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Is it Safe To Give My Dog Aspirin? For all dog owners, nothing is as upsetting as seeing your dog in pain. Whether it is caused by arthritis, injections, hip dysplasia, or injury, pain affects your dog’s quality of life adversely. Not only can’t they take walks, run around, and just be a happy dog pain also affects their appetite. It is for this reason that we might look to the medicine cabinet to take away your dog’s pain whenever we notice them suffering. Stress and anxiety can be eased with more natural products which you can learn more about at Megaedd, which can provide safer options.
Should dogs take aspirin?
Aspirin falls under a class of painkillers known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These are drugs that while they fight pain, they also reduce inflammation and fever. Aspirin works by inhibiting enzymes that produce hormones called prostaglandins. These are the hormones that are responsible for inflammation and pain. However, Aspirin and other NSAIDs are produced for human consumption and not for dogs. While it can relieve pain in dogs you should be very careful with the dosage of aspirin you give to your dog
Calculating Aspirin Dosage
The recommended human aspirin dosage for dogs is 5-10 mg/ pound of weight. First, weigh your dog and then based on calculating the amount of aspirin based on its weight. You should know that regular aspirin is 320mg while baby aspirin is 80 mg. For instance, if your dog weighs 30 pounds then 300 mg should be sufficient. This translates to one regular aspirin and 3.75 baby aspirin tablets.
Giving your dog over 30mg per pound of body and above is an overdose and will lead to aspirin toxicity
Side Effects of Aspirin on Your Dog
As we had mentioned earlier aspirin inhibits the production of prostaglandins. While this help reduces pain, inflammation, and fever it also affects other functions of prostaglandins such as the production of mucus in the digestive system and ensuring optimum flow of blood to organs such as kidneys. Giving aspirin to your dog might affect these functions and cause the following side effects.
-Vomiting
-Diarrhea
-Lethargy
-Fever
-Fast Breathing
If you notice any of the above signs you should stop giving aspirin to your dog.
Aspirin Overdose
Aspirin was never developed to be used as a painkiller for dogs. It is therefore important that you get the dosage right. Giving too much aspirin results in an overdose which is dangerous to your dog. When administered in large doses aspirin is toxic to your dog. The same happens if you give it too often. The symptoms listed below indicate an aspirin overdose
-Severe vomiting
-Lethargy
-Fever
-Bleeding through the rectum or mouth
-Pale gums caused by blood loss
-Dehydration
-Seizures
-Coma
If you notice any of the above symptoms rush your dog to a vet. Aspirin overdose and toxicity are dangerous and can even lead to the death of your dog
As we can see aspirin is safe for your dog. Whether it is baby aspirin or just regular aspirin does not really matter. The most important thing is to get the dosage right. Under correct dosage, aspirin will relieve the pain and your dog can get back to its goofy self. However, giving too much aspirin could lead to some side effects. It is therefore advised that aspirin should be given to your dogs only under vet’s supervision and follow very strict dosage instructions. Even then it should only be used for short periods of time. Long-term pain should be managed using other pain medications developed specifically for dogs.
