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Pharmacology can be defined as the effect of drugs on living systems. Drugs can mimic or inhibit the natural processes of the body; it is therefore crucial to understand how these processes work to truely understand the effect of a drug. As such the principles of pharmacology touch on all aspects of veterinary medicine and are essential to grasp to fully appreciate drug use in practice.
Drugs mainly exert their effects on the body by binding to a target molecule. A few drugs used in veterinary medicine depend upon their physical properties; an example of this would be the use of liquid paraffin in a horse with an impacted colic.
The way that drugs interact with the body can be divided into two strict catergories:
- Pharmacodynamics - the action that drugs have upon the body
- Pharmacokinetics - the actions that the body has upon drugs.
Often combinations of drugs can enhance their power over a certain disease process but often a combination can cause deleterious effects on the body. As a vet it is very important to understand how these negative effects occur so that they can be avoided as much as possible. These will be discussed in full on the drug interaction page.
Adverse drug reactions are a common aspect of the veterinary profession. They are avoidable and can cause a great deal of pain to the animal experiencing it. It can be a challenge to recognise the signs of an adverse reaction as the can have several organ systems simultaneously as their target and can occur over varying periods of time. On the following pages we hope to discuss the types of drug reactions that can be experienced and how best they can be avoided: Adverse Drug Reactions.