Medicines for dogs: Not a magic pill

Pet pills are big business, growing up to $ 3 billion last year and growing 20 percent every year. Pharmaceutical companies have found that they can modify human-pet drugs without much additional research costs. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 15 new behavior modifiers for veterinary use in the past year and a half. The two new dog medicines Clomicalm and Anipryl, which received the biggest flash advertising and the biggest media coverage, are both adapted from human medicine.

The mainstream media has published many stories about this “miracle drug” for dogs that damage with anxiety separation and nipples confused with cognitive dysfunction syndrome. However, most reporting focuses on the novelty of Prozac puppies or on the business of marketing veterinary medicines. There are several reports about the medical history of a drug or its side effects, and there is little research on our drug culture that believes that all problems with medication can and should be treated.

Is this focus on treatment the best way to ensure your dog’s health and happiness? Do pet owners take the time to investigate why their dogs need pills before market attacks or are this drug distributed as a biscuit?

Why are dogs worried?

Dogs are gluten-free animals, so leaving them alone can be very stressful for some of them. Joint anxiety – from destructive chewing to excessive barking to eliminating inappropriate – accounts for about 20 to 40 percent of veterinarian visits due to behavioral problems. This behavior is also a common reason why dogs are rejected or put to sleep.

Clomicalm (clomipramine hydrochloride) is a drug that is now being advertised to help animals get rid of their anxiety. The drug, produced by Novartis Animal Health, a subsidiary of Novartis, Inc., is based on the human drug Anafranil, which treats compulsive behavior. Although the exact effects of this drug are unknown (be careful enough!), Clomicalm is believed to work on the central nervous system (CNS) as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor or SSRI, similar to human antidepressant Prozac. This action reduces the clinical signs of separation anxiety. Although it can cause lethargy in some dogs, it does not act as a sedative. This drug is not intended as a “cure” for depressed dogs but reduces anxiety in dogs to facilitate behavioral training. The Clomicalm website has some basic behavioral training tips but will refer people to their veterinarian for more information about training.

The FDA study for this drug included about 200 dogs, half received Clomicalm with behavioral training, and the other half only behavioral training and placebo. After one week of treatment, 47 percent of dogs who took medicine showed an increase, while only 29 percent of dogs that took training increased. This level is the main selling point of the drug – the initial success of the drug can encourage the owner to continue their care and training instead of getting rid of their dog. However, after eight weeks of testing, the number decreased. Only 65 percent of Clomicalm dogs showed improvement compared to 55 percent of placebo dogs. Based on FDA studies, behavioral training itself seems to be almost as effective as a treatment.

Make the correct diagnosis for your dog

The main problem that is not appreciated by many dog ​​owners is that not every dog ​​that commits an offense has separation anxiety, and not many veterinarians have enough experience with behavioral problems to identify and diagnose the problem – or, more importantly, in being able to determine which behaviors are based on genuine separation anxiety and which are the products of poor dog training and management. Ask a professional dog trainer. Only a few have great confidence in the ability of veterinarians to correctly diagnose this complex behavior problem.

According to the Center for Drug and Food Administration for Drug and Food Administration, “Separation anxiety is a complex behavioral disorder that occurs when the owner or someone connected leaves the dog.” Correct detection of clinical signs due to taking a complete medical history and assessing the dog’s home environment is very important for diagnosing and treating anxiety separation accurately. “In other words, it is not just any dog ​​that destroys the house when leaving the house alone. Besides, Clomicalm is not a permanent solution to separation anxiety. It’s designed to be used for weeks of training, but then the dog must be weaned. And it hasn’t been tested to be used in more than 12 weeks, so the long-term effects are unknown.

Pharmaceutical side effects

Like most medicines, Clomicalm also has side effects, warnings, and contraindications. Side effects identified in the FDA study included vomiting (25 percent of dogs in the study), diarrhea (11 percent), lethargy (10 percent), increased thirst (five percent), and loss of appetite (three percent).

