Aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen not recommended for pets

Q: Are Brood X cicadas harmful to my dog?

A: Thankfully, cicadas don't sting or bite and they aren't toxic. So they won't cause any harm from just a simple exposure.

If your dog were to swallow a single cicada or two, they probably would not show any bad symptoms at all either ... unless your dog was unlucky enough to be allergic. The only real problem tends to happen when or if your dog were to over-indulge and eat them by the mouthful. That can create enough irritation in the GI tract to cause vomiting and diarrhea ranging from mild to severe. That crunchy outer "shell" of the cicada is its exoskeleton. The exoskeleton is made of a polymer called chitin. Chitin is not digestible, so it rubs and scrapes through the GI tract causing irritation as it moves through.

Q: Can I give my dog aspirin or ibuprofen?

A: Generally speaking, you should not do so. Aspirin and ibuprofen are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, frequently called NSAIDs. NSAIDs work to prevent pain and inflammation by blocking an enzyme that makes a product called prostaglandins. Some prostaglandins are angry pain-causing chemicals that we do want to inhibit, but some prostaglandins are crucial in your dog's normal functions. For example, some prostaglandins protect the stomach wall from the acid that lives in the stomach. And other prostaglandins will protect the kidneys from damage during dehydration.

In our veterinary world, we do use NSAIDs every day as a powerful tool to prevent pain and inflammation ... but we use prescription NSAIDs that are very selective for only the pain-causing prostaglandin production. Aspirin and ibuprofen are not selective and can be very dangerous to pets.

On a similar note, acetaminophen can be toxic to dogs and cats as well. Acetaminophen works very differently than NSAIDs, but it can cause adverse effects such as liver or kidney damage, gastrointestinal upset, or even blood disorders.

Q: My veterinarian said my dog has a torn anterior cruciate ligament ( ACL). Does he need surgery?

A: Surgery is most commonly the best way to repair a torn ACL. Actually, dogs have a CCL (cranial cruciate ligament) and humans have an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), but they are certainly very similar in anatomy and function.

The CCL is made of many fibers and acts like a multi-fibered rope that connects the tibia (shin bone) to the femur (thigh bone). Because dogs have a slope at the top of their tibia, the femur is always trying to slide down that slope behind the tibia. The CCL's main job is to keep that from happening by limiting the tibia from moving forward while the femur tries to slide backward.

Dogs can quickly tear their CCL while running or performing an athletic movement. We call that an acute CCL tear. But dogs can also get a degenerative type of tear in which fibers of the "rope" fray away one by one over time. We call those chronic tears. When the "rope" only frays tearing some fibers, it is a partial tear, and when all of those fibers tear, it is a complete tear.

The ideal surgical repair depends on the size of the dog. Dogs smaller than 40 to 50 pounds can have a type of surgery that replaces the torn CCL with a synthetic CCL implant. This surgery can usually be done by your veterinarian with a great outcome.

For bigger dogs, synthetic CCL implant surgery is not always ideal. Because of their size, larger dogs run the risk of breaking a CCL synthetic implant. So big dogs generally need a type of surgery that changes the anatomy of the knee in such a way that the CCL is no longer necessary.

In our opinion, this surgery is best performed by a board-certified veterinary orthopedic surgeon that specializes in this type of surgery. We are lucky here in Columbus to have some of those surgeons available to us. Unfortunately, this type of surgery is more costly than synthetic CCL implant surgery, but both surgeries have nearly a 90% success rate.

So what happens to a dog with a torn CCL if they do not get surgery? The ends of the torn CCL live inside a bath of joint fluid deep in the knee, so they never heal back together end-to-end. That joint fluid is contained by the joint capsule that wraps around the knee. Normally the joint capsule is very thin, but when the CCL is torn, the joint capsule dramatically thickens and squeezes down on the knee to try to stabilize an unstable joint.

Also, little bone spurs, called osteophytes, start to form. Both of those will cause a decrease in the range of motion of the knee. All of this leads to long-term arthritis that will result in frequent limping and loss of muscle in the limb.

Drs. Josh and Marya Teders are the owners of NorthArlington Animal Clinic in Upper Arlington. To ask them a question, email Becky Kover ([email protected]) and put pet question in the subject line.