Paracetamol for dogs

[Orangehorse]

You probably know where this is going!

My dog has been on Loxicom for a few years now, she is 13 and earlier this year developed a slight limp. I took her to the vet but she didn't alter anything.

So last week she went for her annual jabs and health check. A different vet prescribed some dog paracetamol - well she is clearly feeling much better, she is much more lively.

The dog paracetamol was £14 for 2 weeks, in other words, £1.00 per day.

I keep getting conflicting stories about giving human paracetamol to dogs, two people has said it is OK and they give them to their dogs, others day don't do it.
I know they mustn't have artificial sweetener and obviously look to the dose. But does anyone have the definitive answer?

Obviously I will ask the vet - but they have a vested interest in supplying me with the tablets.

 

[Clodagh]

My vet just said use human paracetamol and I’ve had dogs in it for a long time. The labs get half morning and half at night, always with food. It definitely works, if I forgot one with B she was noticeably stiffer.

Hopefully one of the vets on here will clear your worries but I’ve never had a vet prescribe the dog one. Maybe I look tight.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I've heard that it is safe to use human paracetamol for dogs as well.

It's often prescribed for horses now as well my friends vet just told her to use the human tablets.

 

[Beausmate]

I've had vets tell me to use over the counter paracetamol. When current dog wasn't eating and getting extremely sore through not having her usual pain meds, she was given children's liquid paracetamol by the emergency vet. Strawberry flavour and NOT popular

 

[Lacuna]

You probably know where this is going!

My dog has been on Loxicom for a few years now, she is 13 and earlier this year developed a slight limp. I took her to the vet but she didn't alter anything.

So last week she went for her annual jabs and health check. A different vet prescribed some dog paracetamol - well she is clearly feeling much better, she is much more lively.

The dog paracetamol was £14 for 2 weeks, in other words, £1.00 per day.

I keep getting conflicting stories about giving human paracetamol to dogs, two people has said it is OK and they give them to their dogs, others day don't do it.
I know they mustn't have artificial sweetener and obviously look to the dose. But does anyone have the definitive answer?

Obviously I will ask the vet - but they have a vested interest in supplying me with the tablets.

I think it should be fine, just make sure you have the correct dosage. At the end of the day, the active ingrediant is the same for humans and dogs, just give the right amount for the size of dog

 

[Sealine]

My vet recommended normal human paracetamol for my elderly GSD last year when we were struggling to find pain relief that didn’t upset his stomach.

 

[Redders]

Human paracetamol is ok AT THE CORRECT DOSE, and is used off licence (not designed or labelled for use in dogs), as such it has to be justified to not use the licensed version (pardale), and cost is not a justification according to the laws vets have to stick to, it has to be a clinical justification.
It has always been illegal for a vet to recommend a human drug without a prescription unless in an emergency, but was never really enforced, however, earlier this year, the offence was made punishable by jail time. So where I used to quietly give a dose and write my notes as all discussed and owner declined dispensing, will source own, we can now be punished by jail time (and the strike off the register that would follow) if we facilitate an owner purchasing human drugs for animal use WITHOUT a proper prescription (facilitating would include advising on a correct dose/where to buy it etc). So now if we decide that plain human paracetamol is the correct treatment for the animal, we must either dispense it from our pharmacy, or provide a written prescription (which is chargeable because it takes time/resources etc)

Your vet (as an individual) probably has zero vested interest in selling you the tablets, they are just following the new laws they have to abide by sadly.
You could ask them for a written prescription for human paracetamol, which you would have to pay for, which would give you the dose etc.

Vets aren’t keen on this tightening up on the laws, but I (and the colleagues I know) just cannot and will not put our licences at risk.

While it is annoying, it does make sense from a safety point of view, we had someone a while back who decided that because they were told paracetamol was ok, ibuprofen must also be fine (it absolutely is not), and started the dog on it off their own back, thankfully the dog was ok, but it was very lucky. And it’s important to remember that No over the counter human drugs are over the counter for animals, because they are not licensed - it would be like a human pharmacist giving out prescription only medications without a prescription from a doctor

I hope no one takes this post as iffy, I’m just trying to explain the reasons why you may not get a vet willing to give you a dose anymore!

 

[scats]

JD has normal human paracetamol every day. She can’t have loxicom any more as it sets off her pancreatitis.

