# Giving rats human medication



## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

Could I have everyones imput on this? What are the sucsesses and problems, usefull links?


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Ummm...what meds are you talking about? OTC? Prescription? Some meds can be used that are given to humans and others can't...depends on what you are talking about.


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## 2manyrats (Apr 10, 2007)

Rats are given human medication all the time in labs, so fortunately there's a lot of data out there on dosages in the medical journals.

However, as lilspaz said, it really depends on what you're trying to treat. Some medications are inappropriate for rats for reasons like their high metabolisms, but others are not.

Does one of your rats have a specific problem?


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## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

No and my out of hours vet service is good so i dont imagine I would ever need to give my girls any human meds. Im just curious, I see it coming up occasionally. Yeah I googled a few things but the data was quite complicated-journas n stuff! Wondered if there was anyone who had made a website more my style


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## OnlyOno (Apr 4, 2007)

dunno. i've never heard anything bad about benadryl or children's decongestant cough syrup, in moderate quantities, of course. for benadryl they have an animal version that has a different name, but it's essentially exactly the same thing. the cough syrup thing i've seen on several sites, but you'd def have to double check dosages and symptoms that spur on the use of such things, as i've never used it myself.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Some ointments can be used for wounds (neosporin, polysporin), I have used polysporin eye ointment with permission from my vet, benadryl has been used for allergies, decongestants for congestion, etc. *infant* Tylenol, Motrin, Ibuprofen can be used for pain...very carefully dosed of course.

Then there's prescription drugs that we share. But if anyone is thinking of dosing their rats with their own meds, that you cannot do. You wouldn't have the proper dosages, and could hurt your rat not help it.


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## reachthestars (Feb 27, 2007)

I would be extremely hesitant to use any human OTC/prescription meds on my rats. It would be next to impossible to figurre out correct doses, and I would always worry if they had too much or not enough. It may cost more but I'll stick to what the vet prescribes


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## moara (Apr 30, 2007)

> etc. infant Tylenol, Motrin, Ibuprofen can be used for pain...


Painkillers don't work for rats. They metabolize them way too quickly for them to have any effect. Just try to make them comfortable. Besides, they don't know enough to realize that they're sick and should take it easy. Pain in the animal world does serve a function (most of the time).


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## Stephanie (Mar 25, 2007)

http://www.ratfanclub.org/helpinfo.html

www.ratguide.com

those are the two go to links i have lol


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## ladylady (Apr 5, 2007)

Thanks Stephanie


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