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Ezine ready page
Ezine ready page
Posted on November 30, 1999 by Joy Stoyle | Posted under Pets Dogs
Aspirin For Dogs? Nice Idea, But Take Care
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Now there is an interesting thought! Why not give aspirin to dogs? Certainly our beloved pets feel the ravages of age, trauma and ill health just as we do. So why shouldn't they benefit from the wonder drug too? Of course you will have to do all the administering of the drug as the more responsible partner in the dog-person relationship. So be as wary in prescribing aspirin for your dog as you would be for yourself. After all your dog cannot read the label, weight themselves and calculate the right dosage. A definite no-no is aspirin for young dogs. Pups do not have the metabolism to cope with it. So aspirin is only for adult dogs. A good idea is to check out your pet prescription with the professionals before doing anything as rash as mixing aspirin with your dogs' dinner. Your vet may well have a better alternative drug for your particular pet's ailments. Although it will almost certainly be more expensive. We tend to take aspirin for granted as it is such an essential part of our culture but it can be a dangerous substance. Your dogs age (let's not do that whole 'doggy years' nonsense) is not the only criteria to consider when giving them aspirin. The typical human adult dosage is 320 milligrams which would almost certainly do irreparable damage to your dog. This dosage is appropriate to typical human body mass and ability to absorb it and even a large dog would find it poisonous. A maximum of 10 mgs for every doggy pound of body weight two times each day in dog meat is the absolute limit. Scale it down with the size of your dog. You can't get dog doses over the counter at your local pharmacy. You will have to transform the human version by pulverizing the tabs and halving the powder. If you use capsules then break them open to limit the dose. Wrongly administered aspirin to dogs will cause severe distress to the animal. If the benefits of aspirin are the same in dogs as they are in humans then so too are the ill effects. Any changes for the worse in your dogs' condition or the development of new symptoms are the signal to stop with the aspirin and to call your vet. Revert to specially formulated dog drugs to avoid such things as your dog being sick, bringing up blood, having an upset stomach, discolored feces, loss of appetite, or shortness of breath. Avoid aspirin with an 'enteric' coating. Your dog simply cannot digest it. Aspirin for dogs must be seen as a one-off short term aid to health. Prolonged use of aspirin will not do your dog any favors. With long term, age related, conditions such as arthritis your dog should be given Rimadyl or another vet developed drug or a course of soothing injections. These prescriptions will not have the ill effects or do the lasting damage that aspirin may. So the last word on aspirin for dogs is: nice idea but take care. Get the dose right. Administer it only for short term relief. The best option is a proprietary special dog aspirin which can be had with flavoring. Aspirin must not to be given to young dogs or other species because it is poisonous and their metabolisms have not evolved to cope with it. About The Author: |
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