Rimadyl

[Bonny]

My Bob dog has been on Rimadyl for about 9 months now. He receives half a pill in the morning & half a pill in the evening. It has been really working well. I have a question, what is the longest time anyone has used Rimadyl for their dog. I know sometimes it upsets Bob's stomach but otherwise on the outside he is doing fine. But in the inside you wonder what these pills do? I have read all of the side affects. There are lots of them like any medicine now days. Thank you for your answers.

[tatsxxx11]

I know a lot of people's dogs have done great on Rimadyl. But my vets have always been very hesitant to prescribe iit, especially for my Labs, which are especially prone to the adverse side effects, primarily liver damage. My Cody, a Husky, who has hip dysplasia is on a glycosamine/chondortin forumula and when needed, some buffered aspirin. We tried her on Etogesic, but it upset her stomach.

As long as your vet is monitoring your pup with regular blood testing, liver panels, I wouldn't worry too much. It's a drug that's been around for years and has helped many! Did your vet discuss the pros and cons when he prescribed it? If you have any concerns, definitely speak with her or him!

And a warm Pet Talk welcome to you and Bob

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by tatsxxx11
I know a lot of people's dog done great on Rimadyl. But my vets have always been very hesitant to prescirbe it, especially for my Labs, which are especially prone to the adverse side effects, primarily liver damage. My Cody, a Husky, who has hip dysplasia is on a glycosamine/chondortin forumula and when needed, some buffered aspirin. She's doing great on that.

As long as your vet is monitoring your pup with regular blood testing, liver panels, I wouldn't worry too much! It's a drug that's been around for years and has helped many! Did your vet discuss the pros and cons when he prescribed it? If you have any concerns, definitely speak with her or him!

And a warm Pet Talk welcome to you and Bob

I have to agree, although not to scare you, my vet does not carry it or ever prescribe it. BUT I have known of people that do use it, they take into consideration of the dogs breed & health, if all goes well there they use it sparingly & monitor everything all the time.

Personally I use etogesic.

[chocolatepuppy]

My dogs have both took it with no ill effects but only for short periods of time.

[dragondawg]

and prefer Deramaxx for my dogs due to the liver problems of Rimadyl. Most dogs that have liver problems with Rimadyl do so within a few months. So if yours is doing well on the current dosage then you should continue to give it.

tatsxxx11 brought up an excellent point - make sure your Vet continues to monitor on a monthly basis the liver enzymes. If your dog should suddenly become nauseated, and/or anorexic then promptly withdraw the Rimadyl and head to the Vet.

[wolflady]

Originally posted by dragondawg
and prefer Deramaxx for my dogs due to the liver problems of Rimadyl. Most dogs that have liver problems with Rimadyl do so within a few months. So if yours is doing well on the current dosage then you should continue to give it.

tatsxxx11 brought up an excellent point - make sure your Vet continues to monitor on a monthly basis the liver enzymes. If your dog should suddenly become nauseated, and/or anorexic then promptly withdraw the Rimadyl and head to the Vet.

I was going to bring up Deramaxx as well, as an alternative. When it comes to both Deramaxx and Rimadyl, they are for the same thing, but Rimadyl is "the big guns" according to my vet. Usually they prescribe Deramaxx first, then bring in Rimadyl when the Deramaxx stops working.
We've had patients on Rimadyl for years, so as long as everything is being monitored, like Sandra (tats) mentioned in her post, and Bob is still doing well on this medication, then I'm sure he'll be just fine.
**hugs**

[Bonny]

Is the Deramaxx a lot like aspirin? I was using aspirin to start off & it didn't help with Bob's stiffness & pain. The veterinary has never drawn any blood from Bob. Bob was in for his yearly check up & normal dog shoots in July. Doc didn't seemed concerned as long as the Rimadyl was keeping the stiffness & pain away. Bob had been hit on the road when he was about 2 years old. I took him in for x rays & his right leg & hip had a fracture. Doc would not give him any medicine then. He said Bob would have to endure the pain because getting up & running around with pain medicine would not help the healing. So Bob was confined to the barn in deep straw while he healed. It healed but Bob could not really put his foot down normal for a long time but eventually he did get his leg & foot to work normally again. I figured when he got older he would have problems & so it has come to the Rimadyl.

[pitc9]

My parents 9 year old GSD mix uses it, but they only give it to her when she is in a lot of pain. (She suffered a broken leg when she was 1 and also tore her ACL, same leg, a year later)
They give her glycosamine/chondortin supplements all the time. Normaly it's the changing of the seasons that cause her the most pain. Like now, it's getting colder and colder, so they will start giving her Rimadyl, to help ease her pain. I have not noticed any side effects from it.

[dragondawg]

Is the Deramaxx a lot like aspirin?

No it's a little like, not a lot.

Both Aspirin and Deramaxx will inhibit the enzymes Cox-1 and Cox-2. Aspirin does so in about a 50/50 ratio. Deramaxx being classified as a Cox-2 inhibitor will inhibit the Cox-2 enzyme magnitudes of order over the Cox-1 enzyme. In another words it will inhibit the Cox-1 enzyme very weakly, whereas aspirin will inhibit the Cox-2 enzyme relatively weakly.

The Cox-1 enzyme is needed for production of the prostaglandins hormones, which is a carrier signal of pain to the brain. Another primary function of the prostaglandins is to maintain the protective coating and secretions of the stomach lining. Inhibit the protaglandins with aspirin the pain signal is blocked, and you end up with stomach irritation and possibly ulcers in dogs.

The Cox-2 inhibitors inhibit the Cox-2 enzyme which is directly responsible for inflammation and the sensation of pain. In theory they should not be as irritating to the stomach. But sometimes their weak Cox-1 inhibition can lead to problems. Their main problem in dogs is the effect on the liver.

You should ask your Vet to start running liver profiles every 3 months. It may be your dog will never have problems with rimadyl. But then again if it does hit the liver, it can cause severe problems very quickly. It's a case of better to know before hand.

[Sudilar]

I agree with the monitoring on a regular basis.
I don't know for sure if Killian had liver disease before the Rimadyl and it just made it worse or if it caused his liver disease. Right before his first liver event, he had taken Rimadyl, then Metronidazole....

[RottiMommy49]

My vet gave me Rimadyl for Monty, I don't like to use it very often because it can cause liver problems and I was told it can cause liver cancer especially in Rotti's. It really doesn't seem to help his pain anyway so i would prefer to use uncoated buffered aspirin when needed. My vet also has never suggested monitoring Monty's liver enzymes. During the Lymphoma scare we had a complete blood workup done and all showed normal.

My vet also told me to put Monty on Glucosomine Hydrochloride instead of the Glucosomine sulphate. Apparently it works better. I really hate giving anything to my Rott's as they are so prone to cancer and who knows what contributes to it's activation. Our Nikita was on Rimadyl and we still wonder if it was the cause of her cancer.

Like everyone else said if it helps and your baby seems healthy and the vet keeps on top with bloodwork and checkups then you should be ok.