Aspirin for dogs

I have heard many people ask if they can give aspirin to dogs. The short answer is yes. You can use buffered aspirin to treat your dog for pain as you would use any anti-inflammatory. There is risk of gastric upset and stomach bleeding. The aspirin dose for dogs is 5 – 10mg/lb every 12 hours (twice a day).

ASPIRIN IS NOT ACETAMINOPHEN, NAPROXEN, OR IBUPROFEN DO NOT GIVE YOUR DOG ANY OF THESE ! Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid.Do not ever give cats aspirin or any other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs)! Do not use in conjunction with any veterinary prescribed medication without first consulting your veterinarian. If you have any question as to your pets diminished health or a condition that concerns you then you should seek veterinary help immediately!
Aspirin is aspirin not any of these, Tylenol (acetaminophen) , Advil (ibuprofen), Excedrin (acetaminophen, aspirin, caffine), Alieve (naproxen). I am sorry to put so much stress on this but I have seen it happen.

Avoid any thing other than buffered aspirin. The line between the therapeutic vs toxic doses is so fine that you could do more harm than good. Toxic doses of nsaids can cause gastrointestinal hemorrhage, erosions, and ulcers, kidney injury, central nervous system disorders, liver injury, and diminished platelet function
At what doses would we see these effects?

Are you sure you split that pill well enough? Why risk it, get some aspirin. Aspirin at 5 – 10 mg/lb can save all of this headache. That is it the dog dose of aspirin is 5 – 10 mg per pound. Seems simple doesn’t it. Sorry to scare you with all of the bad but you should be made aware that there are serious ramifications to giving the wrong medication.

What next? What happens if you do give your pet one of the other drugs and they need to be treated? Depending on the dosage, you may need to have them hospitalized and given fluid therapy. The vet may induce vomiting or give activated charcoal, depending on how long ago the medicine was taken. There are going to be several rounds of bloodwork to look at organ function.
They will look at values like amylase (AMY), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (CRE), and albumin (ALB) to determine the effects on the kidney.
They will look at alanine amino-transferace (ALT) , ALB, alkaline phosphotase (ALP), and bile acids (BA) to determine liver function.
They will probably ask to do a complete blood count (CBC) to determine a platelet count and they may even ack to run a test called a PCV or packed cell volume, this helps determine how many red blood cells there are.
The PCV may be repeated several times over the next few weeks to ensure that there are no long standing effects but once the pet is in the normal range they usually stay there.

There you have it. More information than you ever wanted on aspirin for dogs.