Call your vet for clarification. Even if something is "ok" to give dogs and cats, it might not be ok for *your* dog or cat.
Phone calls are no problem for vets :)

I agree with weed30 - check with your vet before giving ANY medication. One of my shelties takes a baby aspirin daily, but only with the approval of our vet.

Typically baby aspirin. NEVER give ibuprofen as it is poisenous to dogs.

However, in this case you still need to call the vet.

I have a bottle of doggie (liver flavored) aspirin I give for pain. I have to wrap it in food though!

Which ones are OK ? NONE if you dont know what you are giving to your pet, NONE because you are not a vet and you don´t know how much you can give to your pet.

Call the vet first.

Is your dog in pain? What happened?

My vet told me to get Ascriptin for general pain-relief.

Hi guys, sorry I haven't been on in a few days! :-(

bumblebeez, wow I'm so glad you told me that about ibuprofen! I didn't know that and when I was trying to remember back of which one my vet told me to use I thought it might be that so thank you very much! Isn't it so funny how are babies know right what we are trying to pull over of them!! They always seem to scarf down a nice juicy piece of steak until I put a pill inside it or something. Then they don't want any part of it!! LOL its funny!!

cynthia, unfortunately, yes. StarLite has been in the beginning stages of hip displasha (sorry I don't know how to spell that) for about 2 years now and the vet gives her a prescription for rimidahl (sp again) but she (my vet) told me that on days Star is really hurting (like holding her leg up, not wanting to move, that type of thing) I can give her a child dose of _________. That's the part that I didn't remember. :-) But I think now for sure it was aspirin. I know that baby aspirin is okay for cats too right?? If I remember right it was (a long time ago another vet had me give my old cat aspirin I think) and I think that I thought to myself that dogs and cats both get the same medicine, which really surprised me!! But just to be safe I will give her a call. I hate to bug the vets but I won't give Star something that I don't double check on first! Also Star is one of those dogs that's obsessed with flash lights or lazor lights, any shadows, anything like that. When she was a pup we thought it was cute and it wasn't harming her so we didn't see anything wrong with playing with it with her. Boy oh boy were we wrong!!! She is SOOOOOO obsessed with it that she actually ripped her ligament or tendon something like that in her back left knee. What's really bad about it, that's the same hip with the problems. I always try to keep her off it, but you try to tell a 80lb boxer that she can't run and play. Its hard!!! LOL When the tendon was really bad, I really did keep her down though. It was a stuggle but we carried her everywhere and just kept her down as much as possible. Anyways, thanks again for the info. I hope Deuce doesn't have as many problems as StarLite. I pray about that everyday!! Thanks again!!

Elycia

I hope to heck your vet didn't really suggest mixing aspirin and Rimadyl, unless s/he was hoping you'd pay to have your dog's stomach surgically put back together when its ulcer perforates. Because that's what will happen.

One of the reasons rimadyl got a bad reputation for causing stomach ulcerations is that 1) people overdosed it and 2) people mixed it with aspirin and/or steroids, neither of which is a good idea. Now everyone thinks Rimadyl is the bad guy, and don't get me wrong it can be, but more often than not it is either owners or veterinarians doing #1 and/or #2 above.

There are other pain relievers that can be safely used with rimadyl. My K'Ehleyr is on Rimadyl and Tramadol (a synthetic opioid) every day and has been for a year. There are other options too. But aspirin and any COX inhibitor is BAD news mixed. If your vet suggests it, please run, don't walk, to a new vet.

Maybe nothing bad would happen if you just gave one dose of baby aspirin while on Rimadyl, but why take the chance? I sure as heck wouldn't. Not on my dog!

At the risk of being overly alarmed, it is my understanding that a single aspirin can be FATAL to a cat. Better safe, than sorry. Shabo, please don't give your pets anything without checking with a vet first. Hope someone here with knowledge, will jump in re: cats & aspirin......

It´s a simple matter of DOSAGE, too much and instead of being therapeutic it becomes a poison, in many medications the line that separates therapeutic effects from toxic effects is extremely thin, besides, medications for animals have the right concentration of active ingredient, medications for humans have different concentration and it´s not easy to make the proper adjustments. You can safely give aspirin to a cat as long as you do not exceed therapeutic parameters.

