NOAH launches Paws to Protect campaign

The National Office of Animal Health (NOAH) has launched its new Paws to Protect campaign.

The campaign aims to improve pet owner awareness of the importance of reading and following the packaging information provided with veterinary medicines.

Vets and retailers can use the campaign’s pet-owner facing resources to support their existing information and advice.

The campaign will include a downloadable poster giving simple advice and links via a QR code to more details around the campaign.

These include why the information is important to protect owners, their pets and the environment, and gives tips on what to look out for.

Dawn Howard, NOAH chief executive, 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.

“Around two thirds of new pet owners are aged 16-34. Whilst, encouragingly, our recent NOAH survey shows 78% pet owners overall were aware of and followed the instructions provided with their pet’s medicine, 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.

She added: “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. We hope our new resources will provide them with additional support to ensure this important message is understood.”