This drug is not usually used to treat aggression (there are some exceptions), is not suitable for male-female dogs, and not for puppies under the age of six months because of the increased risk of testicular hypoplasia. Dogs with cardiovascular disease, narrow-angle glaucoma, or a history of seizures should not take medication either. Clomicalm also should not be combined with other drugs that affect the central nervous system, such as B. General anesthesia, and must be stopped as long as possible before elective surgery.

The Clomicalm website states: “Side effects can occur when used with an April prevention collar or Anipril tablet.” Anipryl, a combination of two drugs, can cause “severe CNS toxicity including death”.

Intellectual Dysfunction in Dogs

Canine intellectual brokenness condition, now and again erroneously called feebleness in hounds, is normally seen in moderately aged to more seasoned (geriatric) hounds. There is some likeness to Alzheimer’s in certain pets. Clinical indications of the turmoil incorporate expanded rest, expanded eagerness, getting “lost” and stuck in a corner, meandering capriciously, vocalizing for no obvious explanation, changes in welcome conduct, changes in association with individuals, or a slip by in housebreaking.

There is no straightforward indicative test for the confusion. Or maybe, it’s an analysis of avoidance – specialists need to test for different issues, for example, organ brokenness and thyroid malady to ensure these issues are not causing the clinical signs.

Anipryl (selegiline hydrochloride) is made by Pfizer Animal Health, an auxiliary of Pfizer Inc. The medication depends on Deprenyl, which is utilized to treat Parkinson’s malady in people. Anipryl is a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, expanding the degrees of dopamine, serotonin, and different substances in the focal sensory system. It’s generally endorsed for the two CDS and pituitary-subordinate hyperadrenocorticism (PDH, or Cushing’s sickness). As with Clomicalm, scientists are not entirely certain how the medication functions in the body. April’s item writing cautions that the MAO arrangement of catalysts is “intricate and deficiently comprehended and there is just a restricted measure of painstakingly recorded clinical involvement in selegiline.” Once the determination is made, Anipryl must be given every day for the life of the pooch, or until it is not, at this point compelling. The medication is costly: one month gracefully for a 30-pound hound costs about $125.

About 70 percent of canines in the FDA study demonstrated improvement, in any event, one side effect while being treated with Anipryl. Momentary reactions incorporate heaving (found in 26 percent of pooches in the experimental group, although Pfizer’s writing says this might be eased by giving the medication with food), looseness of the bowels (18 percent), hyperactivity (12 percent), anorexia (eight percent) and dormancy (six percent). The medication has been tried in hounds for just one to two years, so long haul reactions are not known. One of the unfriendly responses, incidentally, (which brought about the canine’s excusal from the experimental group) was “an expansion in dangerous conduct in a pooch with partition uneasiness.”

A holistic view of drugs

In his book Nature to Heal Animals, holistic vet Martin Goldstein, DVM, states that he uses Anipril to treat Cushing’s disease. It is believed that the drug “works indirectly (for Cushing) and makes dogs feel better – psychological effects that can lead to physical improvement”. After seeing three dogs suffering from “unfavorable side effects”, he stopped using the treatment.

The loss of excess of this drug is whether the drug is needed or not. The most common diseases and behavioral problems faced by dogs can be improved by good nutrition, regular exercise, and safer natural remedies. Being a dog health advisor does not always mean finding an easy way out, but finding the cause of the problem and finding the safest way to help.

Dr. Peter Bregin, an author of Talking Back To Prozac, recently told Newsweek: “Instead of serving our pet’s needs, we will only drink it.” Incidentally, we took our dog and hugged our children. Now we can both give pills instead. “”

There is no doubt that there is a legal medical technology that can help dogs live longer and healthier lives. But how much of these medicines, such as commercial food and other “miracle” treatments of modern pets, are for human comfort and not for the health of our dogs? In the name of short-term comfort, will we jeopardize the long-term health of our dogs through medication that is misunderstood?