Medication for pets made easy

Do you hate giving your pet medication?

Are you sick of chasing your dog around the house every time you need to give him his tablets?

Do you always have scratches on your hands from trying to give your cat its tablets?

Did the vet give you a prescription for a tablet for your pet, and then tell you to cut it into eight pieces to get the right dose?

IT MIGHT BE TIME TO SPEAK TO A COMPOUNDING PHARMACIST

Your compounding pharmacist will work together with you and your vet to help make it as easy as possible to give your pets their medication. We all want the best possible result for your animals. Some ways a Compounding pharmacist might be able to solve your medication-time problems are:

Change the strength of a human medication into the appropriate strength for your animal eg some cats with hypertension may be prescribed a human medication called amlodipine. The human medication comes in strengths of 5mg or 10mg but a cat may need as little as an eighth of the strength. Not only is it a nightmare to prepare, it is not very accurate. If this sounds like something you are up against, ask your compounding pharmacist if they can make you a very small capsule, or a pleasant tasting oil suspension.

Prepare mixtures for your pet without additives that might cause them harm eg some dogs who suffer from seizures may be prescribed a drug called gabapentin. This is also available as a human medication in both capsules and a mixture. Unfortunately, the mixture contains a sweetener called xylitol, the same sweetener that is found in some chewing gums. Unfortunately, xylitol is be toxic when given to dogs. In this case, your compounding pharmacist can prepare a mixture for your dog without xylitol, or even a small capsule in the correct strength

Have access to some medications which are no longer commercially available in Australia eg one example of this is a medication called cisapride which is sometimes prescribed for cats who suffer from a condition known as megacolon. Several years ago, cisapride was available as a human medication, but caused problems in humans and was withdrawn from the market. However, there are no such complications in cats and they respond well to treatment. If your vet prescribes this medication for your cat , your compounding pharmacist will be able to prepare this in a tiny capsule or pleasant tasting mixture

Prepare some medications in a transdermal cream. What does that even mean?

Pet owners are familiar with"spot-on" treatments used for flea and tick prevention. Not all, but some other every day, long term medications may be suitable to be prepared in special cream base that can be applied once or twice daily to the animals ear. This is particularly helpful with cats that get cranky and turn medication time into fight time. Much easier to sit on the lounge with your cat and massage an easily measured dose of cream into their ear. One of the most common medications prepared in this way is called methimazole and is regularly prescribed for cats with thyroid imbalances.

If you have problems giving your animal its medication, or haven't been able to get the medication you vet has prescribed, a compounding pharmacist should be your first port of call.

Please contact us at PCCA for the location of your closest compounding pharmacy.