Medication precautions for dogs

There are four commonly used methods of drug administration, such as oral administration, injection, enema and local administration, each of which has several ways.

(1) Internal method

1) mix and feed. Mix the medicine directly into the dog's favorite feed and let it eat people on its own. A meal can be banned in advance if necessary. This method is suitable for the case that the sick dog still has appetite and the drug has no peculiar smell, no irritation and small dose.

2) oral administration. When the dose of tablets, pills and capsules is small, you can wrap it in soft paper directly, open the mouth of the sick dog, and immediately close its mouth and hold it tightly after throwing the bag above the tongue surface to the base of the tongue. Usually the dog will swallow automatically; if you do not swallow, use your fingers to stimulate its throat through the skin to induce it to swallow. You can also first grind the tablets, add a little warm water to make a paste, scrape it up with a blunt round bamboo board at the end, and apply it to the root of the dog's tongue.

3) Perfusion. It is suitable for dogs that should not be taken by the above-mentioned methods, especially dogs with odorous drugs or loss of appetite. Grind the medicine, add an appropriate amount of water to make a suspension, put it into a plastic bottle or suction metal syringe, and slowly inject it from one side of the mouth. When giving medicine, raise the dog's jaw slightly so that the liquid does not flow back. Pay attention to the corners of the mouth should not be higher than the root of the ear, lest the liquid misflows into the respiratory tract and accidents occur.

4) gastric tube administration. It is suitable for taking high-dose liquid medicine. Insert the gastric catheter through the orifice of the mouth opener and slowly advance along the top of the tongue, insert it into the esophagus with the swallowing of the dog, and check whether the catheter is really in the esophagus when it reaches a certain depth. if it is in the esophagus, you can raise the end of the catheter and pour the liquid into it; if it is inserted into the trachea, it should be pulled out and re-inserted immediately until the position is correct.

(2) injection method

1) intramuscular injection. The solution which is difficult to absorb and has weak irritation and rabies vaccine (single vaccine) can be injected intramuscularly. Irritant drugs such as calcium chloride and hypertonic saline can not be injected intramuscularly. The injection site should choose the buttocks with plump muscles and no large blood vessels, the lumbar muscles on both sides of the spine or both sides of the neck.

2) hypodermic injection. Non-irritating liquid medicine and a variety of epidemic (bacterial) vaccines can be injected subcutaneously. The injection site is generally thinner skin on the outside of shoulder or thigh, loose subcutaneous tissue and less blood vessels.

3) intravenous injection. The effect is the fastest, but the duration is short. It is suitable for strong irritation and high injection dose, such as calcium chloride, hypertonic glucose injection and some antibiotics. The injection site can be selected as the lateral vein of the forelimb, the lateral saphenous vein of the hindlimb or the jugular vein. The injection should be slow. When transfusion, clean the air in the infusion tube, fix the injection needle with adhesive tape, open the stop valve and drip the liquid slowly (intravenous drip). It is appropriate to drip at a rate of 25-60 drops per minute, which can lead to heart dilatation, shock and even death.

4) Intraperitoneal injection. It is often used to treat abdominal visceral diseases or can not be injected intravenously. A large amount of drug solution can be injected into the abdominal cavity, and the absorption rate is fast, so it is especially suitable for rescuing critical cases.

5) Intratracheal injection. Commonly used in the treatment of bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory diseases, as well as lung deworming. The injected drug should be easily absorbed and must be completely dissolved, the amount of the liquid should be small, and the temperature should be about 38 ℃. The injection site was in the trachea in the middle of the neck. Before injection, first shearing, disinfection, and then vertical into the needle, after the sense of loss back to draw, see bubbles into the syringe can be slowly injected into the liquid. When injecting, fix the trachea with your hand to prevent the sick dog from coughing, swinging his head and struggling to cause the needle to come off.

(3) Intrarectal administration, also known as enema, is often used to treat constipation in dogs. It can also be changed to rectal administration when oral administration can cause vomiting. The temperature of the liquid in the enema should be close to the body temperature, and the amount of the liquid is usually 20-100 ml, but the amount can be increased appropriately when treating constipation.

There are two ways of rectal administration: catheterization and enema. The former generally requires 3 people to cooperate with the operation. First secure the dog's mouth, the first assistant grabs the dog's hind legs to raise the hindquarters and pull the tail up or to one side; the operator inserts a rubber catheter coated with liquid paraffin (paraffin oil) or vegetable oil into the rectum 8-15 cm through the anus. The second assistant pinches the periphery and catheter of the anus with his hand, and the operator connects the syringe to the catheter and injects the liquid slowly. Immediately after the injection, pull out the catheter and press down the tail root of the dog to prevent the liquid from being discharged prematurely.

When treating constipation, you can defecate freely after each infusion, and then irrigate it again until the persistent feces of the dry knot in the rectum are finished. Use an enema to inject the liquid directly into the anus, which can save an assistant.

(4) Local administration is often used to treat diseases in the nasal cavity, eyes and skin of dogs. Most of the drugs used are special external drugs, and they can not be used in other ways.

Nasal drops or eye drops only 1-2 drops per nostril or eye at a time, once every 2 hours or so. When dropping medicine, the tip of the medicine bottle or eyedropper should not touch the nasal mucosa or eyes of the dog, so as not to cause discomfort or trauma.

Topical ointment (ointment) and eye ointment are respectively used for the treatment of dermatosis and ophthalmopathy, but should not be used when there is inflammatory exudation.

At ordinary times, effective measures can be taken to achieve the purpose of prevention in view of the source of infection, the route of transmission and the susceptible dogs.