Quick facts about giving human medication to pets
- Most human medications should never be given to pets under any circumstances
- You should only ever consider giving a pet medication made for humans if you’ve already discussed this with your veterinarian.
- Some medications for humans have pet equivalents that can be successful at, say, reducing pets’ anxiety
Can you give human medicine to your pets?
The short answer No. Please read on for The Facts.
Are over-the-counter medications safe for pets?
Even if you’re pretty confident that you can just give your pet an OTC human medication, don’t. Ask your veterinarian first. Blindly giving your pet over-the-counter human medication can easily cause more harm than good.
Can you give over-the-counter human pain medicine to pets?
Here’s the information you need to know about giving human pain meds to your pets.
NSAIDS and Pets
Common drugs such as ibuprofen, Motrin, or Aleve can be very harmful to pets.
These brands are called NSAID’s – (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) – they can cause a variety of bad side effects in pets. Examples of side effects are: stomach ulcers, bloody stool, vomiting, seizures, and liver or kidney failure in pets.
Some types of NSAIDs are just not okay to give certain types of pets. For example, never give aspirin or tylenol to your cat. Cats don’t have the enzyme needed to properly metabolize salicylic acid which is the active ingredient in these drugs.
Gabapentin and Pets
Gabapentin is a common anticonvulsant and analgesic drug for humans. Vets will often prescribe Gabapentin to treat seizures, pain, and anxiety in pets.
Veterinarians will start pets off on a low dose of veterinary-safe Gabapentin, to see how your pet reacts. So, as with NSAIDs, don’t give Gabapentin without your veterinarian’s guidance.
Opioids and Pets
Make no mistake: you should never give opioids to your pet unless directed by your veterinarian. It can quickly become a severe threat to your pet’s health..
One of the most commonly prescribed opioids is Buprenorphine. It’s risky for very young or old animals, or those with liver, bile, heart, kidney, lung disease, or low thyroid levels
Can you give over-the-counter human allergy medicine to pets?
You may be able to give your pet OTC antihistamines. Drugs such as Zyrtec and Claritin are generally decently tolerated by pets who are dealing with allergic itching or sneezing.
Caution, some antihistamines DO have active ingredients that are very harmful to pets. One example is Allegra. It contains the chemical Pseudoephedrine that along with other diphenhydramine liquids can be fatal to pets even in small doses.
Can you give over-the-counter human anxiety medicine to pets?
You shouldn’t just give human anti-anxiety medication to your pet because human bodies assimilate drugs at different rates. This makes it potentially dangerous.
There are certain made-for-pet safe anxiety medications. These include pet-formulated Benadryl, Prozac, Trazodone, Xanax, and Clomipramine.
Luckily, now there are a lot of natural products and supplements available to help reduce your pet’s anxiety.
Can you use human topical treatments on pets?
In general, using human topical treatments on our pets isn’t safe because these treatments are meant for external use only and our pets tend to lick the treatments off, which can be dangerous because human topical treatments may contain harmful chemicals.
That’s why, to treat your pet’s skin issues like infections, hot spots, wounds, ringworm and dry/itchy skin the best solution is to find a pet-approved antiseptic and antifungal spray like Banixx Pet Care.
Banixx Pet Care spray is a fast-acting, non-toxic formula that gives even pets with the most sensitive skin relief with just 2-3 sprays a day.
In summary, please do your homework about how to keep your pet safe and if you have any doubts, make an appointment with your Veterinarian.
Sources:
https://www.aspca.org/news/can-you-give-your-pets-antihistamine
https://roguepetscience.com/2020/12/16/can-dogs-take-human-vitamin-supplements/
