Lucy Rogers
is a spirited 8 month old English bulldog. Her owner Gary brought her in July 2nd
after Lucy had accidentally ingested a bottle of Ibuprofen. Gary after arriving home found the bottle all
chewed up with no pills in it. Knowing that it could be harmful to Lucy, Gary brought her right in
to have her examined. Gary
explained that Lucy was acting fine at the time, but he was concerned because
he did not know how many pills were in the bottle, or how many Lucy had
ingested.
Gary brought Lucy in , Dr.
Charette examined her and then immediately induced vomiting. Lucy was made to
vomit multiple times until there were no more tablets present in the vomitus. As
soon as Dr. Charette was sure that all of the ibuprofen had been expelled, he
calculated the proper dose of activated charcoal and had Jamie one of our
caring technicians administer it to lucy orally. Lucy was a little reluctant to
take the charcoal so she and Jamie got a little on each other as you can see in
the picture. Activated charcoal absorbs any residual drug, coats the intestines
to block further absorption, and helps to
protect the lining of the GI tract. Ibuprofen can cause gastrointestinal
ulceration, liver damage and early kidney failure. Gary was absolutely right in bringing Lucy in
for care.
Lucy was
doing very well after her accidental ingestion of this toxic drug and got to go
home that same day. At her follow up a week later Lucy had some blood work done
so we could make sure all of her organs were not affected by the Ibuprofen. At
the time her levels were returning to normal. As of today Lucy is doing great. Gary said “she is back to
her loveable, playful, and mischevious self.” Gary and his family think of Lucy
as the “Princess” of the family; so they were very grateful that we were able
to help Lucy.
Just as a side note to pet owners, Tylenol, Ibuprofen and,
other human NSAIDS are not compatible with pets, and should not be given unless
under the direction of your veterinarian. There are special drugs made for pets
for these purposes.