Pennard Vets
  • About Us
  • Our Services
  • Advice Centre
  • Join Our Pet Health Club
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Our Practices
    • Sevenoaks
    • Tonbridge
    • Maidstone
    • Borough Green
    • Allington
    • Langley Park
    • West Malling
  • About Us
  • Our Services
  • Advice Centre
  • Join Our Pet Health Club
  • Contact Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Sevenoaks
  • Tonbridge
  • Maidstone
  • Borough Green
  • Allington
  • Langley Park
  • West Malling

Painkillers and your Pet…

Posted on 4 May 2020
No Comments
Painkillers and your Pet

We are receiving many questions asking if you can give your pet paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin. We understand that during lockdown combined with the difficulty of bringing your pet to the vets that the easier option may be to medicate them yourselves. Unfortunately, poisoning is common and we advise strongly against this.

Firstly, would you recognise the stages of pain in your pet?

  • Vocalisation (growling, whining, hissing)
  • Guarding the part of their body in pain.
  • Reluctance to move
  • Hunched posture
  • Lethargy
  • Depression
  • Reluctance to walk, hiding
  • Inappetence
  • Increased breathing rate

Pain relief is a very large group of drugs. The two main being,

1. Non-Steroids Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAID’s)

These include ibuprofen, aspirin.

2. Opioids

These include morphine, codeine, fentanyl

Unfortunately whilst being good at relieving pain all of these drugs have side effects.

NSAID’s

Vomiting, Diarrhoea, Stomach Ulcers.

Ibuprofen – is incredibly dangerous to dogs.

Paracetamol – can cause liver failure, swelling and damage to the blood. It can be fatal in cats.

Opioids

Can cause difficulty breathing, coma, and constipation.

Humans can break down most painkillers faster than pets can.

Why do we prescribe these drugs if they are dangerous?

It’s our role to never leave a pet in pain. But with pain relief, we can control it. That’s why we regularly check your pet if they are on pain relief, taking blood tests to check their liver and kidney function and that they are not suffering any side effects

Do not give your pet any pain relief from your medicine box – call your vet and we will give you the advice to keep your pet pain free and safe.

Previous Post
Coronavirus Update…
Next Post
Dogs and the importance of sniffing…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

Recent Posts

  • Protected: How to keep your pet at a healthy weight? 28 February 2023
  • Dogs with mobility issues: How best to care for your companion 27 February 2023
  • How to best take care of your senior pets 22 February 2023
  • Blood pressure testing 13 February 2023
  • Harvest Mites – What are they? And what do they do? 25 July 2022

Categories

  • Advice Centre (3)
  • Allington (16)
  • Borough Green (5)
  • Cat Advice (22)
  • COVID-19 (3)
  • Dog Advice (53)
  • Langley Park (14)
  • Maidstone (19)
  • Out of hours Emergency (7)
  • Practice News (26)
  • Practices (1)
  • Rabbit Advice (5)
  • Sevenoaks (28)
  • Small Animals (1)
  • Tonbridge (22)
  • West Malling (11)
Pennard Vets

© Pennard Vets 2022
Vets in Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Maidstone, Allington, Borough Green, Langley Park & West Malling. Calls may be recorded and some of our practices have CCTV, for training & monitoring purposes.

Sevenoaks

01732 452 344

Tonbridge

01732 352 004

Borough Green

01732 882 232

Maidstone

01622 752 154

Allington

01622 663 166

Langley Park

01622 808 084

West Malling

01732 843 080

Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy | Cookies

Instagram
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube