Almost weekly, a pet owner calls in with a concern because the dog or cat ingested "x" medication that belongs to the owner. Sometimes I know what potential problems there could be, but often not - especially because there are SO many drugs, so many NEW drugs and the dose for an animal (think about the size and physiological differences in cats versus dogs - chihuahuas to Great Danes!) versus the average human can obviously vary quite a bit!
There are so many human medications, I am not even sure how physicians keep up with them. Fortunately, we have a PDR (a Physicians Desk Reference) too and access to some great veterinary toxicologists through several hotlines.
I just read an article I thought was worth sharing that details what a few top selling human meds are and how they affect your pet should he/she ingest them. Fortunately, in most cases, they are NOT a problem. These drugs include: Lipitor, Nexium, Plavix, Advair Diskus and Abilify. Who knew? The last two are apparently the BIG concerns. Amazingly, Plavix has a wide margin of safety in pets, so generally no worries about them bleeding out on this one!
Top Prescription Drugs and Your Pets
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