Why You Shouldn’t Give Human Medicine To Cats

Whenever a cat shows signs of illness, people go on the internet to find out what they can use of their home remedies to treat their cats. Here are the reasons why you shouldn’t give human medicine to cats.

Human Medicine To Cats: Toxic

Most human medicine is simply toxic to cats. That is the main reason why you shouldn’t give human medicine to cats. Toxic matter means also that it could potentially kill your cat.

Many things that is alright for us humans to eat or take is poisonous to cats and human medicine is definitely no exception to that.

For example, something like ibux/ibuprofen, a common Non Steroidical Anti Inflammatory Drug used to ease fever, muscle pain and inflammation is in small dosage deadly to a cat. It isn’t all that great for us humans either, but that is offtopic.

Internet Resources About Human Medicine To Cats

“There is many internet resources for giving human medicine to cats?! Why can’t I just follow their instructions?!” you might ask.

There are certainly chances that some medicine might work for a cat, but it is very specific to what cat and what medicine and in what circumstance. Most resources out there on the internet do refer to dogs and say also that it is often highly toxic or deadly to cats.

I would even deadvice to follow these resources on the internet for your dog if you have one. I am not saying that they might be wrong, but the dosage of these medicine is so difficult to determine for the average person. They give you info like you can give one teaspoon every 20 pounds or a certain amount of milligram per kg or per animal (dog/cat).

It is very hard to weigh or measure these medicine, let alone know the exact weight of your pet. Certain dog races or cat races might also be more susceptible for one type of medicine or the other.

On The Topic Of Natural Medicine

There is also a lot of information on the internet on natural medicine. Although I am pretty sure there is alternative or natural medicine that can perfectly work well for your cat, I advice you to be extremely careful. My experience from the past years is that there is a lot of stuff written on the internet. Not just stuff, but advice from this website about one thing and the next saying that that stuff would be the worst for your cat and that you should instead use something else.

You can guess it, there is a lot of marketing going on and there is little time spend on proper research where it is ensured that the medicine will work for all cats.

Perhaps one can be lucky with dogs, but unfortunately are cats way more sensitive than dogs in that they cannot handle a lot of the natural things. For example are most herbs and oils toxic to them. Cats do not have the same type of liver system as we humans or dogs have and are therefore not able to clean out the body fast enough of things that might be harmful for them if it stays too long in the body.

Another thing that will always be a problem with natural medicine and natural remedies, is that it might work for one breed, while it is potentially dangerous for the next.

Essential Oils

To give you a few examples, I have seen websites write about using therapeutic grade essential oils on your cat. Some write about applying a solution on the skin of cats, where others talk about using diffusers.

When even humans can potentially get problems with their skin, because of directly applying the oils to their skin, why should it work better on a cat?

Unfortunately it is the same story of their liver once again. Cats are unable to get rid of the matter in their bodies and liver failure or liver damage is a direct result of that. While it might look like your cat is fine at first, the damage might already have been done and the result of that comes a bit later.

There is possibly one or two types of oils that might be okay to your cat, but I would simply not take the risk. If anything, you should probably ask your veterinary about it.

So if you care about your cat, do not use diffusers, essential oils, incense’s or essential oil candles in the same room where your cat resides. It is okay to use it in the room when they are not there, but make sure you properly ventilate the room before they get back there.

Best Advice: Contact Your Veterinary

I really de-advice to go for home remedies for your pets. I also really deadvice giving human medicine to cats. You have most likely little clue what is really going on with the health of your pet and you wouldn’t know what is harmful to your pet. Instead of helping your cat (or dog), you might be making them more ill or worse. Also note that medicine designed for dogs, should not be given to cats either.

It will safe you a lot of stress to go to the veterinary with your pet and you get the advice you need. They will know ultimately best. In some cases they can advice you to take a certain human medicine perhaps, but it shouldn’t just come from the internet. At least your veterinary can properly measure the weight of your cat, assess whether your cat breed can handle the medicine at all and advice you the proper dosage.

In most cases veterinaries will give you a note to pickup proper cat medicine at the apothecaries. The medicine made for cats is already in the right dosage and format and has a set of easy to understand instructions for you to understand.

Even if your cat is perfectly healthy, it can be a good idea to visit the veterinary once a year with your cat. A yearly checkup makes sure that you stay up to date on their health. The vet usually helps the cat with staying healthy and also keeps a log of the health status of your pet. If problems occur later on in their life, you will be able to see where things went downhill or got better.

When did you last visit the veterinary with your cat? Please leave a comment below.