**Galen — a reference journal on veterinary medicines**

> Plain-language reference on veterinary medicines: label units, withdrawal periods for meat and milk, storage and cold chain, in-use shelf life and stewardship.

Source: https://galen.vet/

# The veterinary medicines journal

Reference articles about the products themselves: what the label says, what the
units mean, how long a container stays usable, and where the decision stops being
about one animal and starts being about the food chain. Written to be read next to
the packaging, not instead of it.

- [![A young dog lying on a rug beside a wooden chair leg with visible tooth marks](https://galen.vet/img/journal/why-dogs-chew-furniture.webp) Behaviour ## Why dogs chew furniture and what actually stops it Chewing is not one problem. Three different causes produce the same wrecked chair leg, and only one of them responds to more exercise. Read 2026-09-23](https://galen.vet/journal/why-dogs-chew-furniture/)
- [![A puppy sitting calmly on a pavement watching people and traffic from a short distance](https://galen.vet/img/journal/socialising-a-dog.webp) Behaviour ## Socialising a dog: the sensitive period and what it actually changes Socialisation is not meeting as many things as possible. It is meeting things at a distance where the dog stays comfortable — and that distinction decides the outcome. Read 2026-09-21](https://galen.vet/journal/socialising-a-dog/)
- [![Potatoes in a wooden bowl on a kitchen counter with a cat sitting on a chair beside it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-cats-eat-potato.webp) Food and toxins ## Can cats eat potato: raw, green, cooked, and the kind in cat food Three different questions wear the same name: the raw tuber, the cooked flesh, and the potato already in the bag of food. Read 2026-09-19](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-potato/)
- [![A laboratory bench with blood sample tubes in a rack beside a printed results report](https://galen.vet/img/journal/dog-blood-test-and-ultrasound-terms.webp) Tests and reports ## Dog blood test and ultrasound terms: what each abbreviation measures A report is a list of measurements, not a list of verdicts. Knowing what each one measures makes the conversation with the vet a different conversation. Read 2026-09-17](https://galen.vet/journal/dog-blood-test-and-ultrasound-terms/)
- [![A person walking a dog on a lead across wet grass early in the morning holding a sample container](https://galen.vet/img/journal/collecting-a-urine-or-stool-sample-from-a-dog.webp) Home care ## Collecting a urine or stool sample from a dog so the result is usable A sample collected badly is not a slightly worse sample. It is a result that has to be discounted, and a visit that has to be repeated. Read 2026-09-15](https://galen.vet/journal/collecting-a-urine-or-stool-sample-from-a-dog/)
- [![Slices of cured sausage on a board at the edge of a kitchen counter with a cat nearby](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-cats-eat-sausage-and-processed-meat.webp) Food and toxins ## Can cats eat sausage, ham and processed meat besides the meat Processed meat is meat plus salt plus onion plus preservative. A cat is an obligate carnivore for the meat and not for the rest of it. Read 2026-09-13](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-sausage-and-processed-meat/)
- [![An older dog drinking from a large water bowl in a kitchen](https://galen.vet/img/journal/diabetes-in-dogs.webp) Long-term conditions ## Diabetes in dogs: what the signs mean and what management involves Four changes precede the diagnosis, and three of them look like a dog being a dog. The fourth is sudden blindness. Read 2026-09-11](https://galen.vet/journal/diabetes-in-dogs/)
- [![A dog resting on a bed wearing a protective collar with a person sitting beside it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/caring-for-a-dog-after-surgery.webp) Home care ## Caring for a dog after surgery: what the first two weeks require The dog feels well several days before the tissue has healed. Almost every post-operative complication lives in that gap. Read 2026-09-09](https://galen.vet/journal/caring-for-a-dog-after-surgery/)
- [![A pot of soup on a stove with a dog waiting on the kitchen floor behind it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-dogs-eat-soup-and-broth.webp) Food and toxins ## Can dogs eat soup and broth, and what is actually in the stock Broth sounds like the gentlest thing you could give a dog. What makes it taste of anything is usually the part a dog should not have. Read 2026-09-07](https://galen.vet/journal/can-dogs-eat-soup-and-broth/)
- [![A dog resting on a porch at dusk with long grass and still water in the background](https://galen.vet/img/journal/heartworm-in-dogs.webp) Prevention ## Heartworm in dogs: the life cycle, the six-month window and prevention Everything about heartworm turns on one interval: preventives act on larvae, and larvae become untouchable adults in about six months. Read 2026-09-05](https://galen.vet/journal/heartworm-in-dogs/)
