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.
bttt
My old dog got down in her hips and I gave her "Move Free", a glucosamine/chondroitan mix from Walmart. It gave her a couple of years until she was 16 and then we finally didn't have any choice but to have her put down. The stuff got her on her feet, stiff, but still having doggie fun.
One thing I regret, though, is that when the vet came out to the car, they put the "bite guard" thing over her mouth so she wouldn't bite them (which may have been a possibility, but I doubt it). It all happened so quick and I wasn't expecting that, but it was over fast. She had been dragging her hind legs and scraping all the skin off. I think she would have died of blood poisoning and in a lot of pain. All said and done, she knew we loved her.
BTTT.
She's doing much better. Least it looked that way last night.
I don't think I've used Hartz products for my dog since the 70's (I go straight to my vet if I suspect anything wrong). Fortunately, where I am, fleas are not a problem.
Nonetheless, thanks for sharing the link.
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