But someone else I know reported her dog got uncomfortable on it, panting... So of course, you have to evaluate it's effects and the possible risks, and keep on evaluating as you go.
Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 02/14/2005 1:31:12 PM PST by ambrose
Popular pet painkiller has serious side effects
11:19 PM CST on Friday, February 11, 2005
By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA-TV
Not long ago King Billy the Golden Retriever was so stiff with arthritis, a veterinarian said to put him down.
"He had so much life in him I said I just can't do that." So owner Vince Sharkey put his old pal on a non-steroid painkiller called Rimadyl.
"Before I had him on Rimadyl, he was not even able to walk," Sharkey says. "He would drag his back half of his body. The moment we got him on Rimadyl, he was back to being his normal self again."
But then there's the other side. The 2-year-old Saint Bernard named Honor.
"He'd been sitting in my lap. And he looked up at me, and he died," says owner Lynne Bradburn.
Pfizer, the maker of Rimadyl, warns of rare but serious side effects. Since 1997, the company has logged some 18,000 reported adverse effects, including 2,300 deaths.
But that's out of more than a billion doses given to 15 million dogs.
Mansfield veterinarian Roger Kendrick prescribes Rimadyl more than almost any other drug. "I think it's an excellent drug," Dr. Kendrick says.
Houston-area veterinarian Bob Rogers is an outspoken critic of Rimadyl. He blames veterinarians for overdosing dogs, mixing incompatible medicines, or giving Rimadyl to dogs that already have liver or kidney problems.
"Clients should be warned of the side effects," Dr. Rogers says.
The problem, he says, is too many veterinarians get too much information from drugmakers and not independent sources.
"I think there's a huge conflict of interest when a drug company comes to town, buys dinner, gives a sales pitch, and vets get continuing education for that."
Pets, like their owners, are living longer and taking more drugs. Unlike their owners, though, they can't ask what those drugs will do to them.
Veterinarians say all dogs who get Rimadyl and similar drugs need to be screened for liver and kidney problems, and closely monitored for tummy trouble.
It can give dogs years of extra life, but it's not completely risk-free.
REGARDING RIMADYL The drug was introduced in England in 1994 and in the U-S in 1997. It is in a class of drugs called non-steroidal anti-inflamatories. (NSAID) After it's introduction in the U-S, the FDA began receiving complaints. Pfizer has since updated its warnings.
According to Pfizer, the risk of adverse side effect is .0009 percent. Critics suspect the incidence is higher.
Vets who use it, and most do, recommend that owners pay attention to changes in appetite, vomiting, lethargy or any other signs that develop and report them promptly to your vet.
That is a hard one.
Someone once told me that your pets love you so much, they will literally crawl through Hell just to be with you another day and bask in your presence. They can't tell you how they feel, as well- you have to guess, and it's hard to judge what they really suffer with ailments like that.
As hard as it is to do, I've always believed that when they can't enjoy life ( and that, too, is a hard call to make ) very much, you owe them the mercy of ending their suffering.
Animals are so much more physical that we are- if we are crippled, we can still use our minds, but for them, just moving and eating and sleeping are a great part of living.
I do not say this lightly, for it's a little like killing a child- but as the higher being, you owe your friend mercy when they suffer too much.
If you carefully monitor all the possible side effects of Rimadyl, have regular blood work done on your dog, and heed whatever instructions your vet gives you, the drug ca work wonders. For a lot of us, it's either use the drug, enjoy the time you have with your pet, or put the dog down. For a dog lover, that wasn't a choice for me.
Hell, every drug we take has side effects
One other thing- a good Vet will make a house call- to spare the trauma and stress of taking a sick animal to the office to put it to sleep. It's well worth the little extra expense.
That is it, of course. They are trying to avoid the pain of the loss. I sympathize, but really wish folks with sick, suffering pets would do the hard thing.
But someone else I know reported her dog got uncomfortable on it, panting... So of course, you have to evaluate it's effects and the possible risks, and keep on evaluating as you go.
With larger older dogs, the problem is often dysplasia, NOT arthritis, and sadly, there's nothing that can be done except to put them down. After having gone through heroic efforts, and big $$ for two dogs, one mine, one my kids.. I don't think I'd ever opt for that choice again..
Sometimes the hip sockets are just wearing out. The surgery is expensive.
My lab had arthritis in his back and elbows, and my little dog, in her back.
Dr. Rogers doesn't have a reputation around here as a high quality vet.
I put it off a little too long with my little one. It's hard, when they are just dwindling day by day, to decide which day is the right one. It's easy for you to see... but her owner may be seeing something else, or failing to see because she doesn't want to.
It's just not worth it for the dog..they're uncomfortable..miserable..during recovery..and even if you can afford it, it's hard to justify the cost...I think that when you have an older dog..say beyond 2/3 of normal life expectancy..and major surgery is required.d..it's better to just put them down.
Oh, nice.
I think our Peke was prescribed this drug just last Thursday. Thank God she's only to use it for a week.
There are alternatives to rimadyl. First, try aspirin. Use the coated kind. Approximately the same dosage per pound as for a person. DO NOT USE TYLENOL or any thing but ASPIRIN. Dogs tolerate aspirn quite well but the margin between a lethal dose of tylenol is quite small.
Then, if aspirin does not work, there's deramaxx. Has about the same effectiveness as rymadyl but with far fewer side effects.
Both my dogs are on it. It's expensive. About fifty bucks a month but then it's prescribed on poundage and I have a great dane and a mastif so your costs are likely to be far less.
Does she get regular veterinary care? The owner may be going on the doctor's advice.
Don't be so quick to discard it as a bad drug. It beats the heck out of cortisone that used to be the only alternative for arthritis. My two old dogs were on Rimadyl for over two years and it really improved their quality of life. Others here like Flyer have stated similar good results with the drug.
I'd agree, that's the reasonable choice for most people and most dogs.
Clarification, that fifty bucks a month is per dog.
Petunia's only using it as a short-term painkiller. I came home last week to find her walking on her right hind leg as if it had fallen asleep. She was still doing it the same morning.
The vet said nothing was broken or anything like that, but her habit of jumping down from high places she shouldn't go, and her habit of trying to jump up to places she can't reach then crashing back down probably had something to do with it.
All drugs have their possible side effects.
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