- [![An open first-aid box on a table with bandages, gauze, scissors and a thermometer laid out beside it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/first-aid-kit-for-a-dog.webp) Home care ## A first-aid kit for a dog: what belongs in it and what does not A kit is not for treating an injury. It is for controlling bleeding, protecting a wound and getting the dog to a practice without making anything worse. Read 2026-09-03](https://galen.vet/journal/first-aid-kit-for-a-dog/)
- [![An orange and a peeled segment on a kitchen worktop with a cat looking away from them](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-cats-eat-oranges.webp) Food and toxins ## Can cats eat oranges, and why citrus oil is the part that matters A segment of orange is a minor problem. A citrus-oil cleaner or a 'natural' flea spray is a different question entirely, and it is the one worth answering. Read 2026-09-01](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-oranges/)
- [![A close view of a grey cat's face resting on a blanket with its mouth closed](https://galen.vet/img/journal/dental-pain-in-cats.webp) Long-term conditions ## Dental pain in cats: how it is hidden and what to look for The commonest reason an owner is sure a cat's teeth are fine is that it is still eating. That is the least reliable evidence available. Read 2026-08-30](https://galen.vet/journal/dental-pain-in-cats/)
- [![A cat sitting on a rug in a sunlit living room beside a partly open balcony door](https://galen.vet/img/journal/parasite-prevention-indoor-cats.webp) Prevention ## Parasite prevention for indoor cats: the routes that bypass a closed door An indoor cat is protected from most of what it would meet outside. The parasites that matter are the ones that do not need the cat to leave. Read 2026-08-28](https://galen.vet/journal/parasite-prevention-indoor-cats/)
- [![A large tabby cat lying on a sunlit windowsill seen from the side](https://galen.vet/img/journal/obesity-in-cats.webp) Long-term conditions ## Obesity in cats: measuring it, and why weight loss has to be gradual Cats are the one species where losing weight too fast is more dangerous than carrying it. That single fact governs everything else on this page. Read 2026-08-26](https://galen.vet/journal/obesity-in-cats/)
- [![A dog lying quietly on a clinic examination table while a veterinarian palpates its abdomen](https://galen.vet/img/journal/intestinal-obstruction-in-dogs.webp) Emergencies ## Intestinal obstruction in dogs: what it is and which signs cannot wait A dog with a blockage and a dog with a stomach upset look similar for the first few hours. After that they diverge sharply, and only one of them is still improving. Read 2026-08-24](https://galen.vet/journal/intestinal-obstruction-in-dogs/)
- [![A slice of raw liver on a wooden board beside a stainless steel cat bowl on a kitchen counter](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-cats-eat-liver.webp) Food and toxins ## Can cats eat liver, and what regular liver feeding does over time Almost every cat loves liver. It is also the clearest case in feline nutrition where a food is harmless once and harmful as a habit. Read 2026-08-22](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-liver/)
- [![A person kneeling beside a calm labrador on a living-room floor holding a digital thermometer](https://galen.vet/img/journal/how-to-take-a-dogs-temperature.webp) Home care ## How to take a dog's temperature at home and read the result A temperature is the first thing a practice asks for over the phone. It is only useful if it was taken in conditions you can repeat. Read 2026-08-20](https://galen.vet/journal/how-to-take-a-dogs-temperature/)
- [![A water bowl on a tiled kitchen floor with a cat approaching it from the side](https://galen.vet/img/journal/dehydration-in-cats-and-dogs.webp) Emergencies ## Dehydration in cats and dogs: the checks, the causes and the point of no delay By the time dehydration is visible, several per cent of body water has already gone. The checks are worth knowing precisely because they are so late. Read 2026-08-18](https://galen.vet/journal/dehydration-in-cats-and-dogs/)
- [![An open bathroom cabinet with blister packs of tablets on a shelf and a dog lying on the floor nearby](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-i-give-my-dog-human-painkillers.webp) Pet safety ## Can I give my dog human painkillers: paracetamol, ibuprofen and aspirin A dog in pain and a packet on the shelf is the most sympathetic reason people reach for a human medicine. It is also how a painful evening becomes a hospital stay. Read 2026-08-16](https://galen.vet/journal/can-i-give-my-dog-human-painkillers/)
- [![A cat sitting on a windowsill beside a row of potted houseplants in soft daylight](https://galen.vet/img/journal/houseplants-toxic-to-cats.webp) Food and toxins ## Houseplants that are toxic to cats, grouped by what they actually do A list of names is hard to remember. A list of mechanisms is not, and it tells you which plant is an emergency and which is an unpleasant evening. Read 2026-08-14](https://galen.vet/journal/houseplants-toxic-to-cats/)
- [![A dog sitting on a kitchen floor looking up at a countertop with a roasting tin above it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/can-dogs-eat-chicken-bones.webp) Food and toxins ## Can dogs eat chicken bones, and what to do if one has been swallowed A cooked bone does not behave like a bone. Drying makes it brittle, and brittle bone breaks into edges rather than crumbling. Read 2026-08-12](https://galen.vet/journal/can-dogs-eat-chicken-bones/)
