Question
Urgent help. My cat has gone mad. She can't recognize us anymore. She is continuously running from side to side up and down as if a ghost is chasing her. If I try to hold her she is struggling to get away. Her situation is like a fish taken out of water struggling to breath.
Edit: She was in heat and shouting constantly. The neighbors were complaining. So I gave her Alprazolam 0.5 to make her sleep.
Update: Went to vet. He said that the cat is Ok. Given antime this Friday for surgery to neuter the cat. Also gave medicine for worm, liver tonic, essential amino acids + multivitamins + DHA + arginine.
Answer
If she's been doing this for more than 10-15 minutes then I would say you need to contact a vet ASAP. A short one off could be something spooking her (remember they can hear and smell things we can't) but if it's sustained then a professional needs to check her out.
EDIT
Following this update from the OP:
I suspect it was the human medicine that I gave her caused this. She was in heat and was shouting constantly and loudly. Neighbors were complaining. So I gave her alprazolam .5 which is given to humans as sleeping pill. And this triggered the behavior. Now she is much normal.
I feel the need to add the following (I've put this in comments as well but given the possible non-permanence of comments I felt the need to edit this in to the answer):
DO NOT GIVE HUMAN MEDICATIONS TO NON-HUMANS!
You have no idea what effect it will have on their physiology, and even if it were to act on them in the same way as it would on a human the dosages will be massively wrong - even a pretty big cat will generally only be 5-6kg compared with an adult human that will easily be 10 times that weight.
While alprazolm (a.k.a. Xanax) can be used to treat cats , and for similar conditions to it's uses in humans 0.5mg is double the maximum normal dose for a cat! And while I'm not sure on the levels required I do know that it is considered toxic to them in excess. Even though the cat seems "normal" now there may be underlying damage caused by the medication - a visit to the vet has to happen ASAP, along with information about how much of the medication the cat has been given taking the pills with you and showing to them to the vet may be useful also.
So unless a veterinary professional explicitly instructs you to do so:
DO NOT GIVE HUMAN MEDICATIONS TO NON-HUMANS!!
Answered By - motosubatsu