I would listen to a vet rather than people sounding off on a forum! And it was the owner of the practice who gave the advice, not some temporary nurse or locum vet either.

Plus, wouldnt half a paracetamol every 8 hours be 1.5 per day? Thats more than I was advised to give anyway.

But were you told to just give one and one only? It's the gap in between that makes it safe rather than giving it all in one go so you really can't compare the amount over 24 hrs. It just shows how people should only do what their vet advises, as I said before it worries me that people give meds like paracetamol to save money seeing their vet which is why I never normally say I was told to use it in case people overdose their dog on it. It's very harsh on the liver.

Yes, just one. I asked if I should crush it up and he said, no you can just give it to him. I thought to myself thats not going to happen because paracetamol is really bitter so if we had given him, I would have crushed it up and mixed with with peanut butter or something.

I'm not and don't second guess what a vet says, the OP said the vet had told her to "just give him one paracetamol if he's in pain", that made me question it, because it's vague, it's not really a dose! It sounds like the type of thing a doctor would say to you as standard response to you saying you had a headache "just take a paracetamol/aspirin". Nothing else, maximum allowance, no time mentioned as to how long before you can safely take another. But in a human, that is fine, unless you swallow a daft amount, paracetamol isn't really harmful, the most that would happen is your headache continued. If the vet had said "just give him a shot of Metacam" I'd have understood that, but to give such a vague response, to not thoroughly highlight the dose and make certain the owner fully understood, on something that can kill in the wrong amount, is rather astonishing. What if the owner gave one, then thought after an hour or two the dog is still in pain so I'll just give another? One of the first things I was told when I started work was "never assume anyone understand what you've told them, if people can balls it up, they will balls it up". It's not what the vet has advised that's a bit iffy and questionable, but the instructions ( or rather lack of) for it. Unless of course, they did give Tiacat strict guidelines, and she simply wrote "the vet said to give one paracetamol" as it's easier than stating the how's, ifs and when's, in which case, there's nothing to question or wonder about.

We don't as a rule all post every detail of the consultation and prescription I took it that the OP was just giving us an idea rather than the full prescription. Must assume from now on if I am prescribed something to tell you all the exact dose or it could be misconstrued I guess.

What worries me is other people thinking it's ok to give any dog one without vets advice, we all have paracetamol in the cupboard and it's so easy for people to think it's ok to give their dog one, we take them pretty lightly but it's just not the same for dogs and even worse for cats which is why I was concerned about the dose given what my vet had said.

The Merck Veterinary manual says this
' The recommended dosage of acetaminophen in dogs is 10–15 mg/kg, PO, tid. Dose-dependent adverse effects include depression, vomiting, and methemoglobinemia. '

tid means 3 x a day and paracetamol are 500mg per tablet. Acetaminophen is an alternate name for paracetamol.

No , not for everything, as I've already said, an actual animal specific drug, or one that is safe for dogs and humans ( ie Tramadol) is not going to cause the slightest concern. Saying that you've been prescribed something that is known to be dangerous and actually lethal however is going to make somebody question it, especially on a public forum where others could decide it's ok to give it their dogs.


This is what my concern is too, only yours seems to be coming across more clearly, or maybe your just explaining it better than I am

Makes a change for me to be explaining something clearly instead of waffling lol

Tramadol worries me more than anything, having seen what it does to humans when they come of it I would not give it even if prescribed to a dog , guess we all have to make our own decisions though and do our best as we see it for our dogs.

3 of my dogs have had it with no problem for short term use but I know of other people whose dogs have had a bad reaction but it's only been temporary and they've been fine in a few hours. Anything can cause a bad reaction. Vetergesic injections are well known for sending some greyhounds on a scary trip. I suppose because I'm fine on tramadol, just a bit sleepy I don't worry if the vet says to give it to one of them. I think if a dog needed it long term then they would probably stay on it for life, my friends elderly dog won't come off it now.

Pain relief isn't easy in dogs if they can't have metacam or rimadyl is it but then they can be harmful to some dogs. I guess the bottom line is that any medication will affect some dogs negatively just the same as humans.

Well just to clarify, seeing as people are getting their knickers in a twist, the vet said after examining him that there didnt seem to be any nerve damage or specific problem and concluded he had just overdone it the previous day. He said he should go out today and do a walk around a quarter of the distance that we did the previous day. The previous day we had done around 8 miles so hence we did a much shorter walk (or attempted to but in the end it turned out half). He said that this was so that he didnt seize up and stretched his muscles a bit as he had conluded it might have been cramp problems.

He then said, 'we' (I presume meaning the practice) could give him some anti inflammatories and I shook my head because I didnt think it warranted it. He then said well then, just keep an eye on him when you get in today and if he seems like he is in any pain you can give him one paracetamol. I said 'just crushed up?' and he said, well you could just give it to him, you dont need to crush it up. I said I probably wouldnt but would keep an eye on him. And we left and paid the bill.

Very true as I said earlier some scary drugs out there and the vet will prescribe as they are trained to do so.

I don't doubt your vet is doing the best for your dog tiacat, I would say don't worry too much about anti-inflammatories mine over the years have had them and they have without doubt helped them each time with no problems.

Im not worried about anti inflammatories at all, I just didnt think he needed them at this point. He had a lot of medication when he originally injured his back and obviously he needed it at that point but this weeks problem, once the vet had confirmed it was more cramp or just overdoing it, I felt that stretching his legs gently and keeping an eye on him was what he needed at the moment.

Sounds like you are doing your best by your dog tiacat, I thought you meant you worried about the meds. Just shows how easy it is to misunderstand on a forum I guess.