Dose and dosage of medicines
Dose and dosage of medicines are very complex in veterinary medicine. these come under veterinary pharmacology. Dose, dose rate and dosage such terms are defined in this article.
Dose
Dose of the drug is an estimate amount of a drug, that when administered by a particular route to a certain species is most likely to produce a certain intensity of response. It is the quantity of medication to be administered at one time. Dosage is the determination and regulation of doses.
Loading dose: Loading dose is one or a series of doses that may be given at the onset of therapy with the aim of achieving the target concentration rapidly.
Maintenance dose: Maintenance dose is a series of relatively small doses that follow the loading dose in order to maintain an effective concentration in the bio phase.
Dosage
Divide of dose in small amounts to given in particular time. like half tablet in evening and half in morning.
Dose Rate
Dose rate is a very important terminology in veterinary medicine as vets gives medicines as per kg body weight.
For Example, Pantoprazole have dose rate of 1 mg/kg body weight for dogs. and presented dose weight is 15 kg. so, we have to calculate like-
1 mg/kg body means — 1 mg pantoprazole for 1 kg of dog
1 kg dog — 1 mg Pantoprazole
so, 15 kg dog — 1 × 15 = 15 mg pantoprazole
That’s how medicine dose are calculated. but in case of tumour therapy dose are base on mg/m2 (m2 is nothing but the body surface area)
It may be mg/kg, mcg/kg, g/kg or ml/kg. it’s totally depends on the medicines. a throughout knowledge of metrology must be there for proper calculation drug dose of animals.
q12hr or q24hr Means
q12h means per 12 hours (repeated in every 12 hours)
q24 means per 24 hours (repeated in every 24 hours)
like in above example, if pantoprazole dose is 15mg and if this have q12h then this drug should be given in every 12 hours to make this drug effective concentration in blood to pharmacodynamics. that’s why veterinarians give some tablets and injections twice, thrice or single in a day.
Route drug of Administration
Route of Administration are very wide and these are used based on medicine chemistry and patient needs. administration other then different route may be lethal. read more about drug administration routes in animals.
- IM – Intramuscular
- IV – Intravenous
- SC – Subcutaneous
- PO – Per Oral