If your dog ever hurt himself, had a bad case of diarrhea, or got bit or stung by an insect before, then you have probably resorted to using human medications to treat your dog before.
In the event that you decide to run to the medicine cabinet to treat your dog, just know there is safe medicine for dogs, and many others that are not safe for dogs (such as NSAIDs).
Even if you see an item listed as safe on the charts above, you should contact your vet before giving any of them to your dog the very first time. Why? Because your dog might have other allergies or ailments (or be on other doggie medications already) that could impact how human medications affect your dog.
How To Give Medicine To Your Dog
When giving your dog people medicine, make sure you know the correct amount to give. It’s easy to over-medicate a dog by reading the dosages wrong or by confusing ml with mg (one is used with liquid medicines, the other is with solid medicines).
You will need to know how much your dog weighs in order to dispense the right amount specifically for your dog.
For all the safe human medicine for dogs that I have in my home, I wrote exactly how much I can give my dogs on the package. I also did this for the emergency kit that I made up for my dogs. So, if I take them camping and one of them gets stung by a bee and starts to swell up, I know exactly how much Benadryl I can give them — without having to find a separate chart first.
I have had to use safe household medicine for dogs several times in the past. One time, I dropped a pill on the floor, and my dog got it. I immediately called my vet and they said to give my dog hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. It didn’t take long, and there came my pill! Fortunately, the pill was not inside my dog long enough to do any damage. Other times were for minor things like bee stings and bug bites.
Some safe medicine for dogs you may already have on hand are:
- Hydrogen Peroxide – Induces vomiting.
- Pepto Bismol – Stops vomiting, gas and diarrhea
- Buffered Aspirin – Provides pain relief, acts as an anti-inflammatory
Here’s how to give your dog a pill.
