Can Humans Take Veterinary Medicine? (Q&A)

Some people really think that they can simply consider all human medicines for dogs for the similar symptoms because they think there are some human medicines that dogs can take as well. Such people surely don’t have enough knowledge about veterinary medicines and the veterinary compounding laws. Veterinary compounding is a different method altogether than compounding medicines for humans. They need to understand that humans and animals have different abilities and thresholds to cope with viruses and bacterial infections. Ideally, they should not consume animal medicines nor should they give human medicines to animals.

It may look the same for some people because there are many similarities between humans and animals and they both have to face many similar chronic diseases or infections like influenza, diabetes, itching or even mental illness etc. So, the veterinary medicines may seem similar as the human medicines but they are not the identical ones i.e. veterinary medicines are compounded differently according to the different animals and their sizes. Sometimes the same drugs are used for both humans and animals but there is a massive gap in the dosage of a veterinary medicine vs the human medicine to treat a similar symptom. Furthermore, there are different inspection tools to confirm the medical symptoms among animals and humans. That’s why, it is not recommended that a human and animal should be treated with the same prescription – an animal should be treated by a vet and a human should be treated by a doctor.

There are many drugs that are used for both humans and animals. Mostly they are antibiotics, antidepressants, pain killers and other chronic medications like chemotherapy drugs and diabetes drugs like Amoxicillin, Prozac and Tramadol. Furthermore, there are some human medicines for dogs curing diarrhea, allergy, arthritis pain, mast cell tumors e.g. Imodium, Benadryl, Aspirin and Prilosec etc.

There are many drugs that are used on both animals and humans against similar symptoms. Mostly they are antibiotics, chronic medicines or pain killers etc.

Following is a list of popular drugs for both humans and animals – but in different quantities.

This drug is mostly used in livestock to treat pneumonia and other infections of the respiratory tract, urinary tract and other skin infections.

Tylosin is among the human antibiotics that are used in animals. Tylosin is specifically used in chicken broilers to treat lung infections, diphtheria, venereal disease and ulcer.

It is an extra-label human med for dogs to treat gastritis, reflux, esophagitis and mast cell tumor etc.

Prilosec is also called the Omezprazole and it is a popular human drug that can be used in dogs that are having excessive stomach acid or ulcer. Always consult with your vet before giving it to your dog.

Bacitracin is another human drug for animals that is commercially used for broilers’ skin, wound and eye infections.

It should only be topically used on the skin for itchy skin. It is toxic, so make sure that it is not used orally or dogs won’t be able to lick it from their skin. You should use an Elizabethan Collar to prevent your dogs from licking it after it is applied on their skin.

Atropine is among the most popular human medicines for cats. It is used to manage diarrhea among humans and cats. Furthermore, it can also be used to manage colitis among dogs and cats; however, you should not use any pet meds without prescription on your own.

Always consult a vet to have proper dosage and usage guidelines before giving your pet any human medicines that dogs or cats can take.

Generally, antibiotics fight against the bacteria and their infection. They usually don’t care about whether bacteria is affecting a human or an animal. So, most of the time they work well and treat all the bacterial infections but leave some side effects on either humans or animals. If there is not a clear indicator that it is “only for human/animal use”,  any antibiotic can be used by both animal or human. You should still consult from your favorite vet before consuming an animal antibiotic.

Azithromycin is among those human medicines for cats and dogs that is originally registered for only human usage. It is sometimes prescribed for some cats or dogs as an extra-label drug by the licensed vets. So, it is completely fine for humans to take Azithromycin.

Nope! It is not a pet allergy medicine for humans. A dog tick medicine is intended to kill the pests among dogs, so it has a toxic chemical called permethrin that may be toxic to humans. Even if it would not be toxic, humans should avoid it because it won’t do any betterment either.

Yes, deworming is necessary even for humans because these worms can lead to abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, bloating and other allergic reactions among humans.  Albendazole is a pet allergy medicine for humans because it works fine for both humans and pets like dogs and cats. Its major job is to do deworming without differentiating humans and animals.

Rare human drugs work on animals if they are given in a specific dosage as an extra-label drug by the certified vet. All human drugs won’t work on animals but they may do worse for animals. Furthermore, some human drugs have been even toxic causing multiple side effects. Now they are among the banned medicines in the United States. So, don’t ever try to give all of your drugs to your animals even if your animals are facing similar symptoms as you. Always consider consulting a licensed vet or a pet compounding pharmacy in Maryland before giving a human drug to a certain pet.

Humans and animals are surely different species and you should not mix them while considering the drug medicines even for similar symptoms. Always consult a doctor for human medicines and vet for pet medications. Furthermore, Do your own research for common questions like can expired medicines hurt? or do the drugs remain effective for 10 years?