Can I give my dog drugs?

Dogs experience human-like symptoms during times of sickness, but providing prescription drugs to pets is often very bad idea. Sure, sometimes even vets recommend common medications but those cases certainly require detailed dosing instructions and other careful considerations.

This is an extremely broad topic but, in most cases, it’s best not to experiment by administering your drugs to a beloved dog. This also includes most of the popular over-the-counter meds. Treating a problem that will likely go away on its own just doesn’t make sense and could be dangerous.

We cover many different kinds of human drugs here and you are encouraged to read specific articles. For now, consider that dogs can usually recover from a bout of sickness on their own without intervention. Treating every sneeze or canine cough is not the right why to go about helping your best buddy.

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Can I Give My Dog Drugs? Answer: Usually not recommended

You must be fully informed, on both the medical issue and the medication, before even considering the use of human drugs for a precious pet.

Often times us dog owners assume that Fido is greatly suffering from a condition when it just isn’t so. They might make a very human-like face that you read into and think that they need some assistance on your part, but often its best to simply let nature run its course. Dogs are rather simple animals, and if they are exhibiting symptoms of something that you want to treat, you’d be better off getting to the root of the problem and addressing that.

In many instances drugs simply deal with the symptoms of other problems, and there’s no reason to treat the symptoms of your dog because they’re probably not bothering the dog as much as you think they might be.

Not Made for Dogs

One of the biggest reasons for not wanting to give your dog drugs is because pharmaceutical companies put a lot of work into the pills that they create, and they do a lot of research on them before they’re released to the public. This research doesn’t take into consideration the canine species and the differences that exist. That’s why you won’t see directions on the packaging that say how to give it to your dog.

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Not Canine Tested

They also don’t test the drugs on dogs, because they don’t assume that they will used on animals. A vet will know what drugs are okay for your dog, and in what amounts, and if they advise you to by all means heed their advice. But as a general rule you don’t want to get into the habit of playing scientist and experimenting on your dog as if it were a lab rat.

Dogs react differently to all things that are put in their mouths, and they won’t even digest food the same way that humans would. The same goes for medication.

Medications for Animals

There are medications that are specially formulated for dogs, that were created by scientists working in a lab very similar to the ones where they make human medication, only they know that the end user will be of the canine variety. These are the drugs that you should be giving to your dog and you can get them from your vet after a proper diagnosis of what’s wrong.

Of course if your dog is in real and obvious pain or if there’s something really wrong with your dog you’ll want to either call the vet or take them into an animal hospital right away. The above advice is mostly for times when you are thinking of treating your dog for some minor ailment, and are considering using some drugs you happen to have on hand, either from your own prescription or some over the counter drugs you still have available.

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