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.
I'd let her go. If her kidneys weren't shutting down, I'd have to really think long and hard about it, but add the kidneys, and it's time. What misery she must be in....so sad.
Send her to THE BRIDGE, bless her heart.
Well, gee, don't we all?
Give Justin a big ol' hug for me.
Yes, she goes to the vet frequently. And the vet suggested that they consider having her put to sleep, but they refused. I'm not judging them at all. I do understand why they don't want to and I don't know if I would do things differently if I were in their situation.
Shouldn't that be "yip yip yip yip"?
It is very sad, but I know that they believe that what they are doing is right and I can't really fault them for it. They don't believe that she is suffering so it makes sense to them to let her live.
You're right. It is easy for me to see it because I don't love the dog. I'm fond of her, but she isn't mine.
It must have been very hard for you. I haven't been in that situation yet and I hope that if I ever am that I'll be able to make the sacrifice that you made.
Then, if aspirin does not work, there's deramaxx. Has about the same effectiveness as rymadyl but with far fewer side effects.
My border collie could not tolerate Rymadyl after her knee surgery. Fortunately, last year along came Metacam, another option in liquid form. It's much easier on the digestive system, also with much less side effects. Just squirt a bit in her AM hot-dog, and you'd never know she pulled up lame on her other hind-leg last year.
Good to know!
It's hard to know how to best advise her... It's a hard thing to try to convince someone to do. It might also be that she'd appreciate some help getting there.
A friend had a horse who was terminal to get worse and worse, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. I didn't know how much he actually dreaded having to do it. I offered, that when the time came, someone who cares about "Bo" should be there with the vet, but it didn't have to be him. I would come. That was the relief he needed. He scheduled it for the following week, and went out of town for a few days. I fed the horse a whole bag of carrots while we waited for the vet, and was there when he was gently put down. And I myself left before the truck came to get him, but made sure it was done before he came home.
I don't regret it at all. Since then, this friend and I are the first call when there is an animal that needs buryin'. He came and helped bury my old Labrador, and I helped bury one of his old dogs.
I told him I thought I could bear to be with my own horse after seeing his... it wasn't bad at all, and I am glad it won't be so unknown when it comes time to put mine down.
He's been getting a lot of hugs lately, one more couldn't hurt.
You're a good friend. And it sounds like helping your friend helped you as well. Now you'll know what to expect if you're in the situation. Hopefully, it won't be any time soon.
I think that the daughter would do it, but it's her mother's dog, so she can't. I'd be happy to help if I could, but I don't think that they would respond very well to that kind of offer. They don't even know that I disagree with their decision. We're not close enough for me to tell them how I feel about it.
We had a similar problem with our cocker spaniel, Jingles...my parents got him when I was just 8 yrs old, and he and I grew up together...I had a brother in the family, and cousins living downstairs of me, and lots of kinds in the neighborhood to play with and lots of friends...but Jingles was my very best friend, and I loved him so much...
But of course, as time goes on, the dog ages so much more quickly than we humans do....by the time Jingles was around 10, he slowly began to lose his vision, and his hearing...by the time he was 11 he was completely deaf and completely blind...but the family adapted to him...we kept all things in the house in the same place, so Jingles would not bump into things...he learned to make his way around, with some help from us humans...he could not hear, so we had to pet and touch and hug him, to reassure him that we were near him....we adapted to him, and he adapted to his situation...we loved him so...
He never had problems walking tho...he could still even run if he felt one of us near his side...but when his kidneys gave out, when he was 13, mom and dad said it was time to put him down...poor thing, he would just pee all over, he could not help it, and it seemed to make him miserable as well...
Mom and dad took him to the vet...mom could not go in...dad took Jingles out of the car, let him sniff around outside the vet office as much as he wanted, and then took him inside...dad held Jingles as the vet sent him to the Rainbow Bridge....and all the way home in the car, alone, without their beloved Jingles, mom and dad could not speak, all they could do was cry...its almost impossible to take ones beloved pet to the vet to have it put down, it is so very painful....
It is hard to say, what your neighbor is going through, knowing in her head, that her beloved doggie probably needs to be put down, but in her heart, she just cant let go...
A bit pricey, but you can get a 100ml bottle on 1-800-PETMEDS for around $89. You administer it by # of lbs the dog is, once daily, drawn out by syringe. My 50lb Border Collie goes through a bottle every 8-10 weeks.
Oh, that is so sad. I'm sorry that you had to go through that as a child.
Actually I was 21 when Jingles died...we got him when I was 8, and he did live 13 yrs...
Tho, one would have thought I acted as a child...I actually had to stay home from work for a few days, I was so upset...even when I returned to work, I could be found crying at my desk...It does hurt so much when your family dog dies...
But the best cure for my loneliness, was that 2 months later, one day I came home from work, and mom said, go into the kitchen and see what is there....
And there was the cutest little basset hound puppy...so altho I missed my beloved Cricket, I would find another love, in Jones, the basset hound, who also lived to be 13...
My daughter loves basset hounds. I was going to adopt one for her from the SPCA, but they had a sister and brother pair and they didn't want to separate them. We couldn't take both of them because our house is small and we already had three cats.
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