Medications and the news

Every so often there will be online chatter about some medication or other killing patients. This time it is Librela. What is going on? Companies perform double blinded clinical trials with a large number of patients. Once it hits the market, there is a system for individuals to report other possible side effects. This system of self reporting is created to possibly catch very rare side effects. I say possible because relation does not mean causation. For example, if Fluffy starts coughing on a Tuesday after watching a movie, you would not blame the Tuesday or the movie. If Fluffy had a pill that morning, it possibly could be the pill but it could be that Fluffy has something else or Fluffy is 18 years old and stuff happens when we all get olzooetis site: der. We often have confirmation bias. So please if you hear about some horrible medication that is killing patients please question it a bit. There has always been misinformation. Now it spread a lot faster. I have done a search in Veterinary Information Network and none of the thousands of veterinarians in the group nor ourselves have noted any horrible side effects. It has helped quite a large number of dogs to continue pain free from arthritis and able to walk. For information on reported issues please look at Zooetis site.