Aspirin is not approved for canines although some vets think it still works just fine.
The Merck Vet Manual cautions that aspirin is not indicated in the United States, but if you are in some other country were doggie-specific NSAIDs are less available, Merck graciously advises that an APPROXIMATE dosing range between 10mg/kg of body-weight and 40mg/kg of body-weight is a good starting point.
Some vets suggest that the Merck guidance is too aggressive. They advise 5mg/kg of body-weight for chronic conditions like arthritis and 10mg/kg of body-weight for temporary things like pulled muscles and for acute, short-term pain management.
Since aspirin is commonly marketed in two sizes, 81mg and 325mg, it makes sense to break the dosage down by number of tablets for dogs by body-weight.
Incidentally, enteric-coated tablets are NOT RECOMMENDED for dogs. The coating does not break down in a predictable way in a dog's gut and it can pass through them or two doses can "burst" at the same time.
The best defense against stomach issues is to split their daily feeding into two portions roughly 12 hours apart. Feed them, then give them their dose of aspirin. We find that wrapping the tablet(s) in American Cheese slices is a good way to make the pills palatable.
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| Twice daily, 12 hours apart |
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| Twice daily, 12 hours apart |
Sometimes it is hard to get an appointment with a vet and we want to do SOMETHING to bridge the gap until the appointment.
If your dog starts vomiting or passes bloody stools or dark, tarry looking stools, then stop the aspirin immediately.
Dogs are a tough species to medicate because they are so diverse. Not just in size but in shape and metabolic rates and kidney function and....
What works for most breeds of dogs might be a fireball-and-mushroom-cloud for yours.
To medicate my dogs, I crush a hard pill in the bottom of their dish and scoop their canned food on top of it. They commonly lick the bowl clean so its no struggle to get a pill into them.
ReplyDeleteMy 110-pound puppy, (1 year old) German Corso, has growing pains (Panosteitis).
ReplyDeleteWe gave him a 325 mg aspirin. Previous vets with previous dogs recommended it. When we got him to the vet, they said that we had to wait a week before giving him carprofen because we gave him aspirin. They did give us a weeks' worth of Gabapentin 300mg 2 times a day to help until then.
They said to keep him quiet for 2 weeks. HA! I maybe reduced his exuberance by 90% but his mom and dad worked against me.
sam
Good info. I'll hard copy that and save it. Thanks Joe.---ken
ReplyDeleteYou have your table headings reversed. The Chronic doses are double the Acute dose. Further, your narrative (3rd paragraph) indicates the acute dosage is double the chronic...
ReplyDeleteI think I got it right.
DeleteThe damage to the stomach lining is additive so long-term dosage thresholds have to be lower for chronic (long-term and on-going) than for acute (short-term issues).
Do you have a reference that dosage for chronic should be more than for acute? I will be happy to look at the reference.
Thank you! Filed.
ReplyDeleteVeterinarian here, though I'm a 'dinosaur'... graduated almost 40 years ago, and have not been in companion animal practice in 30 yrs. I prefer Meloxicam on the rare instances when we feel like we need to provide some pain relief/anti-inflammatory medication to our dog-ter, after a busy day of chasing sticks, balls, boats. At the lake last week, I'd not brought any along. Aspirin and acetominophen are both acceptable, and were used, alternatingly.
ReplyDeletePain relief for cats is a much tougher nut to crack. Tylenol/acetominophen will kill the hell out of them; Onsior(robenacoxib) is probably the safest pain-reliever for cats, but in a pinch a very small dose of aspirin can be given every 2-3 days.
We always have Meloxicam handy for our old duck dog.
ReplyDelete