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Dogs might probably be the only living beings on this planet that know how to take away our worries with just a wag of their tail. So much so that there are professionally trained dogs for therapy. Now isn’t that just a great thing? When dogs take so much care of us, shouldn’t we take their care as well?
We absolutely should and I am sure you must be doing everything you can to ensure that your dog faces no discomfort. But oftentimes there are things that you can’t really control and one such thing is when your dogs experience motion sickness or vomiting.
When that happens, what you can do is just try to give them cerenia for dogs which will help them with this issue. A lot of dogs get motion sick or they just vomit because of a lot of other reasons that might not be very obvious to you.
So to help with that issue, you can use cerenia for dogs which is apparently the only veterinary medicine that has been approved by the FDA to treat vomiting in dogs effectively and without letting any harm come to the dogs and even cats and you would be glad to know that it also helps in preventing vomiting due to motion sickness.
Motion sickness could be a very anxiety-inducing issue for dogs and even with just vomiting, we all know how awful that feels and we would never want to subject our beloved dogs to it. That is why professionals recommend using cerenia for dogs because it is very effective in helping the dogs with this issue and a completely safe option as well.
So in this article, you will learn about what cerenia for dogs is, how it works, the signs that your dog needs to use cerenia, all the things cerenia would help with, whether there are any side effects to it and why you should use it instead of Benadryl or Dramamine. So let us embark on our journey to enlightenment.
What Is Cerenia Dogs?
Cerenia or what you might know as, maropitant citrate, is a neurokinin (NK1) receptor antagonist which is known to block the pharmacological action of substance P in the central nervous system. It is the nonproprietary designation for a substituted quinuclidine. Didn’t make any sense whatsoever?
To simplify it, let’s just say that cerenia for dogs blocks a certain neurotransmitter in the brain that is responsible for causing vomiting in the dogs. When this action of the substance P, which is the neurotransmitter gets blocked, vomiting is prevented and that is why cerenia is called an antiemetic.
As you already know, cerenia for dogs is the first and only veterinary medicine that has been approved by the FDA to successfully treat dogs that experience motion sickness or vomiting due to various reasons without any complications. All tablets of cerenia are scored and they allow for a pretty simple and accurate dosing technique.
About 48% of all dogs have been known to suffer from canine motion sickness and that is why it becomes essential that if your dog has motion sickness, then you use cerenia for dogs to help them every time you are traveling for even a short while. Cerenia is a medicine that gets recommended by all veterinarians so you can be assured that it is indeed very safe.
Aside from motion sickness, Cerenia for dogs is used to cure acute vomiting as well. It is also used by veterinarians also use. Cerenia is easily available for you to buy as a tablet.
What Is Acute Vomiting In Dogs?
You all know what vomiting is as you must have experienced it at some point in your lives. You can define it as a forced discharge of ingested food from the stomach and sometimes even from the small intestine. This is initiated by the CNS and it is a clinical sign in all small animals.
Vomiting is a protective mechanism that is developed so that any harmful substances in the body can be removed before they can cause any harm to the body. Vomiting can be because of bowel obstruction or intake of toxic substances, etc but whatever the reason be, cerenia for dogs can cure it.
If your dog is going to experience severe vomiting, it can cause dehydration, electrolyte disturbances, esophagitis, aspiration pneumonia, malnutrition, etc. Acute vomiting can be defined as vomiting in dogs that has been occurring for over 5 to 7 days and it could be because of a minor issue and could be resolved with a basic symptomatic treatment.
But sometimes, it could also be because of a very serious issue that you cannot see with your eyes. If this issue keeps repeating itself and the dog has an empty stomach then it might start vomiting yellow bile from the small intestine.
Acute vomiting indicates that there might be something seriously wrong with your dog and hence, you should get the dog looked over by a vet as soon as possible. The symptoms of acute vomiting can include continuous vomiting, dehydration, pain, and distress as well as weakness in your dogs, and cerenia for dogs can help your dog with it.
