Rimadyl - Fatal Reaction

[vernie]

I just wanted to let everyone know about my first and last horrible experience with the anti-inflammatory drug 'RIMADYL'.

My beautiful black Labrador Bailey, came back from the vet one night, 2 weeks ago with the diagnosis of a slipped disc in his back and a perscription for Rimadyl chews. We returned to the vet the following morning (following our vet's advice) for some x-rays, however Bails had appeared to make a full recovery so we were sent home again to rest and continue on with the perscribed medicine.

The following week Bails was fine... pretty much back to his normal silly self - Until tuesday.

He refused to eat his breaky (very unusual, infact, he has never not eaten his food) and looked a little lethargic. That evening i went to feed him dinner and he ignored it completely.

When i went to give him his bickie at bed time, he stumbled in the back door and fell over. He was so weak and couldn't get up.

We rang the vet who told us to come in the next morning.

We took him to the vet on Wednesday morning. She took a blood test and found that he had an extremely low red blood count and a very high white blood count. He then had an x-ray which showed internal bleeding. Bailey's results indicated that he was suffering from critical Anemia and he underwent a blood transfusion straight away.

We saw him on wednesday night and he seemed like a new dog compared to the previous 24 hours.

He died at the vets at 4.30 that morning

The autopsy showed that his stomach was riddled with gastric ulcers.

My poor Bailey never had a chance. he was only 7 years old.

The vet said that he had suffered from a rare reaction to the drug thjey had perscribed for him to make him better.

Yesterday i discovered that there has been a civil law suite against Pfizer, the manufacturer of this drug due to it being implemented it an abnormally high amount of doggy deaths.

Our vet has registered our dogs fatal reaction with board of vetinarians to help make others aware.

I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced anything like this?

It all happened so quick, and now our family is without it's beautiful furry friend.

I would hate anyone else to go through what we have.

[Aziah]

I'm so sorry for your loss

[lappiemum]

How awful. Run free Bailey boy

Please let us know if anything comes from the drug company on this.

[Genabee]

My thoughts are with you and your family. What a horrible time for you all.

[stormie]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. It must be very heart breaking for you.

I've heard of dogs having mild GI upsets with any non-steroidal, but never something as severe as you described.

Is it possible your boy received some cortisone at some stage of the treatment?

Also, it is possible that the original symptoms he was showing, was stomach pain rather than spinal pain - they present almost exactly the same. It may have been that he had some sort of upset tummy to begin with and whilst the Rimadyl, being an anti inflam would have initially helped the pain, it would have made any tummy problems much much worse.

I hope you don't think I'm being insensitive offering up other suggestions. Of course it's possible your boy just had a very bad reaction to the drug. But sometimes too, there are other factors which may not be mentioned or known at the time.

My thoughts are with you...

[spottychick]

Oh my god that's so sad - I'm very sorry you lost him!

[Nekhbet]

I refuse to use Rymadyl. I too had the chews and after a few days my dog could not keep any food down and was in more pain then just his hips. I think it's a terrible drug and to have severe stomach reactions is more then just here and there.

I now go for alternative therapies and use other safer drugs if I absolutely have to. But when it comes to pain a little for the dog is good as it gives them a limit to how much movement is enough for their problem. Some vets are too prescription happy these days I think.

[Dogsfevr]

Rimayl l is like any drug it can be good & bad & used with caution.

Although i was off the belief that rimadyl & Labradors is known for issues

Of particular noteworthiness to owners of Labrador Retrievers are the reports of hepatic (liver) toxicity occurring with greater frequency in Labs than in any other breed. This increase in occurrence may simply be due to the fact that as a breed, the Labrador Retriever ranks most prevalent among dogs. Additionally, hip dysplasia and other bone disorders occur with high frequency within the breed making them likely candidates for Rimadyl treatment. In the absence of knowing the total number of Labs taking Rimadyl and only having information pertaining to the number of Labs with toxic reactions, it is impossible to conclude if the breed does, indeed, run a higher risk for Rimadyl complications compared to any other breed. Alternatively, however, the fact that the breed is represented prevalently in the group which experienced hepatic complications and less frequently in other groups including those which experienced renal (kidney) toxicity, neurologic disorders, etc. suggests that the breed may, indeed, have less hepatic tolerance for the drug. Because it is currently unknown what factors may contribute to predispose certain Labradors to hepatic toxicity, it is recommended that Labradors administered Rimadyl be carefully observed for early signs of drug intolerance.

