A pet can be just like family.
So after surgery, or if they're in pain, some owners opt to help with a pet prescription painkiller called "tramadol."
"It acts a lot like your morphines and your stuff like that," explains veterinarian Jason Galicki.
But vets like Galicki have noticed some people have been using these prescriptions for themselves.
"I got called by a pharmacist about eight o'clock one night and said 'this is the third prescription I've filled for these guys this month.' And so, she didn't get three from us, but she was probably going to different vets."
To try and fight this, vets are locking these prescriptions away, or they bring pets in for checkup when something's wrong before they prescribe anything.
"We will not do any prescriptions without--the dog has to be in yearly and if they're going to be on something long term, it's semi-annually," states Galicki, "they need exams just like a human doctor."
In some extreme cases, owners will even hurt their pets to get the pills. An owner in Kentucky cut their dog with a razor to get a tramadol prescription.
"Really it kind of makes you sick," says Galicki.
Animal controls across the area, and the Capital Area Humane Society, say they haven't seen any reports of abuse to get prescriptions in mid-Michigan, but they will be on the lookout.
For now, vets like Galicki are trying to find other options to treat pet pain:
"We'll try a lot of other things before we try tramadol just because of the abuse aspect of it."
