Is Clomipramine a controlled substance?

Clomipramine is not federally scheduled in the US. Controlled-drug status differs by country — verify your local rules.

Clomipramine

US brand names:Clomicalm, Anafranil

Sourced from published veterinary references. Awaiting credentialed clinical reviewer — our editorial process.

Clomipramine is dosed at 1–5 mg/kg PO q12h in african grey parrots, per 221. Desmarchelier MR. Clinical psychopharmacology for the exotic animal practitioner. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract. 2021;24:17-35. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 doi:10.1016/j.cvex.2020.08.003 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929. Verify against current literature before clinical use.

Drug Class

Behavioral

Routes

Indications

AnxietyBehavioural (tricyclic antidepressant)compulsive disordersfearfeather damaging behaviorfeather damaging behaviourfeather-damaging behaviorfeather-damaging behaviourself-mutilationSeparation anxietyUrine spraying

Mechanism of Action

Potent serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. More serotonin-selective than amitriptyline. Also has anticholinergic properties.

Side effects & warnings

FDA-approved for separation anxiety in dogs. 2-4 weeks for effect. GI upset, sedation, urinary retention. CONTRAINDICATED with MAOIs. Serotonin syndrome risk. Lower seizure threshold.

Species with Clomipramine dosing data (10 dose rules)

African Grey Parrot Blue-and-Gold Macaw Cat (Domestic)Dog (Domestic)Green-cheeked Conure Lovebird Pet Rat Umbrella Cockatoo

Species references:All African Grey Parrot drugs All Blue-and-Gold Macaw drugs All Cat (Domestic) drugs All Dog (Domestic) drugs All Green-cheeked Conure drugs All Lovebird drugs All Pet Rat drugs

Evidence levels across 10 dose rules

Weak×4Strong×1Moderate×5

Each ExoticRx dose rule is graded by the strength of its primary evidence — see the editorial process.

Backed by 8 published sources

· 221. Desmarchelier MR. Clinical psychopharmacology for the exotic animal practitioner. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract. 2021;24:17-35. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 doi:10.1016/j.cvex.2020.08.003 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929
· 221. Desmarchelier MR. Clinical psychopharmacology for the exotic animal practitioner. Vet Clin North Am Exot Anim Pract. 2021;24:17-35. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929

Sample dosing (2 of 10 cited rules)

A dog/cat sample is shown here. Cited dosing for all 8 species — reptiles, birds, pocket pets, livestock, and equine — is free on the per-species pages above. Pro adds the weight-based calculator for every species.

Species	Route	Dose	Frequency	Evidence	Source
Dog (Domestic)	PO	1–3 mg/kg	q12h	Strong	Hewson CJ, Luescher UA, Parent JM, Conlon PD, Ball RO. Efficacy of clomipramine in the treatment of canine compulsive disorder. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1998;213(12):1760-1766. doi:10.2460/javma.1998.213.12.1760 — Verified against Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, 10th Ed, p.318 (2026-08-01). — Plumb's 10th ed (held) printed p.289, Clomipramine monograph spanning p.289-291; page located 2026-08-05 from the book's own running heads, verified to name the drug in its body text. — SOURCE EDITION: Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook — ISBN 9781394172207, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781394172207
Cat (Domestic)	PO	0.25–0.5 mg/kg	q24h	Moderate

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Calculate Dosage for Clomipramine

735. Ramsay EC, Grindlinger H. Use of clomipramine in the treatment of obsessive behavior in psittacine birds. J Assoc Avian Vet. 1994;8:9. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929

· 852. Seibert LM, Crowell-Davis SL, Wilson GH, et al. Placebo-controlled clomipramine trial for the treatment of feather picking disorder in cockatoos. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 2004;40:261-269. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 doi:10.5326/0400261 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929; Veterinary Psychopharmacology (Crowell-Davis) — ISBN 9781119226246, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781119226246

· Hewson CJ, Luescher UA, Parent JM, Conlon PD, Ball RO. Efficacy of clomipramine in the treatment of canine compulsive disorder. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1998;213(12):1760-1766. doi:10.2460/javma.1998.213.12.1760 — Verified against Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, 10th Ed, p.318 (2026-08-01). — Plumb's 10th ed (held) printed p.289, Clomipramine monograph spanning p.289-291; page located 2026-08-05 from the book's own running heads, verified to name the drug in its body text. — SOURCE EDITION: Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook — ISBN 9781394172207, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781394172207