Edited July 9, 2010 by showdog

[Andisa]

God I hate reading these types of posts. I am so very sorry that you have had this problem too. I had much trouble reading your post knowing what your going through. When we lost our girl 5 yrs ago so I researched RIMADYL - only wish I did it before I gave it to her. One thing that I did see repeated mostly was it seems to have a worse death rate with Labs - don't know why. Personally I think if it is used at a very low rate and not often or over an extend period it may be useful to some dogs, but for our girl she was dying within a few days of it being given daily. She went in to kidney (or liver) failure and was pts. I will never forget the vet telling me that "she must have had a bad reaction to the drug". Had I known the outcome I would have had her pts sooner than put her through what we did.

There was a yahoo group with thousands of stories just like yours and mine - the company have known for many years that this drug kills dog but still it is prescribed daily. Only 4 months after losing one dog I was given the same drug again for another dog who had a tooth pulled - I refused to give it to the dog and the vet argued with me telling me that the drug was not the cause of the other dogs death.

http://www.rimadyldeath.com/

If you google Rimadyl it will make your blood boil.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Andisa

[labsrule]

How tragic and what a shock it must have been so sorry for the loss of your beloved Bailey RIP Bailey and run free with all the other labbies

[shekhina]

I'm so sorry for your loss

[kirst_goldens]

Your poor boy im sorry

I ahve never seen anything like this! i give rimadyl on a daily basis it seems - work at a kennels - and all the oldies seem to be on it these days

The only bad thing i have ever heard is that prolonged use can cause kidney failure - found out from a lovely rottie girl whos dodgy hips didnt hurt anymore but her insides were not looking so good

[karly101]

I'm very sorry for your loss...

Tragically it is an important reminder for everyone who is giving medications to monitor their pets very closely, sadly drug reactions do happen and its impossible to create a 100% safe drug. We haven't seen negative effects of Rimadyl at our practice (we are using Previcox more now) .. but we always warn owners to watch their pet, monitor poops and report any abnormalities straight away. Sometimes though reactions can happen fast and there's not much you can do. Remember even with humans similar cases occur as we are talking about biological systems and they are unique.

I'm glad it was reported as I think many of these things aren't which makes it hard for changes to happen.

[ChristineX]

I've lost a dog to this drug too. I was warned about the possibility of gastric ulcers, and told to get him checked out if he seemed off colour or stopped eating. Quinn was an irish terrier - he didn't show pain.

He just collapsed.

It killed both kidneys, eroded the entire lining of the stomach. Putting him down was really the only choice, but it still haunts me.

He had 3 prolapsed discs.

My vets now don't like giving Irish Terriers this drug, and actually went and looked for an alternative for me.

Nasty drug.

ChristineX

[all that glitters]

What on earth!!! There is no WAY I am using this drug ever ever. How can it still be prescribed with such a very very bad rate of killing dogs? I know any medication can react badly with any particular patient, but surely so many deaths and even the few on this thread alone I would call 'many' is a sign? I am glad my vet has only ever given me Previcox. If I was prescribed Rimadyl I think I would go tell them to jump

[Sankari]

Oh my god that is just horrible!!

I am so sorry for your loss. Run Free Bailey

Thank you for that. Where can I find what breeds are most at risk to the drug? Is it in Golden Retrievers too. My Golden Retriever has been on Rimadyl a few times.

[vernie]

I am sorry to hear that others have been through this as well

Our 18 month old daughter stands at the back door calling for her friend, so i bought her a black lab furry toy, which she now calls Bailey also.

We are slowly on the mend, however, never will I put another dog of mine on this drug.

We get Bailey's ashes back later this week - it will be nice to have him home again.

I have never suffered the loss of a pet before and not sure if I am willing to get another one, inevitably to go through it all over again.

[Mas1981]

Thank you for posting and making people aware, I will never let my lab take it.

So sorry for your loss...

[pebbles]

I lost Ben, Border Terrier, a few years back. He was given Rimadyl for a back problem. Two days later he collapsed. My Vet and I fought for 6 weeks to keep Ben going but had to PTS. Vet. did a lot of research and from then on wouldn't use Rimadyl. I contacted the Company and they practically admitted liability, wanted to do an autopsy but it was too late by that time, Ben was buried. I've posted on here before re the dangers of this drug.

[Bisart Dobes]

So very sorry to hear about your boy.

Another one here who never uses Rimadyl - our first dog had severe stomach ulcers from it and really never recovered in that he cannot process beef and fatty foods. There are warnings on these drugs and they are on every packet the vets dispense from - sadly I don't think that enough vets go through the side effects in enough detail (or any) and they should have to. I know of several people showing their dogs who have their dogs on this drug permanently so that they can win - soooooo bad and it doesn't actually fix whats wrong !!!!

For future reference - Vit E is the most powerful anti-inflamatory you can use and natural (though always check your breeds health issues and look for contradictions. We use Vit E and / or arnica for inflamation.