and that’s why the pill looks so attractive.  Any veterinarian will tell you “Well if we prescribe Prozac, we have to wait 6 weeks to see if we get an effect.” Well, if I have a hyperactive or anxious dog, you’re going to see an effect within minutes.”

Pet Pharm also takes viewers on a trip to Japan, home to the largest growing pet markets – with dogs outnumbering children under the age of 15.  The camera follows Dr. Dodman to the Japanese island of Hokkaido, where leading veterinary behaviorist Dr. Yoshiko Uchida – one of Dodman’s former star pupils – carries out trials for Eli Lilly’s “Reconcile” (Prozac for pets) and to Tokyo as Dr. Dodman meets with Japanese veterinarians and Eli Lilly reps.

But it’s Pet Pharm’s stories of pet owners on the front lines, struggling with their pets troublesome and even threatening behaviours, with the decision of whether to medicate or not, that are the most telling, and compelling.

Take the Taillefer family of North Bay, Ontario.  Jason and Corrine didn’t think they had a problem with their dog Jake, until he suddenly and viciously attacked Corinne’s face, which required 264 stitches.  The Taillefers’ have refused to put Jake on medication, but now, with their 15 month old son Porter in the mix, it’s time to take Jake back to trainer Kerry Vinson.

Sisters and cat owners Emily and Jessica Lockhart of Toronto are very close and enjoy living together, but their cats don’t get along.  Priscilla, an eight year old tabby Emily adopted from an animal shelter, developed a compulsive licking disorder, aggravated by attacks from Jessica’s two tomcats.  Despite being given anti-anxiety medication, Priscilla’s condition hasn’t really improved, and as a result the sisters are considering moving apart to separate the animals from each other.

Toronto dog owner Jen Hart’s hound Zeke is friendly towards everyone except her long-term boyfriend Greg, who was bitten by Zeke three weeks after they began dating.  Zeke must now be muzzled when in the same room as Greg.  Half a dozen trainers later, with limited success, Jen doesn’t want to have to choose between the man she loves and Zeke, who is an essential part of her life.  After much struggle and resistance to the idea, Jen decides to try a Prozac regime for Zeke.

In Oakville, Ontario, Claire Labelle’s Timmie has a lot of aggression for a tiny teacup poodle, barking incessantly and not hesitating to attack strangers as well as Claire and her sister Claudette.  For Claire, medication to “take the edge off” is a necessity while she strives to bring him under control with training tips from her veterinarian.

Pet Pharm is a controversial exploration of a hot topic that has a timeless edge.  It’s much more than a story about our relationship to our pets; it’s about our relationship to ourselves.

Patrick Reed is the director of Pet Pharm.  A decade ago, he abandoned a PhD program in History to work on documentaries, first as a writer/researcher, then as a director. Many of his films explore human rights issues in a vérité style, following compelling characters as they struggle with the past and present.  Reed has collaborated with Peter Raymont on several White Pine Pictures’ award-winning productions over the years, playing a key creative role on Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire. Reed directed Tsepong: A Clinic Called Hope, a cinema vérité chronicle of the work of doctors and nurses fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Lesotho, Africa.  He then went on to direct Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma which had its world premiere at the 2007 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and its North American premiere at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Pet Pharm is directed by Patrick Reed and produced by Peter Raymont with Kelly Jenkins as Supervising Producer.  Ann-Marie MacDonald is narrator.  Pet Pharm is edited by Steve Weslak and DOP is Neville Ottey with John Westheuser as DOP/Field Director.  Music by Nick Dyer and Eric Cadesky.

Pet Pharm is produced by White Pine Pictures in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and with the participation of the Canadian Media Fund.

Running time: 42 minutes

http://www.whitepinepictures.com