How the Doctor Almost Killed Her Dog

January 24, 2011

By RANDI HUTTER EPSTEIN, M.D.

....I gave him some high-dose ibuprofen. It was in the medicine cabinet, left

over from my son's root canal.

I am a doctor — a people one — so I know quite a bit about medicine. Little did

I know how little I knew about veterinary medicine.

Over the course of about a day and half, I had given Dexter three 600-milligram

pills. He stopped limping, but also stopped eating, and for the first time in

his life, he wet himself during the night. He then flooded the hallway with

urine as he ran for the door in the morning.

That's when I called the veterinarian's office. It was Sunday, and I left a

message saying that it wasn't an emergency, but perhaps Dexter should be seen on

Monday.

The phone rang immediately. It was my veterinarian. She told me to get Dexter to

an animal hospital. Right away.

That's when I learned that ibuprofen, the key ingredient in Motrin, poisons

dogs. After a seven-day stay in the intensive care unit, ultrasound exams and a

big bottle of take-home medicine, I brought Dexter home, along with a $3,000 vet

bill...

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