The Basics of “Understanding Veterinary Compounding” for Pet Owners

Pharmaceutical compounding has long been used in the medical field to alter medications intended for human consumption to control for dosage and change methods of application, but not everyone realizes that this revolutionary technique can also be applied to veterinary medicine. A quick search for “Understanding Veterinary Compounding” will turn up plenty of information, but most of it is intended for veterinarians themselves rather than pet owners who are interested in learning more about how this technique can be used to help their companion animals. This article, on the other hand, is intended specifically for pet owners who are looking for a better understanding of what, exactly, this process entails and how it can be used to help their beloved pets.

What Types of Animals Stand to Benefit?

Medications created using veterinary compounding can be used to treat just about any animal, from cats and dogs to birds, reptiles, and even exotic zoo animals. It can be particularly helpful for pet owners who own large or exotic pets, which often pose unique medication challenges when it comes to both dosage and method of application. More common household pets such as cats and dogs are also frequently treated using compounded medications when they require medications that are not available on the general market.

How Does it Work?

Veterinary compounding allows dedicated pharmacists to alter existing medications and provide them to veterinarians for treatment. These medications can be concentrated differently in order to make dosage easier, or can even be flavored to make them more appealing and palatable to pets. They can also be chemically altered in order to ease administration so that those cat owners who find that their pets will adamantly refuse to ingest medications orally can instead apply them topically.

What Other Applications Does it Have?

Arguably one of the most beneficial applications for veterinary compounding is the fabrication of commercially unavailable medicines. These medications are typically drugs that have been commercially manufactured in the past and have since been taken off the market due to the cost-ineffectiveness of mass-producing medications that have a very specialized use treating rare disorders. Compounding pharmacists can not only prepare prescriptions of discontinued medications that have a history of effective use but can also tailor those medications to the pet’s specific dosage, strength, and flavor needs.

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