Q: pain relief

Answered by Bordterr on 10/25/2005, 7:03 pm

A: pain relief

> My dog cut one of the pads on his paw yesterday - is it safe
> to give him aspirin for the pain? If so, how much. He's
> about 6 mos old and 30lbs. Thanks!
>

....................................

Nope, it's not safe to give your puppy aspirin unless it is specifically selected by your vet as the appropriate medication for pain for THIS injury. The vet needs to see the pup if the injury is severe enough to need pain medication, because it's a fairly significant injury.

Aspirin causes stomach ulceration and bleeding in dogs much more rapidly than it does in humans, so it's use needs to be closely monitored by you and your vet. Sorry, but If we told you the dose, it could be construed that we're telling you to go ahead and give a medication that hasn't been prescribed by a vet... and it'd be "off with our heads"; we aren't licensed as vets...

And then there's another side to the pain issue. It's difficult to keep a young dog quiet to promote healing if the mild to moderate pain is treated... the little rascal is up and flying as usual...

A word about over-the-counter human meications and pets. Some are not safe for dogs... and some are not safe for cats. Some don't work by the same mechanism in animals as in humans. Some don't have any effect on animals. Some work fine, but the dose for an animal may be so small that it's difficult to get to it from the dose on the shelf... And often the lay human makes the wrong diagnosis and the dog is hramed or killed. So before grabbing something from your bathroom medicine cabinet to give to a pet, check with the vet First. Find out how much to give, how often and for how long... plus the signs of side effects that indicate that the vet needs to be consulted again... and what constitutes an emergency... and how soon to see the vet if the expected results fail to occur.