Medicines intended for humans are widely used in veterinary medicine. But this does not mean that all the medicines that you drink yourself, you can give the cat.
The cat’s body differs from the human one not only in size, although they, of course, also - it’s important to take into account that the dosages of human preparations are calculated for an average adult weighing about 70 kg, and not for a 5-pound kitty. But it is equally important to know that not all drugs in principle have the same effect on cats as on humans.
Some widely used and seemingly completely harmless human medicines to cats are absolutely contraindicated! So, trying to bring down the temperature of a cat with paracetamol can cost the animal life. You should not give cats another aspirin that is well known to you. The conclusion is simple: do not experiment on cats. Only a doctor can prescribe this or that medicine to a cat! However, anything happens in life, and sometimes a cat needs urgent help, but there is no way to quickly get to the veterinarian. In this case, there should be a veterinary first-aid kit at hand, a significant part of the contents of which are just human preparations.
✅
Disinfection of wounds
(Chlorhexidine 0,05%) (Miramistin).
To treat minor scratches and edges of open wounds, 3% hydrogen peroxide is useful, but do not pour it into the wound itself. As a wound healing agent, use d-panthenol. For purulent wounds - levomekol.
✅
Poisoning
(activated carbon and / or enterosgel).Trying to stop vomiting in order to shove the medicine into the cat is not necessary - do not interfere with its body getting rid of the poisonous substance.
Take the cat to the doctor as soon as possible!
Diarrhea - smecta. The daily dose for an adult cat is 1/4 sachet. If the cat has swallowed an inedible item, vomiting is not required. Check with your veterinarian. You can give the cat a laxative 15-20 ml. vaseline oil. You can not replace the vegetable vazilin oil.
✅
Allergy
In case of anaphylaxis - a strong allergic reaction that develops in a matter of minutes (swelling of the muzzle and throat, suffocation) - keep dexamethasone or prednisone in the medicine cabinet. These are potent drugs, they should be pricked only in case of emergency, and by no means for reinsurance or prevention! Relieve common allergic edema with the same wasp bite will help lotions with magnesium sulfate (dilute 30 ml per liter of water) - they, by the way, help with traumatic edema.
✅
Temperature
When the body temperature drops or rises, the cat needs to be shown to the veterinarian as soon as possible in order to determine why this is happening. To bring down a high temperature (in cats it is 39.5–40 ° С and higher), veterinary preparations Previcox, Loxicum or Meloxidil are used. But if you have nowhere to take them, you can use human meloxicam or a more low-cost scheme analgin + diphenhydramine or analgin + diphenhydramine + no-spa in a ratio of 1 to 1 (not tablets, but injectables). If you have the opportunity in the next couple of hours to take a temperature-treated cat to a doctor, it is easier to do without medication: wrap it in a cool, damp towel and - to the clinic.
Raising temperature is harder . If the body temperature of a “stunned” cat is less than 37 ° C and, all the more so, continues to drop, without wasting time, wrap the animal in a blanket or a warm sweater, put it on a heating pad or cover it with bottles of hot water and take it to the veterinary clinic! A hot dropper with saline solution can help raise the temperature for a while (a dropper tube is passed through a container of hot water, due to which the drug is heated). It is better to have saline in the medicine cabinet and in case of dehydration of the cat's body with severe vomiting, diarrhea, fever ... The dropper can be placed both intravenously and subcutaneously, but only as prescribed by the doctor! Also, saline can be used to wash wounds if, for example, land or sand gets into them.
In addition, especially if you live outside the city and to the nearest veterinarian, and the pharmacy is not close to you, you should equip your home pet kit with painkillers (papaverine, no-shpa - cats sometimes give a salivation reaction to , so papaverine is preferable ) and hemostatic (dicinone, etamsylate) drugs, antibiotics (amoxiclav), eye drops (tobrex, chloramphenicol drops) and diuretic (furosemide, lasix - in case of pulmonary edema).
All these funds are used strictly as prescribed by the veterinarian. If your pet has any chronic illness (for example, asthma) or a tendency to otitis media, gingivitis, etc., consult your veterinarian about what other drugs, human or veterinary, it makes sense to keep on hand.
A veterinary first-aid kit is not a substitute for a veterinarian, but an aid for an emergency in order to quickly provide first aid to a cat and get to the doctor with the least loss of your nerves and cat's health. Be sure to check with your veterinarian exactly which drug and in what dosage to use in this case. Let the cat first-aid kit be in your home / in the car / in the country - just in case. But let it not come in handy for you!
The author thanks Lyubov Rudnitskaya, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, for the consultation.
A BIG THANKS from us to the author.
