Lethargy (see also Central nervous system depression in Neurological)
VeDDRA Code: 1018
14,207 adverse event reports referencing this reaction
Species Most Affected
Breeds Most Affected
Associated Drugs
Data Summary
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Total reports referencing reaction | 14,207 |
| Reports with fatal outcome | 2,016 |
| Case-fatality rate (reported events) | 1420.0% |
| Species observed | 10 |
| Breeds observed | 20 |
| Drugs associated with reaction | 20 |
Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reporting (CVM AER); reaction term coded under VeDDRA 1018.
Lethargy (see also Central nervous system depression in Neurological) Reaction Insights
The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database currently lists 14,207 adverse event reports that reference Lethargy (see also Central nervous system depression in Neurological) as a reaction term, including 2,016 reports with a death outcome — a 1420.0% case-fatality figure calculated across only those events where this reaction was coded. The reaction is indexed in the openFDA system under VeDDRA code 1018, the standardized veterinary dictionary used to normalize clinical signs across submitters. Because reports are voluntary and often describe multiple concurrent signs per animal, the volume here reflects reporting intensity rather than true incidence in the broader pet population.
Lethargy (see also Central nervous system depression in Neurological) appears most frequently in reports for Dog (10,390 reports), Cat (3,662 reports), Horse (70 reports) — with Dog dominating at 10,390 entries. Within those species, the breeds most often named alongside this reaction are Domestic Shorthair (2,294), Retriever - Labrador (1,061), Crossbred Canine/dog (745). These distributions are influenced both by underlying breed popularity and by how veterinarians and owners code a given clinical sign, so they should be interpreted as a reporting fingerprint rather than a pure susceptibility ranking.
The drugs most commonly co-reported with Lethargy (see also Central nervous system depression in Neurological) are Bedinvetmab (1,963 reports), Pyrantel Pamoate;Sarolaner (1,265 reports), Maropitant Citrate (988 reports), Gabapentin (880 reports), with Bedinvetmab appearing alongside this reaction in 1,963 submissions. Co-reporting does not establish that any specific product caused the reaction — FDA CVM data captures temporal association only. The value of these aggregates is in flagging which therapeutic classes appear repeatedly alongside a given clinical sign, so owners and veterinarians can ask targeted questions about medications currently in use.
Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports Data reflects voluntary submissions and may not represent actual incidence rates
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.