• Question: do drugs have the same effect on different animals, could i take the same antibiotics as my dog, or would a fish get high if it was fed cannabis

    Asked by aworswick to Damien, Rachael, Simon, Suzi, Tim on 19 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 18 Jun 2011:

      Hi @aworswick
      This is a tough question to answer, firstly some animals are more similar to us than other animals, so they would be more likely to have similar reactions to drugs than animals with quite different bodies to ours.
      Also, some drugs are more narrowly acting than other drugs. I don’t know whether dog antibiotics are very similar to ours, but it’s always better to get your medicine from the doctor than from a vet 🙂

      I don’t know whether a fish would get high if it was fed cannabis, it would be a bit cruel to find out!!!

    • Photo: Damien Hall

      Damien Hall answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      It’s worth knowing, as well, that some things that are completely OK for people to ingest (take in, including eating or taking as a drug) are quite poisonous to other animals. Sometimes it’s really surprising (to me, anyway) – for example, chocolate is poisonous to dogs!

      Drugs are often tested on animals, though. That’s the very contentious kind of animal testing that makes people protest! The very reason why that sort of testing is done is that the scientists who do it are pretty sure that the reactions of the animals used (I think it’s often mice) will be pretty similar to the reactions humans would have to the same thing – so, if it works on a tested animal, it will be pretty likely to also work on a person. It’s up to you to decide what you think about that sort of testing, but I think that sometimes it’s necessary!

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