My son's dog Sascha, has really bad hips and twice daily doses of aspirin wasn't controlling her pain, so when he had to take her into the vet last Tuesday for another reason, he asked about pain management. The vet prescribed Rimadyl. It's very expensive, so I did some Googling to try to find it cheaper, and came across a number of websites warning about strong and sometimes fatal negative results from this medication. I alerted Scott, who did some further research, and we watched her carefully. By Friday, she was not drinking any water, so we stopped the Rimadyl and the vet prescribed a different pain med. Since then, we were "fooling" her by putting a lot of water in her food, since she was eating but not drinking. Tonight she went to the water dish for the first time since last Wednesday.

Please understand, as I read the information, like Vioxx, Rimadyl is a great drug for pain control 95% of the time. But there are real and serious risks about 5% of the time. So if you have a dog who needs pain control, please be aware of this.

From my reading, it looks like a responsible vet will do a blood test before prescribing Rimadyl, to be sure there are no kidney or liver problems, and another blood test should be done in a few weeks to be sure the drug itself doesn't cause kidney or liver problems, with subsequent tests every 4-6 months.

It gave really great pain control. Sascha was acting like a puppy, almost, for the first time in many months. I'm really sorry that she is one of the dogs that has negative side effects with it. But I did want to alert the dog owners and lovers here.

By Shellyg on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 07:50 pm:

Ginny a few years ago I had rescued a very old dog. Horrible hips and joints and Rimadyl was recommended right away after blood work. The dog died three months later from liver failure. I will not use the stuff. I am glad you did the research. There are several meds out there that should help Sascha with her hips. Good luck!

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 08:09 pm:

She's on Tramadol right now, which didn't give reallly great pain relief the first couple of days(especially when compared to the pain relief the Rimadyl gave her), but seems to be giving her good pain relief now. The vet put her on it because the vet wants to try a different drug with her but it is one that she should not take until the Rimadyl is thoroughly out of her system. Which makes my paranoid antennae rise up real high, because it makes me wonder if this new proposed drug also puts strain on the kidneys/liver.

By the way, what drugs have you had success with. On a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the worst, Sascha is a 4 on one hip and 3 on the other. When she had to have arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, the vet surgeon did some arthroscopic repair on the hip on that side, which is what took it from a 4 down to a 3. She is a Rottie, and about 10-15 pounds overweight (which we are working on - constantly), and pretty much a couch potato (literally - I gave up on that issue and just put an old army blanket on the couch to catch most of the dog hair). She is, of course, a real sweetie pie.

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - 09:04 pm:

Poor Sascha, I have heard about Rimadyl on my dog board. Thanks for the heads-up, here.

By Karen~moderator on Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - 07:47 am:

Wow, Tramadol is generic for Ultram - I had no idea they used that for animals too! My sister swears by that stuff, Ginny. It did nothing for me though. Good to know it can help a dog. Kali has the beginnings of hip pain/problems, so now I know what to talk to the vet about! Thanks.