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  1. #1
    Puppy arlene's Avatar
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    Amost 14 year old question

    Mudd has been having stiffness getting up using his rear legs. No more stairs or jumping onto the couch. Vet goes down his spine and towards the middle he does show signs of discomfort.

    My question is vet prescribed Rimadyl. Vet said he might be more uncomfortable comes the cooler winter weather. It's summer here now.

    I just don't know what to do. I was reluctant to take the meds but I know he is going to need something. He is not that active anymore, sleeps more during the day, although he still does walk around the yard ok.

    I feel like I am going to make him worse giving the Rimadyl with all it's side effects. I have a baseline bloodwork for him and he gets accupuncture and laser therapy every month too. If I decide to give him the meds I would check his bloodwork every month.

    I just hope this Rimadyl would not cause internal damage that could not be reversed.

    Also if you do give meds like this, how long do you wait to see if an adverse reaction is noted? 5-7 days????

    Any advice in helping me out here would be appreciated.

  2. #2
    Real Retriever Rosy's Avatar
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    Hello! Before you try it for your dog try to examine him first, if he had some allergic reaction to carprofen, carprofen is one of the active ingredient of Rimadyl. So if you try it without checking his health it become risky for you doggy and I know there's so many ingredients in Rimadyl not only carprofen but there's more.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog shellbell's Avatar
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    I would not hesitate at all to use Rimadyl or other NSAIDs on an almost 14 year old dog - you want them to be as comfortable as possible, and sometimes that takes the strong stuff. Tux will be eight next month and is just starting to show some beginning signs of arthritis. I talked to my vet and currently he is on supplements which include a more natural anti-inflammatory. This is working for now, but I fully anticipate that as he gets older, in a few years he will likely need to be on a daily NSAID of some sort. I would not want to start a younger dog on a daily NSAID unless absolutely necessary, but at almost 14 I would not have those same concerns and would be focused on comfort.

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    Angela_WM (02-19-2017), arlene (07-12-2016), MontananDakota (07-14-2016)

  6. #4
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Ditto Shellbell but you do have some alternatives available. I have used Cartrophen Vet in place of Rimadyl but for Jet's back it was not strong enough and we used Dexamethasone, which is a steroid with it's own problems but saw none of them.
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  8. #5
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Our Potion was one who had liver problems with Rimadyl. She had baseline blood work done and, I think, I was 2 weeks later a followup. Her value was off the chart. It took 3 months to get it back down. To support liver health, the vet recommended Hepagen C (milk thistle) and salmon oil.

    However, at one point or another almost all our dogs have been on Rimadyl for a short period and had no problems. Toward the end of her life Mardi was on a high dose, the only thing that gave her any relief from hip and knee arthritis pain. She did not have any side effects except the good one of making her comfortable.

    Exercise, as tolerated, is good to do, keep the joints mobile. Melody also had spinal arthritis which affected her back legs and it's hard to manage. You need to weight the risk vs benefits in an older dog.
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  10. #6
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I'm with shellbell on going ahead and trying an NSAID on a dog Mudd's age. At 14, he deserves to be comfortable and, as stoic as these guys are, he may already be in more discomfort than you realize. If you're not using supplements such as glucosamine, MSM, fish oil, you may want to start them but they take a while to show effect, if they're going to show any effect at all. Recent studies in humans suggest that glucosamine and chondroitin have no beneficial effect whatsoever. Mudd would get more immediate relief with meds such as NSAIDs or other pain relievers. Tramadol seems to be used frequently in addition to or instead of an NSAID, but while it will help with the pain, it doesn't reduce the inflammation that causes the pain like NSAIDs will. Rimadyl isn't the only NSAID available but there can be side effects with any of them. Not all labs react poorly to Rimadyl.

    Here's one article on treating arthritis in dogs in case it gives you any other ideas to try. I hope you find something that works for him and that you're reasonably comfortable with. Dealing with Arthritis, Joint and Back Pain in your Older Dog

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  12. #7
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    I’ve used NSAIDS on my elderly dogs before. Scully was on Deramaxx for the last 6-7 years of her life, and Mulder was on Rimadyl for the last two years of his. Neither had any issues with the meds. My vet said you would see side effects in the first week or two usually, and while they do need to do bloodwork to check liver values, that’s actually not a common problem - it’s just that it can be serious if left unaddressed. The most common side effects are actually stomach irritation.
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  14. #8
    Senior Dog Blackboy98's Avatar
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    You may also want to look into Traditional Chinese Medicines/herbals supplements. Others on the board have used them to good effect. Use the search engine -in the right upper corner.

    Agree that at this point, quality of life is very important vs side effects of the drug. Wishing you and Mudd good luck and am sending MOJO to that outcome.
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  16. #9
    Senior Dog
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    At 14 years old, you really want to think about quality of life over quantity of life.

    Perhaps, your dog has arthritis along his spine, which is common for a dog of this age.

    I would not hesitate to use a NSAID on an elderly dog...but I would proceed with caution.

    There are alternatives to Rimadyl...you may want to mention Previcox or Metacam to your Vet.

    These are also anti-inflammatory drugs.

  17. #10
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    We managed our senior's problems with tramadol and metacam. They ALL have their side-effects. Even just for us, Tylenol has side effects.

    I wouldn't hesitate to give rimadyl but you do need to do the checks later on to see if he is tolerating it.

 



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