Just a Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Work Better!

Your veterinarian and compounding pharmacist have always known that custom-flavored medications for animal patients are more appealing to the pet and also to the pet owner. Force feeding bad-tasting human medications to animals often results in stress and severe mistrust of the owner by the pet, as well as feelings of guilt and frustration by the owner. Providing medications in animal-friendly flavors results in easier administration to pets and far fewer medication misadventures than with many commercially available products. Recently, another possible benefit of providing palatable medications has been scientifically documented. Just as contact with animals positively affects human health, gentle contact with humans has been shown to positively affect the health and emotional status of animals. Similarly, negative contact with humans results in negative health effects on animals. In light of these studies, it is suggested that administration of pleasantly flavored medications will provide positive effects on the course of healing for animal patients.

Positive contact by humans, particularly petting or stroking has been demonstrated to have beneficial physiological effects on many species. Dogs experience a 5 - 40 beats per minute decrease in pulse when they are being petted by a human. Horses petted by humans also show a significant decrease in heart rate. Dairy cattle, chickens, sows, and other food-producing animals have shown higher productivity when gently handled and softly spoken to by humans. Many animal species used in laboratory tests have even demonstrated a dramatic reduction in mortality when being subjected to invasive laboratory procedures if they are petted by humans. Similarly, pleasant interactions involving offering treats or desirable foods would be expected to evoke positive physiologic states in animals.

Negative human contact has been shown to have an equally negative effect on animal health and well being. Forced administration of offensive medications almost always results in a rough handling experience for pets and caregivers.

In summary, it is now known that human contact affects animal health just as strongly as animal contact influences human health. An unpleasant medication experience can adversely affect animal health as much as the disease itself. Although further research is required to document exact benefits of animal-friendly flavoring of medications, veterinarians and pet owners can be assured that utilization of custom-flavored medications provides positive contact experiences for humans and animals. Removing the negative contact experience of human-flavored medications will, without a doubt, result in more rapid and complete responses to medical therapy.

Copyright © 2002 - 2003 Jetkat, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Web design and hosting by BizNetix.