 

[meleeka]

Human paracetamol is ok AT THE CORRECT DOSE, and is used off licence (not designed or labelled for use in dogs), as such it has to be justified to not use the licensed version (pardale), and cost is not a justification according to the laws vets have to stick to, it has to be a clinical justification.
It has always been illegal for a vet to recommend a human drug without a prescription unless in an emergency, but was never really enforced, however, earlier this year, the offence was made punishable by jail time. So where I used to quietly give a dose and write my notes as all discussed and owner declined dispensing, will source own, we can now be punished by jail time (and the strike off the register that would follow) if we facilitate an owner purchasing human drugs for animal use WITHOUT a proper prescription (facilitating would include advising on a correct dose/where to buy it etc). So now if we decide that plain human paracetamol is the correct treatment for the animal, we must either dispense it from our pharmacy, or provide a written prescription (which is chargeable because it takes time/resources etc)

Your vet (as an individual) probably has zero vested interest in selling you the tablets, they are just following the new laws they have to abide by sadly.
You could ask them for a written prescription for human paracetamol, which you would have to pay for, which would give you the dose etc.

Vets aren’t keen on this tightening up on the laws, but I (and the colleagues I know) just cannot and will not put our licences at risk.

While it is annoying, it does make sense from a safety point of view, we had someone a while back who decided that because they were told paracetamol was ok, ibuprofen must also be fine (it absolutely is not), and started the dog on it off their own back, thankfully the dog was ok, but it was very lucky. And it’s important to remember that No over the counter human drugs are over the counter for animals, because they are not licensed - it would be like a human pharmacist giving out prescription only medications without a prescription from a doctor

I hope no one takes this post as iffy, I’m just trying to explain the reasons why you may not get a vet willing to give you a dose anymore!

Thanks for explaining.

If people get a prescription from the vet, it's still much cheaper to buy elsewhere. My local pharmacy will take an animal prescription, or they did the last time I had a dog on a human medicine.

 

[Redders]

Yes it usually is for most medications that aren’t needed straight away, I do it for my own animals as not many animal drugs exist for them. We have a sign in reception to make people aware of written prescriptions and the cost of them

 

[Patterdale]

I was told to give mine calpol after a big op. She loved it!

 

[daffy44]

I was told by a specialist vet at a referral centre to use human paracetamol at the dosage he recommended on my dog long term and it worked fantastically well, no side effects.

 

[Xmasha]

Our vets recommend paracetamol for our old boy . He was on it for years, it really helped his arthritis. He could t tolerate loxicom . But had no issue with human paracetamol

 

[Mighty Mouse]

My dog was prescribed orange flavour liquid paracetamol for kids. My dog is 6.45kg and the dose was 1.2ml twice a day. This was for one week. Had a syringe to squirt into his mouth. He’s not very tolerant but he didn’t mind this.

 

[Boulty]

Soooo it’s complicated… as has already been said a vet who tells you to go & buy a human product is on dodgy legal ground.

Re the liscenced or off licence issues pardale itself is only liscenced for short courses not long term use (& it also contains codeine alongside paracetamol) & it’s not always easy to get an appropriate dose for smaller patients with it hence why specially formulated lower strength tablets exist & why some places will also stock a liquid version

In theory bog standard human tablets should be just as safe as whatever version the vet stocks as they don’t have any added ingredients as long as the dose is correct (which if they’re a different strength will obviously involve maths which could lead to dosing errors). However as far as liquid versions go it really is a safer bet to either buy it from the vet or get a written prescription to get it from a pharmacy. Many human versions either have artificial sweeteners that are dangerous to dogs or contain ibruprofen which is toxic to dogs.

When it was a bit less dodgy to advise someone to source their own we had multiple occasions at work where someone bought the wrong thing and made their pet really ill.

 

[Birker2020]

I give our beagle weighing approx 2.5 stone half a tablet probably once or twice a month if she gets stiff.

Last night she was rooting around the bushes down the park and came out holding up a paw and is quite sore so hoping it's a simple thorn that we will find soon.

She's had half a tablet before work. She's running around fine, albeit leg very base wide so think it must be on outside of one of the pads.

 

[Red-1]

Before the new rules, my vet told me to get Calpol or similar, but to make sure it has no Zylatol as this is poisonous to dogs.

They all seem to have artificial sweeteners of some description in them.

She recommended not to give a tablet as it is so easy to overdose a 6kg dog and it would be impossible to cut a tables small enough.

 

[Orangehorse]

I don't mind paying for a prescription, thanks for the explanation.

 

[Jenko109]

My late BC x Lab was on paracetamol for a year or so alongside Trocoxil in the later stages of her arthritis.

My whippet was on paracetamol, alongside Gabapentin and pred for the first few weeks of his Meningitis diagnosis.

These were both just normal paracetamol from the supermarket.