- [![Cattle standing in an open barn during hot weather with sunlight falling across the bedding](https://galen.vet/img/journal/heat-stress-livestock-poultry.webp) Livestock ## Heat stress in livestock and poultry: the temperature-humidity index and what to do Animals lose heat by evaporation, and evaporation stops working as the air fills with moisture. That is why a humid 28 °C is harder on a herd than a dry 32 °C. Read 2026-08-11](https://galen.vet/journal/heat-stress-livestock-poultry/)
- [![A veterinarian examining a dog in a bright consulting room while the owner sits beside them](https://galen.vet/img/journal/signs-of-illness-in-cats-and-dogs.webp) Animal health ## Early signs of illness in cats and dogs: what to watch for Animals conceal illness competently. The signs that matter are usually changes in ordinary behaviour, and the useful question is what is different rather than what is wrong. Read 2026-08-10](https://galen.vet/journal/signs-of-illness-in-cats-and-dogs/)
- [![A farm worker moving straw bedding in a stone-built livestock barn](https://galen.vet/img/journal/antimicrobial-resistance-livestock.webp) Antimicrobials ## Antimicrobial resistance on the farm: how it develops and what stewardship means Resistance is not caused by bacteria learning. It is caused by selection — and every course of antimicrobials on a holding is a selection event with a size and a duration. Read 2026-08-08](https://galen.vet/journal/antimicrobial-resistance-livestock/)
- [![A veterinarian in blue overalls standing in a barn writing on a clipboard](https://galen.vet/img/journal/veterinary-generics-active-substance.webp) Active substances ## Comparing veterinary medicines by active substance: analogue, generic and substitute Two products naming the same substance are not therefore the same medicine. The substance is where a comparison starts; six further properties decide whether it finishes. Read 2026-08-07](https://galen.vet/journal/veterinary-generics-active-substance/)
- [![A woman kneeling in a field beside a golden retriever at sunrise, checking the dog over](https://galen.vet/img/journal/normal-temperature-pulse-respiration-animals.webp) Vital signs ## Normal temperature, pulse and respiratory rate by species Three numbers anyone can take without equipment worth the name. Their value comes less from the published range than from knowing what this animal reads when it is well. Read 2026-08-06](https://galen.vet/journal/normal-temperature-pulse-respiration-animals/)
- [![A ginger cat sitting on a kitchen counter next to a wall-mounted first aid cabinet](https://galen.vet/img/journal/human-medicines-and-pets.webp) Pet safety ## Human medicines and pets: why they are dangerous for cats and dogs The tablet in a kitchen drawer is the most common poisoning in companion animals. The reason is not carelessness — it is that a cat's liver is not a small human liver. Read 2026-08-05](https://galen.vet/journal/human-medicines-and-pets/)
- [![A part-used multi-dose vial with a punctured rubber stopper standing beside a syringe on a clean surface](https://galen.vet/img/journal/in-use-shelf-life-after-opening.webp) Shelf life ## In-use shelf life: how long a veterinary medicine lasts once opened The date printed on the carton describes a sealed container. The moment a stopper is punctured, a second and far shorter clock starts — and it is the one that governs. Read 2026-08-04](https://galen.vet/journal/in-use-shelf-life-after-opening/)
- [![A veterinary refrigerator with vials on a shelf and a digital temperature display beside it](https://galen.vet/img/journal/storing-veterinary-medicines-cold-chain.webp) Storage ## Storage conditions and the cold chain for veterinary medicines Most of the potency a medicine loses is lost in a cupboard, a vehicle or a cool box — long before anyone thinks to ask whether the product worked. Read 2026-08-03](https://galen.vet/journal/storing-veterinary-medicines-cold-chain/)
- [![A dairy farmer in overalls checking a clipboard record beside stainless steel milking equipment](https://galen.vet/img/journal/withdrawal-periods-meat-milk-eggs.webp) Food safety ## Withdrawal periods for meat, milk and eggs: what they are and where to find them The interval between the last treatment and the moment produce may be sold is not a rule of thumb. It is a measured figure, specific to one product in one species by one route. Read 2026-08-02](https://galen.vet/journal/withdrawal-periods-meat-milk-eggs/)
- [![A gloved hand holding a clear glass vial over a stainless steel tray beside a graduated cylinder in a laboratory](https://galen.vet/img/journal/veterinary-drug-units-iu-mg-ml-percent.webp) Reading a label ## Units on a veterinary medicine label: IU, mg/mL, percent, CFU and titre A percentage, a milligram per millilitre and an international unit are three different kinds of statement. Here is what each one measures, which convert into each other and which never do. Read 2026-08-01](https://galen.vet/journal/veterinary-drug-units-iu-mg-ml-percent/)