There are two types of NSAIDS, non COX selective ( like aspirin ) and COX selective. Non COX selective NSAIDS have greater secondary effects than COX selective NSAIDS, since they are not selective they block all the protaglandin production, good and bad, "good" prostaglandins are needed by the body and play an inportant role in the body´s physiology, just to mention, there´s one protaglandin that regulates the mucus layer production of the stomach, block it´s precursor and the prostaglandin is no longer produced which causes the mucus layer to disappear laeving the stomach mucosa without protection ( which can cause stomach ulcer ) against the hidrocloric acid produced by the stomach; another prostaglandin regulates the discharge of bicarbonate from the pancreas when the stomach content is discharged into the duodenum ( bicarbonate needed to neutralize the acid ), block the precursor and the that priostaglandin is no longer produced the result is an acid burn of the duodenum mucosa; another prostaglandin is needed for the clotting properties of blood, block the precursor of that prostaglandin and the platelets do not agregate and the blood doesn´t clot.

So it´s very easy for you to give your dog a medication, all you need is to open the vial and give the animal a pill, but you have absolutely no idea that you can be HARMING your pet just because you didn´t bother in calling the vet asking if it was ok to give the dog a pill and how much.

Here´s what´s going to happen:

1.- You are going to overdose
2.- The animal is going to suffer all the secondary effects associated to medication toxicosis, in this case let´s say aspirin.
3.- The aspirin is going to block the production of all the prostaglandins good and bad.
4.- The stomach mucosa now is not protected by the mucus ----> gastric ulcera
5.- The acid stomach content discharges in the duodenum and oooops, there´s no prostaglandin there telling the pancreas to discharge bicarbonate to neutralize the acid ---> burnt duodenal mucosa and possible ulceration
6.- Change in the PH of the small instestine from alkaline to acidic which causes death of the normal bacterial flora and a bloom in the pathogenic bacterial flora ---> GI infection
7.- Now you have an infected animal with stomach ulcer and just to add a little bit more to the harvest, no blood clotting so you have a bleeding ulcer and it´s going to bleed and bleed and bleed until the animal runs out of blood because nobody can stop the bleeding.
8.- Well the animal is bleeding to death, but that´s not all, now you have an hypovolemic animal and if the animal doesn´t have the right ammount of liquid circulating in the circulatory system the circulatory system is going to collapse due to hypovolemic shock.
9.- Your pet DIES.

Which over the counter medication is OK ? NONE !!!!!!!!!!

End of story.

NEVER EVER GIVE ASPIRIN or any people meds TO CATS! Ditto for dogs! LETHAL!!!!!!!!!!

Well, let's fine tune that: Buffered aspirin is fine for dogs. But of course consult your vet first and avoid combining any meds.

Tylenol is NOT OK for dogs or cats. Neither is ibuprofen (motrin).

Per every vet I've ever used, asprin is OK. That's backed up by the UC Davis school of veterinary medicine.

Benadryl is OK, but you have to get the dosing proper.

If you think you need to medicate your pet, contact your vet FIRST.

As for "people" meds, most veterinary medications ARE people medications.

It is not my intention to hi-jack this thread. But, my heart skipped a few beats re: aspirin for a cat. Thanks to all, for the additional info. I was always told aspirin is very bad for cats & though I may sound paranoid, that is better than someone unknowingly killing a beloved cat, with some over the counter pill, IMO. You all said it so well, that is, people meds are for people. Please check with a vet. Losing a pet is painful enough, without the added guilt you may be responsible. I know I probably sound like a fanatic, but I know first hand it's best to rely on trained professionals where any med (however safe) is concerned.

One last comment...

For three years, my Mother and her one Greyhound, Doc, took their Vasotec, a heart medication, from the same bottle.

Their dosage and dosing was the same, the pills came from the same pharmacy, and from the same manufacturer.

Mom simply combined both prescriptions into one bottle for ease of use.