Not Just For Humans Anymore

By Author: Steven Johnson
Total Articles: 490
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There are a wide array of medications that people of all types take every day. But let's not forget about man's best friend. Dogs and other nonhuman animals can often enjoy the same benefits of taking those medications as humans do.
The same diseases

Dogs and other pets have to deal with many of the same diseases and conditions that humans do. Autoimmune diseases, asthma, allergies, rejected transplant organs, kidney disorders, and even traumatic conditions such as spinal cord injury, anaphylactic reactions, and shock are just a few that we as humans have in common with our best friends. Makes sense that we would be able to treat these diseases in a similar way, seeing as how dogs share over 90% of our DNA.
The same drug

There is a drug that works to suppress the immune system by replacing a corticosteroid the adrenal gland naturally produces. You might wonder why anyone would want to suppress their immune system, but people with the conditions we just mentioned, like autoimmune diseases, want just that. Suppressing the immune system also works to reduce inflammation, bringing relief to asthma and arthritis ...
... sufferers. This drug has several serious side effects, but the improvement in the daily quality of life make those side effects worth it to many people, and now, many dogs too.

The body has a natural way of doing things. The liver turns out an active steroid called prednisolone. If one has the right amount of prednisolone in the body - it could be human, dog, ferret, or squirrel body - the adrenal glad will stop making more and the immune system will return to normal operation.

Here's just a partial list of the conditions affecting pet animals that this drug can help:

* Asthma
* Allergies
* Lupus
* Arthritis
* Mononucleosis
* Kidney disease
* Pancreas disease

It is also used as a cancer treatment. Especially for leukemia, which is extraordinarily common in cats, this drug is excellent. It is an essential part of treating leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma in humans.
So why does it work so well for non-human animals as well?

Simply put, we're not that different. Veterinary medicine has proven that our bodies not very different and that we needn't make distinctions in most cases. Think about it: how is it that we can test on animals? How is it that we can transplant pig organs into human bodies without them being rejected? It's because all animals are pretty close and the benefits of this fraternity should not go just one way. Non-human animals help us by testing out all manner of drugs, so, whether you believe this right or wrong, shouldn't we share the benefit of this testing?

The drug that helps regulate prednisolone in the body is called Prednisone. Prednisone, once processed by the liver, turns into prednisolone. This then suppresses the immune system in the aforementioned way.

It works on cancer by directly attacking the tumors and shrinking them. A normal immune system also helps cancer patients by letting their body regulate itself in a normal way and thusly attack cancer in a normal way. Much of the damage that cancer does can be nullified by using Prednisone.