"Lady Wise"
I wanted to give you some good feedback about NSAIDS, instead of the bad reactions.   June 2004-Fifteen years old

My husband's dog LadyWise is now 15 years old and weighs 60 lbs. She had
her first exposure to Rimadyl after surgery in 1996 to repair one of her
anterior cruciate ligaments. She has always had arthritis in her hips
(she's a husky/corgi mix and is prone to problems with her short legs) and
developed arthritis in her knee after the surgery. She remained on Rimadyl
(50 mg/2x per day) until 2002 with no adverse affects except for some minor
stomach irritation which we moderated with extra small treats through the
day and Pepto as necessary. She also had a second anterior cruciate
ligament surgery in 1999. Then she developed arthritis in her shoulders in
2002 and it seemed the Rimadyl wasn't really working well.

The vet recommended we try Etogesic. Within 2 days of starting the
Etogesic she developed explosive diarrhea, that killed the lawn in several
places. We immediately discontinued the Etogesic.

Upon consultation with the vet we began to give her Deramaxx (100 mg/1x per
day) which she has now been on for the last 2 years without any adverse
side effects. Her stomach irritation did not happen with the Deramaxx.

LadyWise continues to thrive....

Added: No, lab tests were not run per se before starting the Rimadyl or Etogesic.
Back when she started taking the Rimadyl was before the adverse affects
really started getting attention. Rimadyl was at that time routinely
prescribed after any surgery to address pain and inflammation and really no
side effects were discussed at all back then. Since then through the years
she has had various surgeries or routine bloodwork done before dental
cleanings, etc and our vet always checks the lab results, especially the
liver and kidney function values. And I am a concerned pet parent so I
always request the drug information inserts to check for adverse reactions,
studies done, etc. I specifically asked with the Deramaxx because when it
was prescribed the vet didn't have any information sheets to hand out so I
tracked it down through the company's website to print the info out.

Michelle

I have a border collie called Merrie, who was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylosis in 1999 when she was just over 5. At the time the disease was pretty well advanced and the vets said because of how it had developed we would be lucky if she saw her 10th birthday.

Merrie was prescribed Rimadyl and for the first few weeks it made a dramatic difference to her life, instead of not being able to walk more than 10 paces, she was back to playing with our other dog and hunting rabbits. Then the diarrhoea and vomiting started and it was very obvious that she couldn't tolerate Rimadyl. We were referred for acupuncture and we started her on Vitamin E and large doses of Ester C. The acupuncture worked brilliantly and we were able to just keep her on using a half dose Rimadyl every few weeks when she had a flare up in her back.

Last August (2004), after more flare ups than usual, Merrie went downhill fast ... not walking well, being very lame and wobbly in her back end and she was diagnosed with the spondylosis now affecting inside her spine as well as outside. We decided we would try a different NSAID, as quality of life was everything at this stage.

We put her on Metacam - she improved dramatically and no side effects. We ran complete blood tests before we put her on it and everything was normal, she will be blood tested again shortly to make
sure all is well.

Merrie will be 11 in April 2005, we have no idea how much longer she has with us but at least the Metacam is making sure that whatever time we do have with her will be comfortable and pain free.

This is how in my opinion these drugs should be used. I would never give an NSAID for a minor sprain or strain or as a routine "precaution" as many vets do now.

Anne

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