Rimadyl

[girl05]

Hi,

Is this correct- Rimadyl should not be used in dogs that are dehydrated?

Also is the vet suppose to warn you of any possible adverse reactions/side effects etc?

Thank you.

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

Not sure on the dehaydration part, but OF COURSE you should be warned of side effects/reactions.

If I recall the last time I used it there was a leaflet in the packet as well.

[girl05]

Thanks, we were not warned of any side effects/reactions:mad

Would you give rimadyl to a very sick dog?

[Pup's mum]

I wouldn't give Rimadyl to any dog for any reason...some links:

http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadyl.deaths.html

http://www.valleypetnews.com/pet_health_news_iv.htm

http://www.gooddogmagazine.com/rimadyllawsuit.htm

[malleerr]

Hi Girl05

We had our pup on Rimadyl for around 4 mths with no side effects, and found that if worked well for our purposes.

How old is your dog and what seems to be the problem with him/her to have her on Rimadyl?

When Mallee was placed on Rimadyl it was for ED & HD and recovery after surgeries, we were not really told of any side effects, but on asking were told that as with any of these types of drugs (rimadyl, carprofen etc) there can be side effects, such as gastric and intestinal problems... It's a hard one to answer whether or not you would put your dogs/puppies on these type of drugs, but there are times where it cannot be helped and alternative methods are not an option. Not sure how long Rimadyl has been around but it would be interesting to know and how many deaths have occured since its placement on the market?

[Cordelia]

Rimadyl can have a negative effect on the liver if used over a long period.

My Lab was on it for a couple of weeks when she was first diagnosed with HD at 2yrs of age. Was great the first 3 times she was on it (2 mths at a time). Unfortunately, she developed a sensitivity to it and will now throw up for hours a few hours after taking it.

Metacam is a 'safer' drug but obviously, you would still need to be informed of any possible adverse reactions.

[InspectorRex]

I agree with Pup's Mum and add another link for you

go to

www.dogsadversereactions.com

[ShesaLikeableBiBear]

Now that my brain cells tick in, I have used Rimadyl on two dogs, without any side effects. In both cases Metacam worked better, combined with a senior dog food, as they were being treated for Arthritis.

[girl05]

Not sure on the dehaydration part, but OF COURSE you should be warned of side effects/reactions.

If I recall the last time I used it there was a leaflet in the packet as well.

We were not warned of ANY possible side effects or reactions.

The vet gave us 3 tablets (1/2) a tablet to be given per day in a small plastic seel bag and we were not given a information leaflet.

[Silverblue]

Depending on what the problem is I can't see any problem if your dog is ONLY going to be on it for 6 days.

We had our old girl on it just before we had her PTS, she was on it for a couple of months with no ill affects, but I guess it affects different dogs differently, as with humans

[girl05]

Hi Girl05

We had our pup on Rimadyl for around 4 mths with no side effects, and found that if worked well for our purposes.

How old is your dog and what seems to be the problem with him/her to have her on Rimadyl?

When Mallee was placed on Rimadyl it was for ED & HD and recovery after surgeries, we were not really told of any side effects, but on asking were told that as with any of these types of drugs (rimadyl, carprofen etc) there can be side effects, such as gastric and intestinal problems... It's a hard one to answer whether or not you would put your dogs/puppies on these type of drugs, but there are times where it cannot be helped and alternative methods are not an option. Not sure how long Rimadyl has been around but it would be interesting to know and how many deaths have occured since its placement on the market?

Hi,

We had to put my dog to sleep just over 2 months ago and I'm trying to get to the bottom of what happened, I'm just not convinced that what happened what going to happen.

Heres a short version of what happened.

My dog was fine until a vet vaccination visit where he received 2 vaccinations and a ph heartworm injection(for the 1st time)after that vet visit he wouldn't eat/drink, got very weak, depressed, etc

We were very concerned,we took him back to vet and vet nurse looked at him said he would be fine and that it was normal for him not to eat/drink after vaccinations :p (vet wasn't available too see him-how convienient)We were not satisfied so we went to another vet practise to seek a second opinion-

2nd vet was very concerned and "thought "my dog had picked up a virus from the 1st vets. He gave my dog 2 injections and tablets-( baytril and rimadyl tablets) and told us if my dog wasn't showing any signs of improvment he would need to have blood work done and be put on a drip.

The next day after the 1/2 rimadyl tab I woke up early to check on him as I was very worried about him- he was very ill -having trouble breathing, coughing, coughing up frothy fluid, very chesty, it was shocking.We took him to the animal hospital immediately.Diagnosis-heart problems.

I think what initially happened to my dog was a result of the 1st vet visit and the vaccinations and injections (in particular proheart) and the 2nd vet visit didn't help him- After 1/2 rimadyl he got even worse.

