I saw a patient this morning at Levittown Animal Hospital that reminded me of a few key phrases we learned in our first year of veterinary school:
- Dogs are not small humans.
- Cats are not small dogs.
- Rabbits are kinda like small horses. (But since I don’t work with either of these species, we won’t discuss why.)
The dog I saw this morning was being treated for a skin infection. I had just examined the same dog the night before, and prescribed some antibiotics. The infection was in a particularly private location on the dog. Private is a relative term here. I’m guessing the dog didn’t think it was so private, otherwise he wouldn’t have spent so such time licking that location in front of his owners. For those still wondering, the infection was on his prepuce (the sheath that covers the penis).
Apparently, the dog had been acting as if he was in pain. So the owners decided to give him some ibuprofen without consulting . One tablet of over the counter Motrin. 200 milligrams to be exact. The same dose an adult human being would take for mild inflammation and/or pain. Now let’s assume for argument’s sake that I’m wrong -that dogs are indeed small humans. Would you give a full dose of ibuprofen to your young 20 pound child? Probably not a good idea, although I admittedly have no idea what the proper dose is for a 20 pound human.
There is no universally accepted dose for ibuprofen in dogs, although some sources say you can give a dog 10mg/kg. This dog weighed just under 22 pounds, which equals 10kg …so he got 20mg/kg or twice the dose that nobody really agrees is safe in the first place. Fortunately, toxicologists do seem to agree that dogs need to receive about 100 to 200mg/kg before their kidneys begin to shut down. So my patient was pretty safe from acute renal failure. Still concerning though was the ibuprofen’s effects on the stomach and intestines. In particular, I was concerned about stomach ulcers and bleeding. The patient was prescribed some famotidine and sucralfate, and he was sent home to be monitored by his owners.
We avoided catastrophe, but the lessons learned here are:
- Never share your medications with your pets unless specifically directed to do so by your veterinarian.
- Small humans probably get smaller doses of drugs than large humans.
- If you think your dog is in pain, consult with a veterinarian ASAP -even if you need to call an emergency clinic.