The record sheet

## What the library covers

Veterinary medicine has a large, well-served literature about diseases and a much
thinner one about the products used against them. The gap shows up in ordinary
moments: a keeper holding two bottles that name the same substance at different
strengths, a smallholder who has to work out when milk can go back into the tank,
an owner who has already opened a vial and wants to know whether the rest of it is
still worth keeping. Those are the questions this library answers.

Reading a label

What the numbers on a container mean before anything is measured out: strength expressed as a percentage against milligrams per millilitre, international units on a biological product, and why a bigger bottle is not a stronger one. [units, strengths and what they convert to](https://galen.vet/journal/veterinary-drug-units-iu-mg-ml-percent/) · [matching two products by active substance](https://galen.vet/journal/veterinary-generics-active-substance/)

Keeping a product usable

Most of the value a medicine loses is lost in a cupboard, a car boot or a cool box, long before anyone questions whether the product worked. Two articles cover the conditions on the label and the much shorter clock that starts the moment a container is opened. [storage conditions and the cold chain](https://galen.vet/journal/storing-veterinary-medicines-cold-chain/) · [how long a product lasts after opening](https://galen.vet/journal/in-use-shelf-life-after-opening/)

Food-producing animals

Where a treatment decision reaches beyond the animal: the waiting time before meat, milk or eggs may enter the food chain, and the stewardship rules that decide which antimicrobials are used at all. [withdrawal periods and residue limits](https://galen.vet/journal/withdrawal-periods-meat-milk-eggs/) · [antimicrobial resistance and stewardship](https://galen.vet/journal/antimicrobial-resistance-livestock/) · [heat stress and what it changes](https://galen.vet/journal/heat-stress-livestock-poultry/)

Noticing a problem early

Observation is the part no product replaces. Reference ranges for the vital signs a keeper can actually take, and the changes in behaviour that are worth a call rather than a wait. [temperature, pulse and respiratory rate](https://galen.vet/journal/normal-temperature-pulse-respiration-animals/) · [early signs of illness in cats and dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/signs-of-illness-in-cats-and-dogs/)

The medicine cabinet at home

The single most common poisoning case in companion animals starts with a well-meant tablet from a human pack — because the same molecule is handled differently by a species with different liver enzymes. [why human medicines harm cats and dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/human-medicines-and-pets/) · [human painkillers and dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/can-i-give-my-dog-human-painkillers/) · [what belongs in a dog first-aid kit](https://galen.vet/journal/first-aid-kit-for-a-dog/)

What a cat or dog may eat

The recurring kitchen question, answered by mechanism rather than by folklore: what the hazard actually is in each food, whether it is dose-related or absolute, and which species it applies to. [chicken bones and dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/can-dogs-eat-chicken-bones/) · [liver and cats](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-liver/) · [citrus and cats](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-oranges/) · [processed meat and cats](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-sausage-and-processed-meat/) · [potato and cats](https://galen.vet/journal/can-cats-eat-potato/) · [soup, broth and table food](https://galen.vet/journal/can-dogs-eat-soup-and-broth/) · [houseplants that are toxic to cats](https://galen.vet/journal/houseplants-toxic-to-cats/)

When it cannot wait

A short list of presentations where the interval between noticing and acting is what decides the outcome, and where nothing done at home substitutes for the phone call. [intestinal obstruction in dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/intestinal-obstruction-in-dogs/) · [dehydration and how to check for it](https://galen.vet/journal/dehydration-in-cats-and-dogs/)

