Dr Liesel van der Merwe is a small animal medicine specialist. Send her your questions: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Dr Liesel van der Merwe

Recently we were presented with a patient who started showing seizure activity in the waiting area. The history was vague but eventually it came out that the owner had suspected biliary and had bought medication from the local co-op and injected his dog.

The drug used to treat biliary can result in severe neurological damage if overdosed, by causing bleeding into the brain. The condition is terminal. It turns out that he gave a three times overdose, as he actually had no idea how much to use and the instructions on the bottle were for cattle.

The dog deteriorated despite treatment and was eventually euthanized. The owner refused to accept liability for what had happened. This poor patient didn’t even have biliary, as there was no evidence of an infection, even a resolving one, on the blood smear.

Act 36 products can be sold at a co-op. Often these are supplements and vaccinations and cattle medication for parasites. However, just because you can obtain a product and know how to inject doesn’t mean you know how much and when to treat. The saying goes – a little bit of knowledge is dangerous.

Act 101 products should only be prescribed by a doctor or a veterinarian. These medications include most over-the-counter (OTC) and scripted medications.

Vets in Pretoria also have a lot of problems with certain veterinary product suppliers where medical advice is given as well as proper medicines registered under Act 101. When a proper clinical examination by a trained professional hasn’t been performed, there is room for a lot of error.

Even when we examine a patient, we can often only see the tip of the iceberg disease-wise, and need extra laboratory tests or imaging before we can make a diagnosis. That experience and certainty about patient health and disease is what you are paying for when you have a clinical examination. I have seen two patients develop acute renal failure on Act 101 medication dispensed over the counter from these ‘pharmacies’. 

“Buyer beware.” You get what you pay for. It is incredibly upsetting to see animals die or have to be euthanized due to diagnostic errors made by laypeople and very sad to hear that some of the people asking for advice in these places think that they are speaking to a veterinarian.

Make sure you know where your information and advice come from. The source is important. I don’t expect to get accurate medical information from a weekly magazine, which I use to acquire local gossip.