Bush Family’s Dog Is Caught in Drug Controversy

No one involved in the regulatory ruckus over the illegal use of veterinary drugs wants to make an example out of Millie, the White House dog. She is, they all agree, a victim, an innocent pup swept up in a bureaucratic nightmare.

The nation’s First Dog takes the drug prednisone to treat her lupus. But according to federal law, giving a dog prednisone for that purpose is illegal.

At the heart of the issue is a law passed by Congress in 1968 that made it illegal to give drugs to an animal for a disease if that use had not first been approved by the FDA. A drug approved to treat porcine halitosis, in other words, can’t be used to treat bad breath in cows or horses.

And so a large section of veterinary practice is technically illegal. And, of course, Millie legally cannot be given prednisone for her lupus because (according to First Lady Barbara Bush) there are only 45 dogs with lupus in the United States and no drug company has gotten FDA approval to use prednisone for a market that small.

For the moment veterinarians operate under a special ruling from the FDA, which has assured them that it will look the other way when non-approved drugs are used for treating pets.