tramadol?

Hi there, I'm a new member just joined to see what others have said about tramadol. I have an 11yr old boxer mix with really bad arthritis in his back legs and hips, also has some spine and joint issues. He has been on Dasaqun (1day) for joints, rimadyl (1day) for inflammation although with rimadyl you have to get blood work done ever 6 months because it can affect their liver. Harley has been on it for years and no issues. We recently just started with tramadol (1day) seemed to help some but not much. We decided to get x-rays done to see if it was more of a hip issue the x-rays came back and was more arthritis then anything but has all the above spine, hip and joint issues. So then the vet also added Gabapentin (1day) that is a nerve pill. He gets all those at night vet say’s he has a really good "cocktail" with the tramadol and gabapentin together it has mad a tremendous change in Harley. I can't believe how more active he has gotten. He hasn't been on our bed in over a year and other night wanted to get up I was SHOCKED!! He has been more active and is sleeping. We were up at all nights of the hour with him whining and we didn't know what to do. I am a believer in tramdol with gabapentin. I hope this helps. Tramadol is a very inexpensive med also. Is deremax an inflamation pill?

 I can't say enough good things about Adequan, for dogs with arthritis.  My RB Marlin had arthritis in his hips from hip dysplasia.  Adequan gave him 4 years of great relief!  It is an injectable form of glucosamine, condroitin, and joint fluid with some other stuff.

 Per manufacturer it is important to do the loading period: shot twice a week for 4 weeks.  After that you go to a maintenance program of one shot per month.  Marlin could not get up on the sofa and would whine and fuss.  Once we got him on this he could happily get up on the sofa!  About 3 to 4 days before his next shot was due, he would have trouble getting up and would whine for us to help him up.  I marked when his shot was due on the calendar, I didn't 'wait' for him to tell me.  WIthin 20 minutes of his next shot, he was able to get up on the sofa himself again!

 My Willy is now on Adequan.  He was just about at a halt in Agility, would NOT do it at all.  I had x rays done; arthritis, mostly in the knees and hips, left side worse than the right side; no other issues.  So we started him on Adequan.  He has just had his 2d monthly maintenance shot, and we are both enjoying Agility again.

You can learn to give the shots at home.  Get a prescription from your vet, and you can save money by ordering Adequan online from Drs. Foster and Smith.

captmicha

Ginger is on this for her back. It works well but does nothing for inflammation. If your dog can tolerate, it's usually best to have thing on a dual purpose medication that helps both the pain and inflammation. Ginger can't tolerate NSAIDS and I don't want to chance steriods so we use Tramadol. It doesn't make her overly tired either so that's a plus. Pretty safe and effective medication with, if any experienced few side effects. Lately we've been using Duralactin for the inflammation and it actually seems to be helping.

Tramadol pretty much just tells the brain temporarily that they don't 'hurt'.  If anyone wants to email me (my email is in my signature pic) I can send you an article I did on arthritis and pain management.  There are a LOT of less-damaging things you can do.  Massage with some essential oils (like peppermint or wintergreen) can be INCREDIBLY helpful to reduce inflammation (and yes - a **topical** that can reduce the inflammation of the joint/bone in question).  There are also herbals that are less hard on the stomach and liver.

ANY NSAID (human or dog) is hard on the liver and/or the stomach.  IF your dog is taking **ANY** nsaid (rimadyl, on to the other dog nsaids) then  you will want to give milk thistle **also**.  You can go to the vet prescribed Marin (and or Denamarin) but they are pricey.  You can do far better and more cheaply just getting milk thistle in bulk (i.e., no little capsules) -- 1/2 teas. twice a day in food will help protect the liver, help detox the body AND actually aids liver function (meaning it actually helps the liver use the drugs better). 

But DO get a high quality herb -- I like both http://www.leavesandroots or http://www.mountainroseherbs.com -- just as comparison - if you go to any health store at all, a bottle milk thistle capsules is about $19.  That's 60 - 80 caps -- and it's about 1 1/4 oz. of herb.  Not organic.  Not even particularly good quality (and don't be misled by that word "standardized" - it's no indicator of quality at all, only that they combine ALL the various sources they get milk thistle from and mix them before they package so that the dose is "standardized" and Capsule 1 and Capsule 29,9999 contain pretty much the same herb mix -- NOT that it is 'pure' or good)

 However -- you can buy a high quality, organic herb (at either of the above and there are other vendors) a FULL POUND -- for ... $20.  Just no "capsules -- which are tough for the dog to digest anyway.

Milk thistle isn't bitter -- has almost no taste at all.  You can mix it into a little broth or meat baby food, etc. and add that to their food.

 however -- suggestion --

And you won't realize this unless you ALSO have arthritis yourself (I do).  When you hurt you tense up.  That's natural.   so taking a small amount of a relaxant (like valerian, or passionflower or St. Johns Wort) at the same time you give the NSAID can also help enormously.  It helps relax those muscles that are so tense from the pain so the NSAID works on the inflamed joint/bone rather than having to first work on the cramped sore muscles. 

Second suggestion --

Be cautious and judicous about exercise.  Again -- not something you'd know unless you are an arthritis sufferer -- we live in an exercise crazed society.  But for arthritis you DO need exercise (what you neglect to do you soon are not able TO do) -- BUT you also don't want to go to the extreme of making the joint/muscle SO sore that it exacerbates the arthritis and causes even MORE inflammation.

So you don't walk this dog until they hurt and then turn around and walk home.  THAT increases the inflammation in the joint hugely and sets you back even further.  You may do several short periods of activity.  Like Walk half a block and REST.  Walk another half block and rest.  You actually want to STOP and rest **before** pain sets in.  Because once you get to the point where YOU see *pain* on a dog they are in a great deal of pain.  (because they are stoic)

Try bringing along a child's wagon (Craiglist -- you can get some surprisingly nice ones cheap) -- plastic is better than metal (dog nails on a metal wagon = nervous dog).  Walk -- keeping a huge eye on the dog for ANY indicator of tension or pain.  Then have the dog lie down and you can walk further.  Later let the dog walk again for a while if they want.  But this way you can keep it pain free and yet still get the outing the dog craves.

Be aware -- Adequan (which is essentially a pharmaceutical grade of glucosamine/chondroitin) works well **IF** there is still cartilage in the joint.   Adquan (and G&C) are hydrators -- meaning they simply plump up cartilage that is there so it cushions better.    But if there is little cartilage left it won't help much.

You may also want to try NutraJoint (OsteoBi-flex bought Knox's product but haven't changed it).  You can usually get it at Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and you can get it on drugstore.com (get two and get free shipping).  It takes about 3 months for it to really do its job - this is NOT a pain medicine at all - this literally re-builds cartilage (literally a more permanent answer to the problem).  I've used it on several dogs with great results.  I get just the powder -- nothing wtih G/C in it and nothing flavored.