 

[KEK]

Human paracetamol is ok AT THE CORRECT DOSE, and is used off licence (not designed or labelled for use in dogs), as such it has to be justified to not use the licensed version (pardale), and cost is not a justification according to the laws vets have to stick to, it has to be a clinical justification.
It has always been illegal for a vet to recommend a human drug without a prescription unless in an emergency, but was never really enforced, however, earlier this year, the offence was made punishable by jail time. So where I used to quietly give a dose and write my notes as all discussed and owner declined dispensing, will source own, we can now be punished by jail time (and the strike off the register that would follow) if we facilitate an owner purchasing human drugs for animal use WITHOUT a proper prescription (facilitating would include advising on a correct dose/where to buy it etc). So now if we decide that plain human paracetamol is the correct treatment for the animal, we must either dispense it from our pharmacy, or provide a written prescription (which is chargeable because it takes time/resources etc)

Your vet (as an individual) probably has zero vested interest in selling you the tablets, they are just following the new laws they have to abide by sadly.
You could ask them for a written prescription for human paracetamol, which you would have to pay for, which would give you the dose etc.

Vets aren’t keen on this tightening up on the laws, but I (and the colleagues I know) just cannot and will not put our licences at risk.

While it is annoying, it does make sense from a safety point of view, we had someone a while back who decided that because they were told paracetamol was ok, ibuprofen must also be fine (it absolutely is not), and started the dog on it off their own back, thankfully the dog was ok, but it was very lucky. And it’s important to remember that No over the counter human drugs are over the counter for animals, because they are not licensed - it would be like a human pharmacist giving out prescription only medications without a prescription from a doctor

I hope no one takes this post as iffy, I’m just trying to explain the reasons why you may not get a vet willing to give you a dose anymore!

Wow this must be a UK rule I’ve not heard that. Off to check!

 

[Redders]

Wow this must be a UK rule I’ve not heard that. Off to check!

Yes, UK rule, no idea about other countries!

 

[Mighty Mouse]

I had to buy eye drops for conjunctivitis. Tiny bottle cost £50. Same as for humans, cost for humans under £7.00. It is outrageous that vets can get away with this

 

[Jenko109]

I had to buy eye drops for conjunctivitis. Tiny bottle cost £50. Same as for humans, cost for humans under £7.00. It is outrageous that vets can get away with this

I think it's a lot more nuance than that.

 

[smiggy]

I had to buy eye drops for conjunctivitis. Tiny bottle cost £50. Same as for humans, cost for humans under £7.00. It is outrageous that vets can get away with this

Please no vet bashing
We don’t write the rules on prescribing
The new rule re needing to give clients a prescription for them buying over the counter medications is frankly baffling to me and I feel like an idiot trying to explain it to the clients , it’s ridiculous to be honest . But it’s the rules and I don’t want to get struck off so I do it , with quite frankly embarrassment.

 

[Clodagh]

I had to buy eye drops for conjunctivitis. Tiny bottle cost £50. Same as for humans, cost for humans under £7.00. It is outrageous that vets can get away with this

Vets aren’t responsible for bizarre legislative requirements.

 

[druid]

I had to buy eye drops for conjunctivitis. Tiny bottle cost £50. Same as for humans, cost for humans under £7.00. It is outrageous that vets can get away with this

Get away with what? Following the legal government prescribing legislation, buying said product from a designated wholesaler as legally required and likely being charged a huge amount more than a human pharmacy is supplied it at? It's no wonder vets are leaving the profession in droves when clients are fixated on this sort of thing which is out of the vets hands.

 

[meleeka]

I don't think anyone is blaming the vets themselves, but the practices, which are mostly owned by corporates. I'd be more than happy to pay these high prices if the actual vets were paid well.

 

[maisie06]

You probably know where this is going!

My dog has been on Loxicom for a few years now, she is 13 and earlier this year developed a slight limp. I took her to the vet but she didn't alter anything.

So last week she went for her annual jabs and health check. A different vet prescribed some dog paracetamol - well she is clearly feeling much better, she is much more lively.

The dog paracetamol was £14 for 2 weeks, in other words, £1.00 per day.

I keep getting conflicting stories about giving human paracetamol to dogs, two people has said it is OK and they give them to their dogs, others day don't do it.
I know they mustn't have artificial sweetener and obviously look to the dose. But does anyone have the definitive answer?

Obviously I will ask the vet - but they have a vested interest in supplying me with the tablets.

My vet advised half a human paracetamol a day for a 15kg cocker after an op as metacam scours his guts, no issues with the paracetamol and 30p for 12!! 24 day supply.

 

[skinnydipper]

The dose of Paracetamol prescribed for acute pain for a few days is higher than the dose prescribed for chronic pain given for a longer period of time.

 

[The Bouncing Bog Trotter]

My wee Jack Russell was sent home with calpol after her last dental extraction. I just wish I could remember the dosage as she has her odd stiff-with-age days now.