Things an owner can do properly

Procedures that are genuinely within a keeper’s reach, described precisely enough to produce a result a veterinarian can use rather than a reading that has to be repeated. [taking a dog’s temperature](https://galen.vet/journal/how-to-take-a-dogs-temperature/) · [collecting a urine or stool sample](https://galen.vet/journal/collecting-a-urine-or-stool-sample-from-a-dog/) · [the first two weeks after surgery](https://galen.vet/journal/caring-for-a-dog-after-surgery/) · [what the abbreviations on a report mean](https://galen.vet/journal/dog-blood-test-and-ultrasound-terms/)

Conditions that unfold slowly

Problems that are established long before they are obvious, where the useful contribution is knowing which small change is worth mentioning at the next appointment. [obesity in cats](https://galen.vet/journal/obesity-in-cats/) · [diabetes in dogs](https://galen.vet/journal/diabetes-in-dogs/) · [dental pain in cats](https://galen.vet/journal/dental-pain-in-cats/) · [heartworm and where it occurs](https://galen.vet/journal/heartworm-in-dogs/) · [parasite prevention for indoor cats](https://galen.vet/journal/parasite-prevention-indoor-cats/)

Behaviour, not disobedience

Two of the most common complaints about dogs are developmental or emotional in origin, which is why the interventions that work look nothing like discipline. [socialisation and the windows that matter](https://galen.vet/journal/socialising-a-dog/) · [why dogs chew furniture](https://galen.vet/journal/why-dogs-chew-furniture/)

## Why the label is the reference and not the starting point

Every article here defers to the same document: the labelling approved for the
exact product in front of you — the package leaflet, the summary of product
characteristics, the datasheet, depending on where you are. That is not modesty.
It is the only text that is specific to a strength, a formulation, a target
species and a marketing authorisation, and it is the text a regulator has actually
assessed.

A general article cannot be specific in that way and should not pretend to be. Two
products naming the same active substance can carry different concentrations,
different excipients, different approved species, different routes and different
waiting times before meat or milk may be sold. **The substance name is where
a comparison begins; the label is where it is settled.** Everything written
here is built to make that comparison easier to do — by explaining what the fields
on a label mean, which of them are load-bearing, and which differences matter
enough to stop and check.

The second thing these pages will not do is tell you what to give an animal. There
is no dosing here, no treatment schedule, no advice on choosing between products
for a sick animal in front of you. That is a clinical decision, it depends on an
examination, and it is regulated for good reason in most of the world. What this
site offers instead is the part that is genuinely general: how the system of
labelling, classification and residue control works, so that the conversation with
a veterinarian starts from a better place.

Rules differ by country, and the articles say so wherever it changes the answer.
The mechanisms — why a species metabolises a molecule differently, why a vaccine
loses potency at the wrong temperature, why residues are measured against a limit
rather than against zero — do not differ. Where a specific figure is national
rather than universal, it is named as such, and the authority that publishes it is
named with it.

The people these articles are written for are the ones who end up holding the
container: the smallholder with six cows and no in-house veterinary team, the
stockperson who has been handed a bottle and an instruction, the owner reading a
leaflet at a kitchen table at eleven at night. Professionals are welcome and some
of the reference tables are built for them, but the register is deliberately set
for someone competent and unqualified rather than for a specialist audience. That
is a decision about vocabulary, not about rigour — nothing is simplified to the
point where it stops being true, and where a concept genuinely requires a
technical term, the term is used and then explained.

Each article is built to survive being read in fragments, because that is how
reference material is actually used. Headings are the questions people type. The
first sentences under a heading answer that heading without depending on the
paragraph above. Figures carry the numbers the surrounding text states, so a chart
lifted out of the page can still be checked against it. Every article closes with
a bottom-line section written to be correct on its own, for the reader who scrolls
straight there and for the software that increasingly does the same.

Scope

## What this site is, plainly

Galen is an independent publisher. It is not a clinic, a laboratory, a
distributor or a regulator, and it sells nothing to the people who read it. The
articles are written by an editorial team working from public regulatory
material and manufacturers' labelling, and they are reference documents rather
than professional advice. No page here has been through peer review, and none of
them carries the byline of a practising clinician — where that matters, it is
said on the page rather than implied away.

If something on this site is wrong, outdated or ambiguous, we would rather know.
The [about page](https://galen.vet/about/) explains who writes it, how a page is put
together, what gets corrected and how to reach us.

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