Max is a G.S.D. He pulled his hind leg and was limping. He was given Rimadyl. After only two tablets he was strange and I didn't give him any more.

A year later he again pulled his hind and this time he took Rimadyl for a week. I demanded to know what side-effects there may be from the Rimadyl and was told 'none'. Finally my vet said there may be 'a bit of G.I.' but that this was unlikely. Max was 7 at this time, fit and active. My vet then said Max had hip displaysia and needed to be referred to a specialist. Just over a week later he saw this specialist and I was told he required bilateral surgery. The specialist though had this new wonder drug 'Zubrin', he extolled its virtues so much that I really thought it would make surgery unnecessary. No side effects despite exhaustive testing in the U.S.A. I was told. I finally agreed to put Max on this. The drug hadn't reached U.K. and I was told to double the Rimadyl until such time as it arrived. Luckily I did not!

Max was blood tested lest he need the surgery and I was told his bloods were very good. When the Zubrin came I put him on it, I was told no wash out period was required!

I was initially given tablets for fifteen days, then another fifteen and then another fifteen. Max went off his food and I rang the specialist vet - no worries, under no circumstances take him off the drug. Max began to lose pigment, there was blood in his urine, again - no worries, it is not the drug! It was a very hot summer so when his coat began to fall out it was put down to this.

I was away for two weeks and when I came back Max was skeletal, he could barely stand and I was heartbroken. The specialist vet sort of suggested my daughters may not have looked after him as well as I thought whilst I was away! I was not best pleased, I know they did.

It was Bank Holiday, only the specialist vet was allowed to deal with Max and he was away. My own vet could/would not believe the drug was bad, so I had to wait two days to see the specialist vet. I took Max in, no specialist. I had to hand him over to a nurse. I told her I thought he was dying and she said that the moment the specialist arrived he'd be seen and they'd ring me.

I got a call, it went like this: "Do you know how much weight this dog has lost?" Yes, only too well! He said "It's the Zubrin I'm afraid". I then asked where Max was, "on the operating table, prepped, had been given the anaesthetic!" One wonders for what weight of dog?

The specialist then suggested that he carry on, green light for go, he said there were no promises. I said I do not want to lose this dog. He said "I know". I then said I really do not want to lose this dog, do you understand? He replied "I know".

Max is a large G.S.D. He weighted 43kg before the Zubrin. After it, he weighted less than 30kg. I will never know how he survived, perhaps he just knew how much I needed him.

After the operation for one hip I had to travel him back by ambulance weekly for blood tests. Finally obtaining a copy of his first bloods I saw that his liver results were already climbing from the Rimadyl, he was not a suitable candidate for the Zubrin. An adverse reaction was then denied. My own GP vet thought I was a hysterical owner. He wanted to test Max for Addisons etc. as Max's magnificent head was now just a fleshless skull. Max was given many antibiotics, the Zubrin I was led to believe was free bumped the bill up to over £3000 pounds and almost cost him his life.

It beggars belief that the specialist tried to make me put him back on the drug knowing that he had horrendously adversely reacted to it. It took nine months before a Schering Plough vet rang me to "admit it was an adverse reaction" and to ask me not to blame the specialist vet, he had not been allowed to tell me! (She actually called him by his first name) I asked if my GP vet had been told, NO!!! He was the one on whose life Max now depended for goodness sake!

The moral of this story, trust not those whose intention it is to make money by trialling a drug about which they either know nothing or just don't bloody care! Max nearly died, he lost the chance to have the second hip done.

Max is a gorgeous trusting friend and he deserved better!

If I learned any lesson from this it is to stand up to your vet, stroppy specialist or otherwise and to do your own research.

If my specialist reads this: You sold Max short, in my opinion you aren't fit to practice and, by the way....

I'm very pleased that Max denied you tissue samples from an autopsy
by managing to stay alive!!!

Pam Pickett
Owner of an NSAID damaged G.S.D