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dog sprains
My german shepherd likes to chase our cat-once again she has hurt her foot- is it safe to give her tylenol or asprin to help with the sprain or do I have to take her to the vet again for it?
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#2
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Nocurves,
Often the biggest problem is THE DOSE. If I were you I would call my veterinarian, but I did find this on another site. Good luck Homer Acetaminophen (Tylenol™) safety in dogs and cats Question: Hi Dr Mike: I have a question about Acetaminophen (Tylenol™). The Receptionist at our local veterinarian told us that in case of fever, it was ok to give our dogs a Tylenol™ and NOT to give them ASPIRIN, or IBUPROFEN. http://www.avma.org/pubhlth/poisgde.asp#yew According to the AVMA Pet Poison Guide ratings scale, it appears to me that the Acetaminophen (Tylenol™) is more dangerous then the ASPIRIN, or IBUPROFEN. Is this true or am I misunderstanding what I am reading or was this by chance a misprint? What would you recommend be given to a dog in case of a fever ASPIRIN, IBUPROFEN, Acetaminophen (Tylenol™) or something else? Thank you for your time. I hope to hear from you soon, David Answer: David- Based on reactions in our canine patients, this is the ranking I would give these medications: safest = acetaminophen (Tylenol tm), also safe = aspirin, less safe = ibuprofen (Advil tm, Motrin Rx). However, this is the ranking that I would give them based on the reports in the literature and factoring in the likelihood of a bad reaction causing death: safest = aspirin, also safe but less so = acetaminophen and less safe = ibuprofen. The reason for these rankings include these things. Aspirin is reasonably likely to cause gastric ulcers, which can be life threatening if ignored but which respond to withdrawal of the medication. Acetaminophen doesn't seem to cause ulcers but there are uncommon reactions to it in which liver failure occurs and this may not respond to therapy, so death is a possibility. Ibuprofen is very likely to cause ulcers, with 100% of dogs developing ulcers with the use of ibuprofen in at least one study. On the other hand, lots of my clients come in and tell me "I gave my dog an ibuprofen last night" and I have only had to treat one or two cases of ulcers and I can't recall a dog dying from this medication, yet. My personal preference for pain and fever in dogs is aspirin but we do warn our clients to discontinue the medication if the dog stops eating and to call us or come in for a recheck if that happens. In cats the situation is different. Acetaminophen is very toxic to cats and this medication should simply never be used to treat a cat. Aspirin has a long half life in cats, at least 24 to 48 hours, so it will reach toxic levels pretty quickly if it is given more frequently than once every 48 hours and the dosage is 10mg/lb so a baby aspirin (81mg) is a much more appropriate dosage for a cat than an adult aspirin. I have not seen much information on ibuprofen and cats but it is a good idea to avoid all non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications in cats, at least until one of them does prove to be safe in someone's clinical trials. Mike Richards, DVM 3/10/2001 |
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