At the time I was very relieved that the 2nd vet was concerned about my dog, but now when I think about it,and after I have done some research I don't think he was very good at all. I don't think Rimadyl would have helped him. My dog was very sick and vet "thought" he had picked up a virus. He wasn't 100% sure what was wrong with him and yet he still gave him Rimadyl, he should have been cautious. My dog was very dehydrated and the vet knew this because he even told us himself.I have read that Rimadyl should not be given to a dehydrated dog so I can understand why he gave rimadyl tablets to my dog?

Another thing-the second vet who gave rimadyl to my dog didn't even listen to my dogs heart.

I've been told I should have received a information leaflet on rimadyl and I didn't, nor was I warned of any potential side effects for rimadyl or ph heartworm injection.

What happened just dosn't seem right to me.

[InspectorRex]

girl05- not is is not right what happened to your baby.

A few weeks ago my girl had a severe adverse reaction to metacam and was on a drip for 2.5days.

I then did research on metacam and have had the Senior Vet at that practice repoert the reaction and I have reported it too.

Make a list if questions and go get some answers.

PM me if you want any further help

Rex

[Dellahar]

Same here I did not recieve a information leaflet for rimadyl my vet put my 7 year old on it for arthritis 3 months later she had a stroke and mass infection. Luckily she is a stong tough old bitch and pulled through I have her on natural meds now and is full of life and coping very well she is now 9 years 4 months old.

[Staff'n'Toller]

Girl05 unfortunately you may never find out what happened to your dog. To get real answers a post mortem needs to be done as soon as possible after death +/- biopsies taken and sent for histopathology.

If your dog had not been on Heartworm prevention for some months or years before the Proheart injection then the Vet should have done a heartworm test to check for the presence of adult heartworm.

If your dog was dehydrated, were you offered hospitalisation and IV fluids for you dog?

You say the diagnosis was heart problems, but you can't get a firm diagnosis without ultrasound or an xray at the very least.

Cardiomyopathy can be at late stages before the dog shows any symptoms.

At the time I was very relieved that the 2nd vet was concerned about my dog, but now when I think about it,and after I have done some research I don't think he was very good at all. I don't think Rimadyl would have helped him. My dog was very sick and vet "thought" he had picked up a virus.

Broad Spectrum Anti-biotics and pain relief are generally the first step when dealing with vague symptoms.

Proheart (whilst we hear all the bad stuff) has a very wide safety margin...one of my thoughts was that your dog may have had a heartworm infestation if you hadn't kept up his treatment continuously, any heartworm treatment can be dangerous given to a dog with an infestation of adult worms. They tend to die all at once and clog the main arteries restricting blood flow.

In essence you will probably never know, it could be because of the injections, but it could be totally unrelated.

As someone said to you in a previous thread, heart murmurs are difficult to hear and sometimes sound worse than other times. How long had it been since his last Vaccination? This is why 6mthly checks are good for older dogs in between their routine Vaccinations as alot can happen to an old dog in 12mths.

Most dog owners don't realise there is any problem until the dog is coughing alot or has fluid in the lungs thus needing a cocktail of medications including dieuretics to get rid of the fluid.

Mel.

[girl05]

girl05- not is is not right what happened to your baby.

A few weeks ago my girl had a severe adverse reaction to metacam and was on a drip for 2.5days.

I then did research on metacam and have had the Senior Vet at that practice repoert the reaction and I have reported it too.

Make a list if questions and go get some answers.

PM me if you want any further help

Rex

Thanks Rex.

Its heartbreaking :p , he was my little baby, and he didn't deserve to suffer.

What happen to your girl is terrible, is she okay now?

I have asked the hospital vet questions but whatever I seem to say I just get the same old reply "it couldn't have possibly happened from that" or "It was bound to happen" if it was bound to happen I'm not convinced it would have happened right after the vet visit.

Even from the hospital vets I was told different things about what was wrong with my dog. I think after I started saying I was going to look into things I wasn't told everything and my phonecalls were not returned. We were not even given a proper report or shown any xrays/test results until I chased them up several times and requested copies of them.

[girl05]

Girl05 unfortunately you may never find out what happened to your dog. To get real answers a post mortem needs to be done as soon as possible after death +/- biopsies taken and sent for histopathology.

If your dog had not been on Heartworm prevention for some months or years before the Proheart injection then the Vet should have done a heartworm test to check for the presence of adult heartworm.

If your dog was dehydrated, were you offered hospitalisation and IV fluids for you dog?

You say the diagnosis was heart problems, but you can't get a firm diagnosis without ultrasound or an xray at the very least.

Cardiomyopathy can be at late stages before the dog shows any symptoms.

At the time I was very relieved that the 2nd vet was concerned about my dog, but now when I think about it,and after I have done some research I don't think he was very good at all. I don't think Rimadyl would have helped him. My dog was very sick and vet "thought" he had picked up a virus.

