sea4th Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 Today, Sara went into surgery and got a portion of her tail removed. They are sending her home with Rimadyl, and while I know there was a discussion about it before, and I actually use it on a senior dog that would not otherwise be getting around, I am leery of starting a younger dog on Rimadyl. I guess I consider that medication a last ditch effort. Any ideas on alternative meds for pain relief for Sara? Thanks in advance. Vicki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northof49 Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 Viki - you can use aspirin as a pain reliever. Also, if you are interested, Arnica Montana 30C is excellent to promote healing of tissue after either injury or surgery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK dog doc Posted November 17, 2003 Report Share Posted November 17, 2003 Bear in mind that aspirin is an anticoagulant and may promote bleeding, which might not be the most desirable thing in a post-surgical patient. Metacam and Etogesic are other altternatives which will not promote bleeding. But really, if you're only using it for a few days, the liklihood of longterm trouble is pretty minimal. Never say never in medicine and all that, but I'd be VERY surprised if a few doses gave you cause for regret. If she isn't a dog with an idiosyncratic (ie, unique to her) reaction to it, she should do fine. I don't know much about the Arnica - though it would cause no harm at that concentration, and if it might help, by all means go for it! - but it is pretty clear that painful dogs don't heal as fast as non-painful ones. Anything that promotes tissue healing will limit pain since the reason for the pain would then be resolving faster. So if the Arnica seems to help with that, use it. (I've never used it, so I can't say either way. It sounds like Northof49 has some first-hand experience with it, which is more than I can claim for myself). Hope she rests confortably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvw Posted November 19, 2003 Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 If you use Arnica remember not to give within 1 hour of eating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea4th Posted November 19, 2003 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2003 The "amputee" is doing well. She was uncomfortable the first night. The little s--t is able to get to her tail even with the e-collar on. I've had to re-wrap several times. This concerns me. Otherwise, she appears to be doing OK. Thanks for your help--everyone. Vicki Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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