The toxicity and adverse effects of selected drugs in animals – overview

Abstract

Therapeutic products quite often are causes of poisoning in both small and large animals. Drug poisonings in animals occur commonly due to off-label use of medicines, wrong dosage, negligence, accidental ingestion and deliberate poisonings. Toxicity of veterinary drugs may become evident also in therapeutic doses when adverse effects may occur. The aim of this review is to inform veterinary specialists about both veterinary and human drugs, specifically antiparasitics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other medicinal substances, which are most often reported to cause acute poisonings or adverse reactions in animals and to contribute to their broader knowledge and more accurate use of medicines, improving instructions to the animal owners and, hopefully, decrease the incidence of drug poisonings in animals.

Poisoning of dogs and cats by drugs intended for human use

“…Paracetamol is the most widely used analgesic/antipyretic in human medicine and is frequently involved in poisoning of dogs and cats (Hjelle and Grauer, 1986;McLean and Hansen, 2012;Siroka and Svobodova, 2013). Cats are more susceptible to paracetamol toxicity than dogs because they are less efficient at metabolising paracetamol due to poor glucuronidation abilities, a much lower threshold for dose-dependent biotransformation and a capacitylimited sulphation pathway (Savides et al, 1984;Hjelle and Grauer, 1986;Aronson and Drobatz, 1996;Sellon, 2006).…”

“…Poisoning of dogs and cats by drugs intended for human use may result from misuse by pet owners, off-label use of medicines or, more frequently, accidental ingestion of drugs that are improperly stored (Fitzgerald et al, 2006;Siroka and Svobodova, 2013). Drugs intended for human use have accounted for~30% of reported pet poisoning in the USA McLean and Hansen, 2012;Mahdi and Van der Merwe, 2013).…”

A novel two-dimensional liquid chromatographic system for the online toxicity prediction of pharmaceuticals and related substances

“…Hence, much attention was paid on the toxicity study of pharmaceutical impurities and TPs in the environment [1][2][3]. However, traditional methods for toxicity or bioactivity studies, such as animal and cell experiments [4][5][6][7], are always expensive, poorly reproducible, time-consuming and tedious. It is a great challenge to the toxicity research, as hundreds of thousands of various pharmaceuticals are currently and regularly used.…”

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Rubus Fruticosus and Zizyphus Vulgaris Methanol Extracts

“…A large number of steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are available in the market for the treatment of inflammation. However, despite their great number, their therapeutic efficacy seems to be hampered because they are often associated with serious adverse side effects such as gastrointestinal irritation, ulcers, nephrotoxicity, and metabolic disorders [2].…”