Dog owners - a cautionary tale

Jul 5, 2005
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Hi

please bear with me on this, I've had the 24 hours from hell...

both our (cocker spaniel) dogs recently had kennel cough, worrying but the vet gave them both injections and pills to take - one of these was Rimadyl, an anti-inflammatory drug. At no time were we given any warning about side-effects, or information about the drugs administered.

now one of our dogs is fine, but the other has spent the last week vomiting and over the last few days the whites of his eyes have turned yellow and his pee bright orange!

obviously we have had him back at the vet who took his bloods, and his liver function test is off the scale. Jamie was kept in overnight on a drip and (fingers crossed!) appears to be getting better, and has eaten without throwing up.

HOWEVER. Having had a look on the Internet at the possible side effects of this drug has stunned me - have a look yourself and you'll see what I mean. I know not everything on the Internet is reliable, and I'm not saying that this drug has definately caused a problem in my dog but if I had looked first before handing my dog the pills I would have gone straight back to the vet asking for more information.

I'm not trying to scaremonger! and I know that I've been naive! Never again will I merrily give my dog something without investigating it first, and I urge everyone else to do the same!

Our vet is adamant that it was not the drugs, however can come up with no other explanation as to what has caused this. His defence is that our other dog is fine, but every dog is different and Jamie is a rescue dog so his past history is unknown and the vet knows this.

Anyway, sorry for going on a bit and thanks for sticking with me. Mark.
 
May 20, 2005
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Thanks for the warning, I hope your dog is ok.

It also applies to us humans look what happened the other week to those 6 who tested a new drug. I have to take a lot of drugs because of the M/S I had a bad (near fatal)reaction to an injection even though I had been having them over a long preiod with out problems. So I now always read the leaflet for possible side effects.
 

Damian

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Mar 14, 2005
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Mark, we had a similar situation with one of our Danes. He had an infection which was a bigger problem as whatever the cause, the thing causing the infection became "clever" and we had to change drugs every two days to achieve a cure.

One of the drugs was Rimadyl, and our vet did warn us that over a long period of use, the bones, teeth and urine will all be stained yellow or orange.

Whilst the urine will clear up, the bones and teeth will remain discoloured.

As with all drugs, there are side effects, and one drug can badly react with another taken at the same time.

Caution is the best way forward, both for humans and our pets.
 
Jul 5, 2005
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thank you LB and everyone else for your kind wishes, hopefully we will get him back tonight - no doubt we are in for the lecture of our lives off him!

I'll keep you posted on his progress.

Mark (",)
 
Apr 11, 2005
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Mark

Sorry for with your dog I hope it gets better.

We had some trouble with so warming tables for over puppy which up set her tummy .we got the tables form a pet shop but when we tuck the puppy to the vets to see what was up he said that's we shud not have got the tables form them has the tables for pet shop can be trouble.

Mark
 
Mar 7, 2006
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this sounds quite worrying, and i know i one of my german shepherds has taken that drug for some reason or another...i will certainly look out/question it with the vet next time.

thanks for letting us know and i hope your dog gets better very soon,...i know exactly what its like - id rather be ill than have my dog poorly..
 
Jul 5, 2005
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Hi

more than likely if your dog has already taken the drug without an adverse reaction then they will be fine, but you would be right to question the side-effects of ANY drug you were given.

it is normally used for treating arthiritis, and was originally developed for use in humans then redirected for animals - it is also apparently poisonous to cats!

as an update, Jamie is back home with us and although better was sick again today - I'm hoping it's just his system working itself "clean". he is back tomorrow to have his bloods taken again.

thanks for all your thoughts.

M
 
Jul 5, 2005
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Hi

just as an update to this, our Jamie has had several blood tests over the last few weeks and although still high, his liver function is almost back to normal.

In addition, he is back to being lively and noisy, with a taste for chicken, rice and salmon!

we are soooooo happy to have him "back", thanks to everyone who expressed concern.

kind regards

Mark (",)
 
Jan 19, 2008
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Hi

just as an update to this, our Jamie has had several blood tests over the last few weeks and although still high, his liver function is almost back to normal.

In addition, he is back to being lively and noisy, with a taste for chicken, rice and salmon!

we are soooooo happy to have him "back", thanks to everyone who expressed concern.

kind regards

Mark (",)
Great news Mark :O)
 
Mar 25, 2006
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If you are really convinced that it was the drugs which caused the reaction you should ask your vet to fill out a Suspect Adverse Reactions form (SARS). Your vet should send it to the Veterinary Medicines Dorectorate(VMD) who regularly ask for all SARs to be reported so that, if necessary, suitable warnings can be given on labels.

I believe you can access the VMD web site and report SARs too.

Bob
 

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