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Sick pets may feel the pain of drug shortage, veterinarians say

Sick pets may soon feel the pain of a national shortage of some drug types that has already affected some of their owners.

EDMONTON — Sick pets may soon feel the pain of a national shortage of some drug types that has already affected some of their owners.

Veterinarians across the country say that production cuts from a factory in Quebec are beginning to affect everyday treatment of the animals that come in for care.

“Within the next two weeks, a lot of these drugs won’t be available any more,” said Jean Gauvin of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

“Absolutely,” said Martin Schiebel, a veterinarian with a small-animal practice in Edmonton.

“The biggest impact that we’ve had so far is the staff trying to find a work-around for some of the medication. In lots of cases there are alternatives that we can use and it’s just a question of getting those into our normal way of doing things.”

Many of the drugs prescribed for animals, especially those used for pain control, are exactly the same as those used in humans, said Duane Landals, registrar of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association.

“They’re human-quality drugs, but they’re used in veterinary practices,” he said. “They’re manufactured by the same plant.”

Most of the drugs in short veterinary supply are painkillers. Others include drugs to control seizures or nausea, or to ease the impact of an anaesthetic on a frightened dog or cat.

Concerns about the supply of drugs began earlier

this month, when the Sandoz Canada plant in Quebec cut production of more than 100 medications and then suffered a fire at the same facility. The plant makes 90 per cent of injectable medications used in Canada, among them anaesthetics, painkillers, cancer drugs and antibiotics.