· King JN, Steffan J, Heath SE, et al. Determination of the dosage of clomipramine for the treatment of urine spraying in cats. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2004;225(6):881-887. doi:10.2460/javma.2004.225.881 — Verified against Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook, 10th Ed, p.318 (2026-08-01). — Plumb's 10th ed (held) printed p.289, Clomipramine monograph spanning p.289-291; page located 2026-08-05 from the book's own running heads, verified to name the drug in its body text. — SOURCE EDITION: Plumb's Veterinary Drug Handbook — ISBN 9781394172207, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781394172207

· Meredith A. BSAVA Small Animal Formulary: Part B: Exotic Pets, British Small Animal Veterinary Association, Quedgeley, Gloucester, UK; 2015. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.799 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 9.7 (Miscellaneous Agents Used in Rodents). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: BSAVA Small Animal Formulary, Part B — Exotic Pets — ISBN 9781910443712, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9781910443712; Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929 — REQUIRES CLINICAL JUDGEMENT (retrieved 2026-08-19): Chain is faithful but terminates unsourced: "Mammals: Rats: 16-32 mg/kg p.o. q12h." — BSAVA Small Animal Formulary 10th ed Part B: Exotic Pets, printed p.82 (corpus bsava_b 96), printed with NO reference (its only reference, a = Seibert 2004, supports the bird dose). No document supplies whether a TCA at 64 mg/kg/day is safe in a pet rat. — SOURCE CHAIN: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 9.7, corpus p.799 — "Clomipramine 16-32 mg/kg PO q12h(122) — Rats". Superscript 122 resolves in Carpenter's own reference list to BSAVA Small Animal Formulary Part B (Exotic Pets), which prints the same figure at corpus p.96 (printed p.82) — "Mammals: Rats: 16-32 mg/kg p.o. q12h". The two texts are ONE source, not independent corroboration. — PROVENANCE, read in full 2026-08-19: BSAVA Small Animal Formulary Part B (Exotic Pets), corpus p.96 (printed p.82), DOSES — "Mammals: Rats: 16-32 mg/kg p.o. q12h." The rat line carries NO reference marker; the only referenced line in that block is the avian one (Seibert et al. 2004, feather-picking in cockatoos). Carpenter's Table 9.7 row cites this same book (superscript 122), so the two texts are ONE lineage, not corroboration. — TRACE ATTEMPT 2026-08-19, result NEGATIVE: the figure could not be traced to any source beyond the formulary chain. Rat behavioural-pharmacology models use clomipramine at 0.6-50 mg/kg (schedule-induced polydipsia 5 mg/kg, Woods, Psychopharmacology 1993, PMID 7871019; forced swim 10-50 mg/kg; neonatal depression model 15 mg/kg SC q12h, Labra-Ruiz, Brain Sci 2025), but NO published behavioural model uses 16-32 mg/kg PO q12h. No second clinical pet-rat dose was found in the veterinary literature. — SEARCH LIMITS, stated so nobody repeats them: no BSAVA errata or corrigenda could be retrieved (bsava.com and bsavalibrary.com return HTTP 403 to anonymous fetch, so absence is not proof none exists); and Johnson-Delaney's Exotic Companion Medicine Handbook and Mayer & Donnelly's Clinical Veterinary Advisor: Birds and Exotic Pets returned catalogue pages only, so whether either prints a rat clomipramine dose is UNKNOWN rather than negative.

· Ramsay EC, Grindlinger H. Use of clomipramine in the treatment of obsessive behavior in psittacine birds. J Assoc Avian Vet. 1994;8:9. — Source: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary, 6th Ed, p.471 — Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary 6th ed, Table 5.10 (Psychotropic and Antiepileptic Agents Used in Birds.a,b). The copy held is an ebook conversion with no printed page numbers, so the table — not the page — is the citable location. — SOURCE EDITION: Carpenter's Exotic Animal Formulary — ISBN 9780323833929, https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9780323833929