Potential Rimadyl reaction (Bugsy) - help!(UPDATE pg 2)

I was just wondering how Bugsy's doing today.  Is hte poop getting any better?

Johnny & Tessy

Karen, why not restart Tramadol, & discontinue the Rimadyl?  That would still provide pain relief & if it is the Rimadyl then you'd probably be able to tell.

I just wanted to throw something at you for thought.

I am totally against over vaccination... flea prevention unless needed...and medication unless really needed.   I was very involved in helping the word out on the 6 month HW prevention crap years ago...and because of that...got involved with the Rimadyl people that claim it hurt their dogs.   

First said.... any meds can hurt any of us at any time...you never know. BUT I do want to say that in the 3 1/2 years I worked for the vet clinic....and did daily follow up calls...and of course making appts and listening to every fear that the clients had..... I have never heard that even one of the dogs they prescribed Rimadyl for had a problem.....even a couple that were on it for long periods because of arthritis conditions.  That said I still did NOT give it to Gibby like they suggested after his neuter........ but I honestly know of no first hand reactions or problems from that drug.

 Finally was able to speak to the surgeon - it is most likely Rimadyl so we are going to stop it for now.  Because he is doing so well we aren't going to do anything else at this point.  If he starts showing pain we will administer half a dose.

He has started to have normal firm poos but this morning there was more fresh blood on the outside of the stool.  Which, for any lurkers, is due to large intestine irritation.

Thanks all!

I looked through all my old receipts to try to remember the name of the paste I gave Willow when she had the same problem and found the name.  It was Diarsanyl Paste.  We used this along with metranydazole and within a couple of days it was all cleared up.

I cut and paste the folowing off a website.....about Diarsanyl Paste..... 

An intestinal protectant to help manage digestive upsets and diarrhea by combining with the mucus to adhere to intestinal mucosa for reduced irritation and fluid loss. Contains a unique component, montmorillonite (smectite clay), which has substantial capacity to adsorb and absorb toxins, bacteria, viruses, enzymes and free radicals –15 times more than kaolin. Its unique paste formula is more effective than pills or powder. Contains Dextrose and Glycerol for energy. Palatable vanilla flavor.

Might be worth looking into or maybe there's similar products out there that might be better.

Hope he get well soon though.

Hugs,

Johnny & Tessy 

BEVOLASVEGAS

Karen, why not restart Tramadol, & discontinue the Rimadyl? 

I completely agree.

dyan

I honestly know of no first hand reactions or problems from that drug

I agree that complications are rare. But they can happen. Jasmine had them to Previcox different name, same thing, though newer slightly different product. We cought it early. But I found this which really disturbed me

http://www.k911.biz/Petsafety/PrevicoxEmails.htm

babelfish

I agree that complications are rare. But they can happen. Jasmine had them to Previcox different name, same thing, though newer slightly different product. We cought it early. But I found this which really disturbed me

http://www.k911.biz/Petsafety/PrevicoxEmails.htm

Oh no....not another one. This is bringing back memories reading about reactions for Rimadyl and some of the others..............   I guess none of these NSAIDS are really completely safe for our dogs.  They are not for us humans either.  I forgot how many people that I read die each year of taking simple everyday things like aspirin, Advil, Aleve, Tylonal etc etc etc.    Its scary because most of us dont' think twice to take it.

When I started working at the vet clinic  and saw that we give Rimadry quite frequently...I really did expect ( from all that I read on the Internet ) to see a lot of reactions....and again I haven't seen any.  I can't say that is true about vaccines though..unfortunately.

 Dyan it is fairly clear that the Rimadyl was causing the GI problem for Bugsy and mind you he doesn't typically have GI problems.

I have got a bit of Tramadol if he needs it - of course it has a different function but is better than nothing if he has pain.

(ps good luck today I hope Gibby is a really good boy!)

dyan

I guess none of these NSAIDS are really completely safe for our dogs. 

Well, nothing that doesn't belong into the body isn't safe to put in it. Hell, things that do belong into the body are not safe when there is excess of them. That said, it is rare and most dogs greatly benefit from the meds. I think NSAIDs are a genious idea as such. They tried to address the problems with the first type of products such as Rimadyl by developing drugs that work slightly differently, such as Previcox. I think the main problem is that no study seems to have been done to determine what combination of type of physiology/underlaying condition(s) will trigger the bad reaction to be able to test for it and prevent problems.

From what I observed, some vets will prescribe NSAIDs quite lightly for pretty much everything, while some do it selectively and with caution. Jasmine was the first case which presented a problem our vet came across. Their 'house dog' is on NDSAIDs long term, it's working for him and not causing any ill effects.

So I think it's like with everything, high caution needs to be used with any drugs, better education should be in place and the drug companies should find a way to determine which dogs could get NSAIDs safely and which dogs shouldn't get it.

But for obvious reasons, NSAIDs are not getting into my house any more.

Again, that said, Jasmine almost died twice, once from Buprenorphine which resulted in severe hyperthermia and almost killed her. Hyperthermia in dogs from these types of drugs is extremely rare.

On the other hand, while almost killing her it saved her life because it led to a discovery of a large abdonimal abscess. So go figure ...

It's funny -- some people always think I'm completely over the top because I use a lot of herbals, etc.  But it doesn't take many reactions like I've personally experienced and what Babelfish has experienced to really make you ULTRA cautious in avoiding pharmaceuticals generally and to realize that ... as said ... ANYTHING can cause a bad reaction, particularly if you use too much.

But what people really don't realize is how many side effects they *do* experience that they never even acknowledge.

Quite by accident I discovered I can't take Aleve -- we'd been out for Chinese and I had a **little** soy sauce on my food (and I generally don't use salt much at all).  I'd taken an Aleve before we went out b/c the arthritis was really problematic. 

By the time we got home from dinner my heart was racing SO badly I was scared to death.  It reacts that way to salt in some people -- but I can just imagine people taking it regularly (like my Dad) who then also doctor for heart problems regularly but the two are never seen as impacting the other.  *sigh*

On the other paw -- Karen -- it's likely that the skin has healed enough so you could try just a bit of the White Flower Oil (I'd dilute it in a bit of olive oil) and it might help a lot.

 Thanks Callie - at this point I am more concerned with getting his GI back intact than pain management.  He did a lot on Wednesday at his rehab and had slight discomfort (that I could tell) yesterday morning.  I wound up giving him Tramadol for the pain and in the hopes he would be calm through our guests being here ( didn't work for the latter).

He is fine today, very happy he has some sun to sleep in, so no meds from now.  The only reason it made some sense to me to continue the Rimadyl is that inflammation in that knee will impede healing and can cause other issues in the joint.  Since I will not EVER give him that again we will just have to hope that there isn't too much inflammation at this point. Tramadol isn't anti-inflammatory just for pain so I won't use that unless absolutely necessary.

 Thanks Erin - is it in stores? or I can order it from Amazon