I remember a discussion with a very seasoned rescuer sometime last year, and she advised me, through her years of experience in rescue work, that I could save a lot of money (ie. vet’s fees) if I kept some medicine (including antibiotics!) and administer the medication myself to the rescued animals under my care.
Of course I disagreed with her, and we agreed to disagree on this.
Today, this discussion has come up again, with a friend, and she told me that some rescuers purchase medicines from certain vets and adminster them to their animals, sometimes in the wrong dosage, thus, causing great harm, even death, in the animals.
Since AnimalCare serves to educate, let us remember that it is the vets who have been trained and educated to diagnose illness and prescribe medications. If we are not trained in this area, please do not endanger the lives of the animals under our care by prescribing the medications ourselves. No two cases are the same. What works for one animal may not work for another. There are sometimes subtle differences that only a vet’s trained eye can see.
Take for example, Sean, who has Demodex mange. He is a huge dog, and he was prescribed (after careful calculation) only 0.8ml of Ivermectin, and even then, he started with a mere 0.2ml for two days, and this increased to 0.4ml for the next two days, and subsequently to the full dose of 0.8ml. I was also told to monitor his behaviour while he started on this drug. After one month, with an increase in weight, he is now on 0.85ml, a very subtle increase.
Please always seek the advice of a qualified vet.
Let us not willfully cause harm to any animal because we think we know more than the vet. Western medications are sometimes very toxic, and if administered in the wrong dosage, can cause severe harm to the liver and kidneys.