Giving pets people medication
We ask the expert what guidelines to follow
9 a.m. Sunday, May 18, 2008
A lot of pet medications have similar human counterparts, so feeding Fido the people pills you already have in your medicine cabinet may save you money, and a trip to the vet, but we wanted to know how safe and how effective this practice is, so we took our questions to Dr. Rob Trupp, who you may know from his monthly segment on Good Morning Kansas, Ask Dr. Trupp.
“Some of those medicines can be very detrimental and dangerous,” Dr. Trupp explained.
Even common medicines.
“Most of the things people thing about giving their pet are pain meds, things like Tylenol and ibuprofen. Those are things should not be given,” Trupp told us.
Others, like Benedryl, are perfectly safe but it doesn't mean you should bypass that call to your vet.
“Benedryl is a safe product but again that is something to contact your vet to make sure that's going to be appropriate,” Dr. Trupp said.
Your vet can give you the correct dosage for your dog, and just because Benedryl is safe, Trupp warns that doesn't mean other, similar medications are okay, too.
“There's other types of antihistamines that we don't use very often and those would be types not to mess with,” said Trupp.
So no matter what, always call your vet before opening up your medicine kit and doling out the goods to your dog.
Doctors do warn against another trend: people trying to save money, and a trip to the doctor, by taking their pet's medication.
They say this is unsafe because a lot of drugs sold for animal use are prepared in different concentrations and may be less pure than those marketed for people.
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