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Dog diseases becoming more common
By cuzzy | March 12, 2007
(AP)Â
Beloved animals now regularly treated for diseases like arthritis and cancer from expanding menu of mostly human, and costly, drugs
FOR THE GUFFORDS, each day starts with a blood sugar check and a shot of insulin. Then a couple of pills, maybe mashed into a bowl of tuna and canned carrots. Mixed with dry chow.
All for their 12-year-old dog.
Brownie takes more drugs than his human companions put together. He has been medicated in recent months for diabetes, infections, high blood pressure, and his finicky gut. Since 2005, he has taken drugs for everything from anemia to a spider bite.
“He’s our baby, he’s a family member, I would want somebody to do that for me,” explains Ann Gufford.
She estimates having spent US$5,000 over the last two years on medicine for her mixed beagle-cocker spaniel. He’s no longer a real match for the squirrels outside their little home. His hearing is failing and without some of the drugs, he’d probably be dead. You can’t put a price on keeping him alive, she says.
“And I don’t want to,” adds her husband, Ben
North American pet owners have begun to routinely treat their pets for arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, allergies, dementia, and soon maybe even obesity. They pick from an expanding menu of mostly human pharmaceuticals like steroids for inflammation, antibiotics for infection, anti-clotting agents for heart ailments, Prozac or Valium for anxiety. Dogs with a certain lung condition even get the little blue pill that’s such a hit with impotent men.
Within the last five years, house pets have overtaken farm animals in the pharmaceutical marketplace, claiming 54 per cent of spending for animal drugs, according to the trade group Animal Health Institute.
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Topics: dog news |
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