Giving a small dog pain medicine has always involved a bit of guesswork. Most chewable tablets are built for bigger bodies, so owners end up snapping pills in half and hoping the dose lands close. A new version of one common drug closes that gap.
Boehringer Ingelheim has won FDA approval for a quarterable design of Previcox (firocoxib), a chewable NSAID used for osteoarthritis pain and for recovery after soft-tissue or orthopedic surgery. The tablets are double-scored, so a vet can split them into quarters and match the dose to a dog’s weight. That extends accurate dosing down to dogs as small as 7 pounds. Below that the tablet simply cannot be divided precisely, and the label says so.
The practical details matter. Once split, the remaining pieces can stay in the original packaging for up to 30 days. The bottle is being redesigned, taller and round, and the cotton wool is going away. The drug itself, the 57 mg and 227 mg strengths, and the child-resistant cap are not changing. The new packaging rolls out gradually through 2026 and 2027.
What this means for your dog: Do not start splitting tablets on your own. Dosing is prescription-only and runs at roughly 2.27 mg per pound once a day. Like all NSAIDs, firocoxib carries real risks to the stomach, kidneys, and liver, especially if it is mixed with steroids or other anti-inflammatories. If you have a small dog on pain medication, or a dog whose arthritis is flaring, this is worth raising at your next appointment, along with the bloodwork your vet recommends before and during treatment.
More on dog pain care: the new three-month arthritis injection, and why Apoquel overdoses are climbing. The full report is at dvm360.