ABSTRACT
The area of disease prevention, particularly antibiotics, is common to both human and veterinary practices. This chapter reviews a number of controlled drug delivery systems in use or under development in the veterinary field. The information covers both food-producing animals and companion pets. The chapter describes several approaches that have been utilized to achieve controlled drug delivery in the veterinary field. It focuses on applications in the oral and parenteral areas. Canine and feline flea collars represent a topical system of importance in the companion-animal market. The chapter demonstrates that the economic benefit, animal husbandry practices, and the unique physiological features of animals provide a marketplace wherein controlled-release dosage forms are often the preferred dosage form. This is in contrast to the field of human pharmaceuticals, where the controlled-release form is generally a product-line extension of conventional oral tablets and capsules.
