Elevated ALT and rimadyl

[Kpatz03]

Hi everyone!
My sweet 7 year old chocolate went in for dental surgery recently for an infected tooth. Prior to that, he had swelling of his cheek so he was on Rimadyl/Carprofen and an antibiotic for about 20 days leading up to the surgery.

He gets blood tests done regularly and they have been normal. The pre opp blood test however showed elevated ALT (I think 600). He’s always otherwise been in range for his liver enzymes.

His vet believes it could be a reaction to the Rimadyl. He’s on alternate pain meds following surgery and Denamarin. They want to check his levels again next month. I should note he’s otherwise acting like his normal goofy self with no other symptoms.

I know he’s technically now a senior but I’m worried about my boy. Have others found success with a sudden spike in ALT due to Rimadyl and have you seen it come down thanks to Denamarin?

Thank you!

[Black Labbies]

Hi and welcome. I agree with your vet. Rimadyl can cause problems in the liver and should be used carefully. Rimadyl is also used for dog's who have arthritis. I, personally, don't like Rimadyl, as it too, caused liver problems with one of our past Labs. I'm not familiar with Denamarin, we use natural treatments instead.
All the best with your boy.

[Berna]

Yes, Rimadyl can cause elevated liver values, especially if used long-term. I have no experience Denamarin, but my old lab was on Previcoxx for years without issues.

[Jeff]

ALT increase is a known side effect for Carprofen stopping it should return to normal. But then again other meds may increase it. If everything returns to normal make sure you keep a mental note of that as Berna said this is the standard go to for Arthritis as they age. So if they do need it when they get older, hopefully many long years from now you may need different treatment.

Carprofen is usually tolerated in most dogs just fine, but when it is not then there are issues. It is a NSAID, which some dogs tolerate some don't, same in Humans. So your vet is taking the right course though 20 days pre op seems like a long time to be on it. Unless it is arthritis and long term typically this is only 2 weeks or less. Unless this was an issue scheduling the surgery or something.
Deramaxx is a NSAID the one I absolutely refuse to use and my Vet has removed it from ever prescribing it. Side effects for this one can be really bad and unrecoverable.
Denamarin is to boost the liver health but I have never used it. So I have no advice there. My senior that went on Carprofen long term for arthritis did just fine. As well as all my sisters labs did good.

Hopefully he doesn't need to be on pain meds much longer.

[Kpatz03]

Thank you! I believe they did the 20 days because he had quite the swollen cheek from his infected tooth and couldn’t get me into surgery until weeks later.

I appreciate your insight. Hopefully this is temporary. I’d be absolutely crushed if something happened to him so early. Apparently Denamarin can be quite helpful with liver levels. The vet did mention to me that as he gets older and likely develops arthritis, we will have to look at other medicines.

[Tilly]

Hi There,

Our Tilly (April 2007 - May 2021) was on Denamarin for her last 7 years for unexplained raised ALT levels, and it worked well to decrease them and maintain them in the normal range. I hope this helps your pup.

Kim
(Gorgeous Tilly - always in our hearts)