Animal health industry body NOAH has launched a new campaign to stress the importance of following the guidance issued with veterinary medicines.
The ‘Paws to Protect’ campaign aims to improve pet owner awareness of the importance of reading and following the packaging information provided with medicines.
Retailers and vets can use the campaign’s resources to support their existing information and advice. These resources include a downloadable poster giving simple advice and links via a QR code to more details, which explain why the information is important to protect them, their pet and the environment, and gives tips on what to look out for.
Retailers, vets and SQPs are being encouraged to download and display the poster and engage with the campaign on social media using #Paws2Protect.
NOAH Chief Executive Dawn Howard said: “We want to ensure all veterinary medicines are used correctly and responsibly in accordance with their marketing authorisation to protect human, animal and environmental health.
“Whilst, encouragingly, our recent survey shows 78% pet owners overall were aware of and followed the instructions provided with their pet’s medicine, around two thirds of new pet owners are aged 16-34 and our survey identified this age group as the least likely to be aware of, or only sometimes adhere to the product information and instructions provided.
“This highlights a gap in understanding about the need to always use veterinary medicines appropriately. It risks the medicine not working properly, resulting in implications to animal health and welfare and could even mean specific advice and instructions are ignored that could harm the animal, the person giving the medicine or the environment.
“To reach this group, we are reaching out on our social media using #Paws2Protect, and we need help from those that prescribe and sell veterinary medicines to help us spread the word,” she added. “We hope our new resources will provide them with additional support to ensure this important message is understood.”
The Paws to Protect campaign is at https://www.noah.co.uk/paws.