Causes Of Vomiting In Dogs
The normal kind of vomiting in dogs might happen for a lot of reasons. This issue can be solved by using cerenia for dogs but let us have a look at what some of these common causes are:
- Motion Sickness
- Infectious Diseases
- Eating Foreign Objects
- Human Food Bad For Them
- Certain Plants
- Toxic Chemicals
- Certain Medicines
- Diseases of:
- Kidney
- Liver
- Pancreas
- Stomach
- Intestines
There are a number of complicated issues that can cause vomiting in dogs as well. The dietary issues that can cause vomiting in dogs include intoxication due to consuming poisonous plants, insecticides, rodenticides, etc, or because of indiscretion due to table scraps or garbage, or other foreign objects as well because of allergy to certain foods.
Acute vomiting in dogs can also be caused because of intestinal parasites like giardia, roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, whipworm, etc as well as because of gastric parasites like the physaloptera.
There are a few drug-related issues that can cause vomiting in dogs and they include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or analgesics along with cardiac glycosides, certain antibiotics and it can be caused even because of chemotherapeutic agents.
A number of metabolic disorders like certain renal or liver diseases as well as electrolyte abnormalities and Addison’s disease and diabetic ketoacidosis cause this issue to appear in dogs as well. All of the minor issues can be solved by cerenia for dogs but if the issue is severe and the cerenia is not helping the dog, you should take it to the vet as soon as possible.
Symptoms Of Motion Sickness In Dogs
As you already know, almost half the population of dogs experience motion sickness and that is the reason a lot of owners are biased against taking their dogs on trips. If your dogs face this issue as well then you can use the cerenia for dogs to help. Let us look at some of the symptoms of motion sickness that will help you recognize what this thing is:
- Licking their lips excessively
- Panting excessively
- Inactivity
- Dry heaving
- Vomiting
- Drooling
- Bracing Stance
- Whinings
- Pacing or restlessness
- Shaking
- Yawning
What Are The Treatment Options For Acute Vomiting In Dogs?
There are a lot of treatment options available for treating acute vomiting and cerenia for dogs is one of them. Let us have a look at all these options.
Maropitant
As you know, this is the treatment option I have been telling you about all along, Cerenia for dogs. This is the most common treatment option for vomiting in dogs and it can be administered to dogs both orally or via an injection.
If it is administered in higher doses, it can even prevent motion sickness. This medicine does not affect the gastrointestinal system in dogs but it should still be used with caution if the dogs have hepatic dysfunction. The use of cerenia in dogs I recommended only for dogs older than 16 weeks.
Metoclopramide
Metoclopramide is a very effective drug used to controlling vomiting and it has been found that it is more effective in dogs than cats and can be given both orally or by injection as well. This drug can affect the gastrointestinal system and it should be avoided being used if the dogs have epileptics and it should not be taken along with chlorpromazine.
Diphenhydramine
This is a drug that blocks the signal of the neurotransmitters related to vomiting and preventing it but it can cause sedation as well.
Chlorpromazine
You might know this drug as Thorazine. It is administered through an injection and has side effects like hypotension, sedation as well as seizures as it can reduce the seizure threshold.
Isoporpamide And Propantheline
These are other drugs that block the vomiting signal of the brain. These can cause some severe gastrointestinal issues as well.
Ondansetron HCL
You might know this medicine as Zofran and this too is administered either orally or through an injection and it is used for treating vomiting and is sometimes also used along with chemotherapy or another kind of drug therapy to help the dogs. This should be used with caution if the dog has hepatic or it is breeding. It can cause hypotension and arrhythmia.
Aside from using all these treatment methods to prevent or cure vomiting, Famotidine or Pepcid and omeprazole or Prilosec are used to make the dogs recover from dehydration.
