Hi, I'm Fiona Caldwell and I am the veterinarian for Idaho Veterinary Hospital. I am answering questions today from pet owners for Pets Best. This question is,"Is human aspirin okay for dogs?"
The answer is sort of, dogs can tolerate aspirin in small doses. There are other painkillers that dogs cannot have, but aspirin they can metabolize. My problem with aspirin it is difficult for you dose because it's obviously dosed for human size and if you give your dog aspirin, it sometimes it limits what your veterinarian can give your pet in certain illnesses and certain diseases. For example, if you thought your dog' s back was hurting and you gave it aspirin then I can no longer give that dog steroids right away. Sometimes it makes the veterinarians job a little bit trickier. In addition, some studies have shown any dose of aspirin can cause microscopic amounts of G.I. bleeding in dogs which, obviously, we would want to avoid.
There is a whole slew of pain relievers that are prescription-only that work better than aspirin and would be safer than aspirin. At this time, is not my recommendation that you give aspirin to your dogs. If you have questions or comments feel free to post below or Pets Best Facebook page.