IT is exactly 30 years to the day since I suffered my first significant dog bite as a vet.

I cried. But I was a lot younger then, today I would bawl like a baby.

It wasn’t actually my fault. It was the medicines we had.

Back then none of it was very user friendly. We had tablets of course. We had big ones and then we giant ones and we had massive ones. They tasted bad, were as hard as reinforced concrete and it took them about a week to dissolve.

I swear many patients had got better on their own by the time their medicine had broken down in the stomach and been absorbed. And don’t ask me about the effect the pestle and mortar had on your wrist, as you attempted to break the tablet down.

We had shampoos too. Most came in a powdered form to be mixed with water before use. The merest inhalation of this pungent dust was enough to precipitate a life threatening asthma attack and contact with my skin seemed to produce a redness as painful as sunburn.

And then there were the injections. These were generally thicker than custard and almost impossible to pull into even a giant syringe. Their use therefore required a needle the size of which would frighten an elephant and the finger strength of a professional walnut cracker.

The scientists who formulated these liquids paid scant notice to animal welfare and they generally stung like a nest full of hornets when administered.

It was one such injection that caused the dog I was treating to turn and grip my hand with its teeth, creating a sickening discomfort I have never forgotten. Today, things are so much better. Tablets are either tiny or incorporated into meaty palatable treats. Some are now in liquid form.

Many insecticidal shampoos have been replaced by spot-on preparations that are quick and easy to apply.

Even cat wormers can now be given in a spot-on form, reducing the number of cat bites to a bare minimum. The treatment of ear mites now requires a couple of simple drops on the back of a neck, saving six weeks of twice daily ear drops

Injections are formulated with a view to syringability and pain-free use. Many are now long acting, so that one injection can, for example, replace two weeks of difficult tablet giving.

Some are now made in a depot injection form so that a single implant can alter hormones for up to 12 months.

But all these improvements bring with them a risk. Dogs are now far more likely to break into the medicines cupboard and steal their yummy flavoured biscuit type tablets, making accidental overdose more common and much more severe.

Spot-on preparations are often mistakenly given orally. This can be especially dangerous for some over the counter preparations. And those long-acting injections are great but once they have been given that’s it.

You can’t suddenly withdraw them like you could an old fashioned course of tablets.

I wonder what the next 30 years will bring.