Difference Between Using Cerenia For Dogs And Benadryl(Diphenhydramine) or Dramamine
Benadryl for dogs has been used to treat coughs and other minor symptoms. Using cerenia for dogs is a very different thing as unlike Benadryl or Dramamine, Cerenia has actually been approved by the FDA to be used as a vomit-preventive medicine as well as to be used as a treatment for it.
Cerenia for dogs does not cause drowsiness and it is available in a lot of dozing sizes and it has also been proven safe and effective to be used as a vomit-preventive method in dogs as well as cats.
Cerenia is a non-sedating medicine and you might know that Benadryl is a drug that causes dogs to feel drowsy. Benadryl and Dramamine can treat some symptoms but they are not approved by the FDA to be used on dogs.
When you administer cerenia to your dog, it will stop the vomiting and will last for about 24 hours. You can easily get cerenia for dogs with a prescription anywhere. Although, make sure you talk with the vet and ask them if using cerenia for dogs would be the correct treatment for your dog.
Cerenia for dogs is also available as an injectable. The cerenia injection can be administered to your dog at a vet and you can get it done if you are going to be traveling somewhere. It also gets used before surgery when opioids are used as a pre-anesthetic as I mentioned before.
Precautions
You should not that cerenia for dogs is not to be consumed by humans and especially not by children as it can have adverse effects. If you consume it accidentally, you should get medical help as soon as you can. It can lead to localized allergic reactions to the skin with some people.
If humans consume cerenia for dogs for a prolonged period then they might get skin sensitization. So make sure that you wash your hands properly after you administer the medicine to your dog.
Keep in mind that Cerenia for dogs is also an ocular irritant and hence, if your eye comes in contact with it, you should flush your eye with water for 15 minutes and get medical attention as soon as you can.
If you administer cerenia to puppies younger than 16 weeks of age, they might get bone marrow hypocellularity. This can be a severe issue. Dogs that are older than 16 weeks would not experience this issue whatsoever.
You should make sure that you do not administer this medicine to dogs who are used for breeding or to pregnant or lactating dogs. Remember to make sure with the vet before using Cerenia for dogs with hepatic dysfunction.
Cerenia has a lot of protein content and hence should be used carefully with other medicines that are rich in protein like NSAIDs, cardiac, anticonvulsant, and behavioral medications. Make sure to ask what the cause of vomiting is so that you understand if there is something that you would need to do differently while taking care of your dog.
How To Give Cerenia To Dogs?
How you administer cerenia to your dog and how much you administer depends on whether it is being administered to prevent vomiting because of motion sickness or prevent acute vomiting at home.
However you might be using cerenia, it would be good if you made sure with your vet how and when you should give it to your pet. If you want to prevent motion sickness in your dogs, you should administer cerenia to the dog along with some food 2 hours prior to traveling.
You can do that once a day as it lasts for 24 hours but make sure you do not do it more than 2 days in a row. You can give cerenia to puppies who are 2-7 months old as per the directions given to you by the vet but make sure you do not administer it more than 5 days in a row. When you give it to dogs older than 7 months, do it for as long as the vet has told you to.
You can get cerenia after the vet prescribes it and the cost of it would depend on various factors. These factors are the weight of your pet and the diagnosis of the vomiting. Make sure you get all the details about it from the vet. If you feel anything is wrong while you are administering the medicine to your dog or if the symptoms persist, go back to the vet.
Cessation
Vomiting in dogs can happen for a lot of reasons. The gastrointestinal tract is very resilient and there have been a lot of cases when the clinical signs of acute vomiting just go away on their own. But that is not always the case.
If the vomiting is because of a very serious underlying issue and it is left untreated then it can lead to the death of your pet as well and that is something we absolutely do not want. When you take your dog to the vet, they will diagnose the vomiting and then prescribe a treatment that might include cerenia.
You might have to make changes to the diet of your dog as well to prevent certain health issues and potential causes of vomiting. You might need to feed the dog with food that is easily digestible for a while. When you talk to your vet, make sure you get all the instructions as to what all things your dog needs. Our ultimate goal is to keep our pets healthy and happy.
