Occasionally, when Zoe is lame and can't walk too far, I give her a round of Rimadyl. Which is what happened in June. The vet and I had a long talk about it and since she had taken Rimadyl in the past, I figured we'd try another course of Rimadyl. We did a blood test and I started to give it to her. This time we gave her a larger dosage (I can't remember) and she was on it for 10 days, rather than 7 days. She took her last Rimadyl on July 6.

Wednesday (the day after her last Rimadyl) On July 7 in the evening, we got home and noticed Zoe was scratching her face and dragging it on the floor. I said to my boyfriend I had noticed her doing it in the last couple of days but didn't notice anything wrong. Then she came up to us (it was dark) and I noticed her snout was swollen. As we were talking about it, we could see the swelling progressing into her eyes. It was late at night so we took her up to a vet who is open til midnight for emergencies (not the vet who prescribed Rimadyl this time but they had given it to us in the past). The first thing I told the vet on call is that she had been taking Rimadyl. But we all thought she had a spider bite or was stung by a bee. They gave her a shot of dexamethasone and benedryl and sent us home.

Thursday - The facial swelling was exactly the same. I called my vet and the vet who treated her the night before and they said it could take several days for the swelling to go down. I was to continue to give her the Benadryl until it went down. I was still worried.

Friday - The facial swelling went down. But Zoe spent the entire day in the tub. I thought she was tired from the Benedryl and was trying to get away from our new puppy. Friday night we noticed that she had what I'll call hives but her whole belly was red and bumpy.

Saturday - I woke up early because I had to drop off the puppy at the breeder because we were supposed to go on vacation on Sunday. Zoe had peed, pooped and vomited all over our apartment over night. Her face was swollen again. Her ears were swollen and full of blisters. Her belly was red and angry. The swelling was in her chest. I ran out to Long Island to drop off the pup and when I got home, we took her in to the same clinic that treated her on Wednesday night. We saw Dr. Gibson who owns the hospital and is a decent vet. He thought it was just a continuation of an allergic reaction. He gave her another shot of dexamethasone, took blood and told us to start prednisone on Sunday. He told us to withhold food that day and try a bland diet. If the vomiting came back, he'd need to hospitalize her. I asked if she could be having a reaction to Rimadyl and he said no.

Sunday - The swelling was in her feet. The rash (when I say rash I think something red and annoying - this was nothing like that. I can't really describe it but if I who am very pale spent 12 hours in direct sunlight in Hawaii without sunscreen - that begins to describe the rash) had spread to her face and limbs. She was able to eat some bland food in the AM. We took her back to the vet. The blood showed elevated liver enzymes but still in the normal range - nothing to be nervous about. I asked again, could it be Rimadyl and he said no. The symptoms were not consistent with a Rimadyl reaction. He was the first to bring up Erythema Multiforme but he thought she might have reacted to Benedryl - but her symptoms started earlier. We were all perplexed. He recommended we see a dermatologist. He said he couldn't help her. He did not think she needed to go to the Animal Medical Center.

6PM - I was watching a movie and Zoe came in the room. The look on her face made me nervous. I called my boyfriend into the room. We sat with her for a few minutes, then she threw up her breakfast and lunch (I had given her two small meals of chicken and rice). So we decided to take her to the Animal Medical Center in Manhattan. We decided to have her admitted so she'd get priority treatment with the specialists in the morning. Sometime over the night they moved her into ICU. The vet who admitted her thought it could be a mast cell tumor. I mentioned Erythema Multiforme from our last vet and also said it was very important to know she had been taking Rimadyl up to this event. He did NOT think it was a reaction to Rimadyl.

Monday - Obviously we did not go on vacation. The AMC ran every test in the book on her. Their main plan was to keep her stable. She was leaking proteins but said her vitals were good (??? - doesn't make sense to me. I've got to get the records from them). We went to see her that night and did not recognize my dog. She was even worse since we had dropped her off the night before. My boyfriend and I basically said good-bye to her in case something happened while she was at the hospital but her vet seemed optimistic.

Tuesday - The dermatologist was in and diagnosed Erythema Multiforme - diagnosis pending a skin biopsy. They asked about her drug history and they pointed it towards Rimadyl or Frontline. It couldn't have been the Frontline because she had that on June 29 and she had Rimadyl until July 6. We went to see her that night and she was so much better.

Wednesday - Zoe was able to come home. She had to have a re-check in 7 days. She was sent home with Pentoxifylline, prednisone and doxycycline (they were waiting for a lyme/tick titer which of course was negative).

The 7 day re-check went fine. Her blood work checked out normal. The vet was so happy with her progress that she took her back to the ICU so all the people who worked on her could see her. She's been a bit lethargic over the past month but her spirits are pretty good. She took her last pill this morning. The next month or two will be telling to see if the swelling or skin lesions come back. Keep your fingers crossed for her. She looks great.

I've been searching the internet and have had a hard time seeing any mention of Erythema Multiforme (an autoimmune reaction to a drug) as an ADE to Rimadyl. I have reported the reaction to Pfizer and to the FDA.

You can use any or part of her story anywhere. I'm just glad that she's doing well. I plan to monitor her very closely over the next year or so to make sure she does not have any organ failure due to this.

Dawn Prentiss and Zoe
Brooklyn, NY