Food Animal Drug Regulations
FA Drug Regulation Summary
Food animal drugs are tricky
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- Pot bellied pigs have to follow pig rules
- Camelids, sheep and goats are under MUMs rules and have more flexibility but are still food animals
- Use FARAD and VetGram to identify prohibited drugs, ELDU allowances and withholding times
- This can be very tricky for goats etc. – try to find a cattle version
- You can contact FARAD and ask
- Oral drugs in ruminants often don’t work. Meloxicam does
- Use of meloxicam is a bit edgy. We justify it as a better analgesic and there are no FDA approved analgesics in food animals yet
To determine withholding
- Typically count on 5 half-lives to clear a drug
- If you double the drug amount, add 1 half life
- Elimination is via the same process regardless of route of administration
- if you can figure out the difference in peak values, that can help with half life calculations
- Iv administration -> high, fast peaks
- IM administration -> slower peaks but generally same peak level
- will take a bit longer to eliminate
- PO administration – slower peaks and lower peaks
- usually take less time to eliminate since not as much drug available
- if you can figure out the difference in peak values, that can help with half life calculations