If Symptons Persist, Call Your Vet?
“If symptoms persist call your veterinarian.” Many years ago this was the by-line of a radio advertisement of a popular over-the-counter antibiotic for farm animals. Calling the vet only when the animal disease symptoms persist despite treatment with that antibiotic is a take-off from similar advertisement of OTC medications for humans. This action, however; doesn’t work in the same manner as it does in human patients.
Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs preparations for animals can contain anything that has been so-called “approved” to be marketed and used for “backyard” animal farms. Almost all of these OTC preparations contain varying amounts of antibiotics, which by the way are quite restricted if not entirely prohibited in OTC drug preparations for humans.
There have been volumes of literature (technical and popular) written and published about the danger of indiscriminate use of antibiotics in animals to human health. While many countries have been quite successful in enforcing restriction of antibiotics and certain other drugs for use in farm animals, we are still far from doing the same.
















