Rimadyl

[honey]

Our six year old Border Collie, Bailey was diagnosed with HD, almost three weeks ago. The vet did give us all info on Rimadyl, and at the time he was in alot of pain, so we needed something to help him. He is given 50mg twice day, so far, so good. Mainly I have heard the horror stories on Rimadyl, and wondered if anyone here has or does use it; and how its working? I am looking at other options for Bailey, more natural approach. Not certain want to keep him on rimadyl for long. We are also looking into exercises, especially swimming. Vet said the Rimadyl might make Bailey Peppy, ok Peppy is not the word for it, more like border collie on acid. HaHa!!! Its nice to see him feeling better and wanting to play.

Thank you,

Sheila

[juliepoudrier]

Sheila,

There are alternatives to Rimadyl. I have used Rimadyl with success, but like you, didn't want to leave a dog on it long term if I could help it (because I too was afraid of possible liver damage and other horror stories).

 

I ended up using Metacam, which is relatively new here in the U.S., but has been used extensively in Europe. It works well for me.

 

Deramaxx is another possibility, but I have never used it so can't really give an opinion.

 

Whatever you end up using, you're smart to also consider exercise therapy. Muscle support of the bad joint will go a long way to helping Bailey stay mobile for as long as possible. You amy also want to experiment with backing off the dose of pain meds you give him so that he is getting the best pain relief for the least amount of drug. he probably had been slowing down for some time, but it may have been in small enough increments that it was largely imperceptible to you. Once he got the pain relief from Rimadyl he was back to his old self! But you don't want him feeling so good that he overdoes things either.

 

Has your vet talked to you about FHO surgery? It involves removal of the femoral head, which relieves the pain associated with the arthirtic changes that result from HD. I have discussed it extensively with a couple of different vets, and it is an option for dogs who are in pain. It is not considered a corrective surgery as much as it's considered palliative (that is, it removes the source of the pain without curing the actual HD and associated osteoarthritis). Anyway, it's worth discussing with your vet if you're interested in a more long-term approach to the problem or if you don't like the idea of keeping Bailey on pain/anti-inflammatory meds over a long period of time.

 

Swimming is by far the best exercise Bailey can do because it will enable him to keep the muscles of his rear end strong without the added stress and impact of running or even walking.

 

Good luck.

 

J.

[honey]

Julie,

Thank your for replying, wrote down metacam and deramaxx. This is funny, bought a notebook, writing all this stuff down. Yes, our vet did discuss FHO Surgery, he said if it does happen anywhere from six months to two years. Once he has, it can not be done again. With Bailey's size, he weighs 50 lbs.,(he has to loose five pounds, per the vet, it could help), and no to hip replacement, cause he is not as big as alot of Bc's we have seen. I was worried about him feeling so great on this rimadyl, he might over do it, and that could unfortunately cause problems later on. We are taking him Swimming today, this will be interesting, he has always been "lets play ball and run around yard". He has been near water before, but was alot more interested in birds, balls, and people.

Thank you,

Sheila and Mr. Bailey

[2 Devils]

There is also a liquid that you can add to food called Arthrimax (I think). It is expensive but it lasts a couple months. My acd has a problem with one of her knees and this stuff has made a huge difference.

[Betsy]

Just want to note there has been some controversey about Deramaxx. See this link:

 

http://home.insightbb.com/~e.murray/Overview/Overview.htm

 

That being said, my dog was on it for about 4 months straight when he was 6-10 months old. He had no problems with it. He even ate an entire Rx in one sitting accidentally (left pill bottle on top of cage and it fell into cage. Several hours later I gave him hydrogen peroxide to make him vomit and some of it was still in his stomach. Couldn't tell exactly how much went through his system). Subsequent blood tests showed no problems, and he's been fine ever since (this was 1 1/2 years ago).

 

But some dogs react very badly to it (according to above link). Just wanted you to be informed.

 

He was on it before I was aware of the possible problems. I don't know if I will use it in the future for Riley or not, but if given an alternative, probably not.

[Deanna in OR]

We found an easy and effective source of glucosamine and chondroitin, when our old dog, Maile, was arthritic the last couple years of her life.

 

It's called Synflex. It comes in liquid form with a measuring bottle, so it's really easy to add to their food.

 

Maile's been gone almost 2 years, but I just re-ordered some for our old cat.

 

You can find it here

 

A bottle will last up to 2 months, depending on the size of your dog (and thus, how much you use). It seemed to make a difference for Maile.

 

Deanna in OR

[honey]

Ty all, I have been looking at the Deramaxx online, it looks like same side effects as Rimadyl. So far, its been doing good for Bailey but just dont know. Been reading as much as I can, without making my head spin. And trying to decide what is best for him. All this info has been very very helpful, so just big TY. I was in border collie group on Yahoo, no one even responded to my question on Rimadyl. So this is great, I can research on all above info. Bailey is on glucosmine with chorditin, forgive spelling, its lousy.

Sheila

[Angie Black]

Never had to experience HD with any dogs however our last dog Suzie suffered chronic arthritis and joint problems and was on Rimadyl for years, I'm no expert but found cod liver oil helped and a magnetic collar was fantastic and greatly reduced her pain ( mostly arthritis )which resulted in a lower dose of rimadyl was needed.

 

I'd deffinatley try the magnetic collar again.

[Bean]

When my dog was diagnosed with hd the vet told me to give him 1000mg of glucosamine, 500mg of Chondrotin sulfate, and Rimadyl. He told us that it was very important to gradually decrease the amount of Rimadyl over the next 2 months until we weren't giving him any. We also put him on raw food and soon he had a big beautiful butt. We only gave him Rimadyl on rare occasions when he had worked or run too much.

Jill

[Jodi]

I also have a dog who was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia at six months old. We put her on Rimadyl, but we also started her on glycoflex simultaneously. The glycoflex is a natural pain killer, but it takes about 30 days to build up in their systems. Then we weaned her off the Rimadyl. It worked really well. We also put her on glucosamine and condroitants, and was also taking her for accupuncture. I noticed a huge difference with the accupuncture, however, my husband was not convinced and didn't want me "wasting" my money. So I stopped taking her. She is now a year and a half, we've completely taken her off any pain relievers, keeping her on the G&C and she is doing great. She gets her daily exercise running with my boys and swimming as often as I can take her. Swimming is great because there is no impact on the joints.

 

Good luck with it. I certainly know the heartbreak that comes with watching a six month old puppy not be able to jump on the couch or stand on her hind legs for any length of time.

 

Jodi