Confused re paracetamol prescription from vet

My 4.5yr old , 65kgs Bullmastiff has been given 500mg Paracetamol tablets from my vet for his limping. When I queried where do I get more tablets from, the vet said use your own at home. Do I need a prescription from my vet, or is this enough to purchase from accredited suppliers online? Is it safe to be giving these to my furrbaby? Names, address, phone numbers blocked for privacy. Many thanks in advance.

Hello - it sounds to me as though your vet may be trying to do you a huge favour in saving you money, but if this in the UK, then they could also be breaking strict prescribing guidelines and putting their license to practice at risk.  I am not going to check the paracetamol dose here - this is outside my remit because your pet isn't under my care - please ask your vet to double check if you have concerns. My primary concern is that licensed products should always be used in preference to unlicensed products and that, while a paracetamol product called Pardale has a license for use in dogs, human Paracetamol does not and therefore would not usually be used in preference.  Licensed products have undergone strict safety testing for a particular problem in a particular species; unlicensed (or human-licensed) products have not.

The problem here is that it is illegal for you to buy a human medicine (paracetamol) for the purpose of giving it to an animal. It’s also a criminal offence for a vet to recommend that you do so. Like my colleague Liz, I am very concerned that your vet has put this in writing, as it puts them in a very dangerous situation. Strictly speaking, we are obliged to recommend that you contact the VMD (the medicines regulator) about a breach of the Veterinary Medicines Regulations. While there are sometimes reasons why paracetamol prescribed “off license” on the Cascade may be more appropriate for a specific patient, you can only buy it legally with a formal written prescription from your vet; a dispensing label like this isn’t enough, even if it was legal to advocate it (which it most definitely is not). The only way this would be legal would be if in an emergency the vet advised you to use paracetamol you already owned until such time as you could be seen by your vet - but definitely not for ongoing use after you’ve seen the vet.

Thank you both very much for the responses. I will contact my vet tomorrow regarding correct medication for my pet. I will also as advised contact the VMD.

It might be worth just checking with your vet before going to the VMD - because it occurs to me that maybe they mean something different and have just phrased it really badly?