Broad Spectrum Anti-biotics and pain relief are generally the first step when dealing with vague symptoms.

Proheart (whilst we hear all the bad stuff) has a very wide safety margin...one of my thoughts was that your dog may have had a heartworm infestation if you hadn't kept up his treatment continuously, any heartworm treatment can be dangerous given to a dog with an infestation of adult worms. They tend to die all at once and clog the main arteries restricting blood flow.

In essence you will probably never know, it could be because of the injections, but it could be totally unrelated.

As someone said to you in a previous thread, heart murmurs are difficult to hear and sometimes sound worse than other times. How long had it been since his last Vaccination? This is why 6mthly checks are good for older dogs in between their routine Vaccinations as alot can happen to an old dog in 12mths.

Most dog owners don't realise there is any problem until the dog is coughing alot or has fluid in the lungs thus needing a cocktail of medications including dieuretics to get rid of the fluid.

Mel.

Hi Mel,

He wasn't on any heartworm prevention. The vet did do a heartworm test before hand. She took my dog away and was gone for a while, we were wondering what was taking her so long and she said she clipped my dogs nails(even though they didn't need doing because I already done them myself)he wouldn't have liked that at all.

The second vet wanted to put my dog on a drip the next day if he wasn't showing any signs of improvement.

He had chest rads,blood test, and a ultra sound at the hospital

His last vaccination was 11 months before the first vet visit.

The rads showed mild heart enlargement & caudodorsal pulmonary odema bilation and some pleural effusion.

He was put on dieuretics which helped get rid of the fluid.

Re proheart- I also thought maybe the test could have been wrong, as I've read that cadiopulmonary signs eg- dysnea and coughing can occur in a hw positive dog treated with proheart.

Also I would have liked to have been warned of possible adverse reactions/side effects, if I was told of these I would have changed my mind and definately not have agreed to the ph injection.I was assured it was "safe".

I'm just not convinced that it was going to happen when it happened, your right unfortunately I'll probably never know.

[girl05]

Same here I did not recieve a information leaflet for rimadyl my vet put my 7 year old on it for arthritis 3 months later she had a stroke and mass infection. Luckily she is a stong tough old bitch and pulled through I have her on natural meds now and is full of life and coping very well she is now 9 years 4 months old.

That's good that your dog pulled through.

My dog was a little fighter, but unfortunately he couldn't fight what happened to him. His heart couldn't be fixed.He too was full of life then suddenly went downhill.

[Tassie]

Hi girl05 - I'm very sorry to hear about your dog. It always sucks when you lose them, but even more so if you can't really find out why.

Just wanted to add a couple things. I have heard of a couple of cases in the US where the 'quick and dirty' hw test can give a false negative, and the dog can actually be hw +ve.

My experiences with Rimadyl and Metcam have been non-problematic. Had my old girl on both - Metacam seemed to work better for her than Rimadyl - but she had no problems with either. I know a few ohter dogs on long term Rimadyl use - no problems. And my vets use Metacam as routine immediate post-op pain relief after spay/neuter - I would trust these guys that if they had seen any significant adverse reactions, they would not be doing that.

That said, as one of the other posters said, NSAIDs can throw up different problems with individual dogs, just as humans can have very different tolerances.

Barb

[girl05]

Hi girl05 - I'm very sorry to hear about your dog. It always sucks when you lose them, but even more so if you can't really find out why.

Just wanted to add a couple things. I have heard of a couple of cases in the US where the 'quick and dirty' hw test can give a false negative, and the dog can actually be hw +ve.

My experiences with Rimadyl and Metcam have been non-problematic. Had my old girl on both - Metacam seemed to work better for her than Rimadyl - but she had no problems with either. I know a few ohter dogs on long term Rimadyl use - no problems. And my vets use Metacam as routine immediate post-op pain relief after spay/neuter - I would trust these guys that if they had seen any significant adverse reactions, they would not be doing that.

That said, as one of the other posters said, NSAIDs can throw up different problems with individual dogs, just as humans can have very different tolerances.

Barb

Thanks Tassie,It's terrible and dosn't get any easier.

Yes I've heard of some of those cases too, It's ridiculous.

Would it have been okay for him to have been given rimadyl tablets(1/2 tab per day) in addition to:

Norocarp Inj 50mg 20ml(injection)

Baytril Injection 5% 50m

Baytril 50mg tablets (for me to give 1/2 a tablet a day)

Also does anyone know how long vets keep your pets records on their computer?

Thanks

[InspectorRex]

It is terrible that these things happen to our furkids.

With my girl having had the adverse reaction to Metacam( on a drip for 2.5 days) and now it appears a reaction to her vaccination I am now going to a vet that will listen to my concerns and looks for natural alternatives first

girl05-you are entitled to get copies of the Vet reports of your beloved dog.

PM me if you want to discuss more