Opioid shortage affects animal medications, too

An opioid shortage affecting how hospitals care for patients has reached veterinary clinics and how they sedate pets during surgery. Since last year, less opioid medications have been manufactured because of concerns about the oversupply of the addictive drugs. And production facilities for opioids such as morphine and Dilaudid have shut down because of damage from the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico and floods in Texas in 2017.Hospitals, and now veterinary clinics, have to stockpile the sedatives they have, and are turning to alternative medications.