Animal Prescriptions in a Human World – Handling Veterinary Prescriptions in the Community-Practice Setting

Abstract

Veterinary prescriptions are becoming more common in the community-practice setting due to a variety of factors, including cost, availability, convenience and legislation changes. However, veterinary patients are not simply small humans with regards to drug use, and this can be seen in dosages that drastically differ from those used in humans, beyond adjustment for size differences. Therefore, it is important for a pharmacist filling these prescriptions to have an understanding of basic differences regarding drug disposition in veterinary patients as well as factors that may influence toxicity and/or adverse effects. This article also reviews commonly used veterinary drug references that a pharmacist can use in the community-practice setting to aid in review of veterinary prescriptions.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Moroccan Retail Pharmacists towards Veterinary Medicines

“…Some human use medicines can be dispensed to animals [ 11 , 13 , 17 , 19 , 20 ]. It was found that most pharmacists in the United Kingdom were conscious of the risk of toxicity of some human medicines used on animals when they were asked if they would dispense them for some veterinary pathologies.…”

“…In Zimbabwe and in Kenya, parasiticides and antibiotics were the most sold veterinary medicines in pharmacies [9,10], while in Finland, during a survey conducted on prescriptions of antibiotics dispensed by university pharmacies, Hölsö et al reported that antibiotics were the most prescribed medicines for dogs and cats (53%) [18]. Some human use medicines can be dispensed to animals [11,13,17,19,20]. It was found that most pharmacists in the United Kingdom were conscious of the risk of toxicity of some human medicines used on animals when they were asked if they would dispense them for some veterinary pathologies.…”

Farmácia veterinária e serviços farmacêuticos destinados a animais de companhia: revisão integrativa

“…41% dos tutores responderam que viajariam 10 milhas ou mais, para terem serviços de manipulação de medicamentos veterinários em farmácias comunitárias. Forsythe (2018), registra que as prescrições veterinárias estão se tornando mais comuns no ambiente de prática das farmácias comunitárias, devido a uma variedade de fatores, incluindo custo, disponibilidade, conveniência e de novos marcos regulatórios. Entretanto, os pacientes pets não são simplesmente pequenos humanos quanto ao uso de medicamentos; sendo que isso pode ser visto quando das dosagens que diferem drasticamente daquelas usadas em humanos, mesmo com os ajustes para diferenças de tamanho.…”