The Pill Book Guide to Medication for Your Dog and Cat

I’ve actually had several copies of this book and I bought it again and again after it was re-printed. I wish they would do it again! It’s old enough that it is not going to be helpful with the newest antibiotics and drugs BUT It is an incredible resource. You can’t see much of the inside of it but The first 75 pages are one of the best dog first aid books I have ever read in my life and it’s a total freebie because it’s just at the beginning of the book and you don’t even know it’s there when you buy it!Each drug gives you a list of all its various names and generic names, it tells you what the dose is for both dogs & cats, but its value is beyond that. The thing I have found most helpful is the fact that it actually describes how the drug works but what organ groups are mostly impacted and what deathly side effects may look like. But one of the most valuable things instead of the actually explains in common English The mechanism by which the drug works which makes it much easier than to pick one drug over another. It also lists for every single drug if there is something to be avoided either another drug, or even something as simple and over-the-counter as an anti-acidthis book is chock-full of information.

In January my 18 year 4 month old dog went to the great beyond. During her years and the companion dogs that were with her, I used this reference often to look up medication which people had mentioned in blogs regarding minor conditions. Due to loss of assets during the mortgage crisis, my little companions did not have the access to medical care I historically gave my dogs and, this book helped guide me to asking the right questions after making a little research first as to what I thought we were dealing with. It also gave me some general advice on over the counter medications that can be used on dogs. Please note: Many of the medications in this book are not FDA approved for veterinary care. They are people medications, but veterinarians are prescribing many of them. This statement is a rephrasing from the book.I do wish that they would update the book. I know there has been a lot of knowledge learned regarding conditions and the drugs that treat them since this book was published - yet it still remains, for me, the best source of information on medications for veterinary use. There are a lot of strange ideas put out there by people on the internet and this helped clear away some of the hocus-pocus. Qualifying "good meaning sites" as valid veterinary care can be difficult and sites come and go. Anyway, I bought a copy for the local dog groomer who regularly will share info on what she has dealt with within her business - what conditions she sees come through her doors and what people are doing for it. We live out in the country, so if you can't afford a vet, word of mouth is how things get done. Hope you find this book helpful also.

This is great to have if you have animals! It tells me which over the counter meds are safe and the dosages. I love this one!

I'm a human nurse and I must admit that when it comes to pet medication, I've no idea what is good and what isn't. Because I wanted all bases covered, I bought this book and  Pills for Pets . I guess this will be a review/comparison of them both.The Pill Book Guide is 98% medications. It too has a first aid chapter and a list of resources but they are brief. The entire focus on this book is medication, which is what you would expect when a title mentions "pills".To take it a step further, you get all the information I would get in my own college graduate level human medication books. You have generic name, trade names (name brands), pronunciation, the type of drug, what it's used for, cautions and warnings, side effects, drug interactions (such as if you cannot take this while taking that), food interactions (such as you cannot eat this while taking that), usual dosage (for dogs and cats only), symptoms of overdose, whether or not it's safe for pregnant/lactating, puppies/kittens and senior dogs and finally, even more information that doesn't go anywhere else.You simply cannot get more comprehensive than that!Alternatively , in  Pills for Pets , only half of the book is related to medications. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but let us be clear on that. The other half the book is on general health pet care such as insurance, your vet relationship, toxic plants, first aid, resources etc. It has a list of measurement equivalents and even medical abbreviations, which is a fresh approach.As a human nurse of 23 years, I will say that the medical abbreviations are very helpful, but a few key ones are missing. One example is that dogs frequently (I know this because of my own) will have ac and pc written on their charts/prescriptions; ac is before meals and pc is after meals. Again, those are key and should be listed.The question then becomes why is the title only about medications? Why isn't it better titled something like "Health Information for your Pets" or something more closely related to its actual content. I'm just curious to know the reason behind the title because only half of the book is actually about pills and medications. I'm not saying that the other information isn't helpful , it's just that had I bought  Pills for Pets  and only  Pills for Pets , I think I may have felt cheated. Besides, all of that extra fluff can be found on the internet for free.As for its information on medications, she gives you the generic name, the reason the medication is given, the dosages for the animals who can take it, common side effects, something about overdosing and brand names.That said, I was really surprised to see acetaminophen (Tylenol) in the list for dogs. That is controversial, at best. I've been told a number of times by my vets over the years that it is absolute poison for dogs. Its controversial usage is not even listed in the book, so for me, that's a serious red flag. Now had she mentioned it and said it was controversial and that you need to do further research, I would be okay, but ignoring that is a definite fault, in my opinion. To me, it brings into question the entire book. Pills for Pets  gets 2 stars. It's a good health care book, but not one for medications. I cannot stress that enough! The reason it gets an additional star is because it addresses other pets too such as rabbits and even lizards. Still, I just can't get past that Tylenol. I know she's a vet, but more information was definitely needed.Now let us talk about my biggest concern on  Pills for Pets : acetaminophen. Ask me if it's in The Pill Book Guide. It is NOT. As I mentioned above, there is a reason why.So for a comparison on medications for dogs and cats, The Pill Book Guide wins hands down. I can see that the author of  Pills for Pets  cares about pets and has a wealth of knowledge to share, but I just cannot recommend her book for medications alone.The only reason this loses a star is because it is a very old book (1998). Some of it will be outdated, but even if it were newer, you would still need to do your own research before using any medications in this book, the other one, or any of them for that matter to include human books too. Every day brings new results of medication studies, so you never know what they will say today - or tomorrow - about a medication.

well written and thorough !!

Good book on practical aspect of medicines in dogs and cats

the book is very good value and extremely informative, very pleased to have it as a reference, however, I was not pleased toreceive two other books which I did not order and had the bother of sending them back

very useful book, all pet owners should have one so that they can refer to it when being given drugs by the vet so that you can look into what they contain...

very informative, I wanted to know what my pets were been given so I'm pleased with my purchased