Please beware...NSAID for arthritis killed my dog

[weeluvdisney]

To Plutopony.... thank you and he was very healthy...never any health problems at all. He only went to the vet for shots and years ago was attacked by a great dane and had a large laceration stitched up. Thats it. No new food, no new treats, pet friendly yard, didn't get into anything.

To EllenFrasier...thank you. I do have 2 other pets, and I agree one doesn't replace the other. I love them too, they are all different but Mack was one of a kind and he picked us being a stray and all. One second having them helps and the next second looking at them just makes me cry for Mack.

On another note, I have never had anyone in my family or any friends get deathly ill or die from medication till now with my dog. I have never been a big pill taker. We humans in this house don't take anything unless we absolutely have to have it and the minute we dont, we stop taking it. So glad we are healthy and that's how we do things here. Since dogs can't talk I will really be educating myself on how to handle this in the future. A more natural way of doing things for them to help them if they need pain relief.

 

[weeluvdisney]

That explains what happened to Lucy, in march she stopped eating (after she was on NSAID for arthritis. This was treated by having her kidneys flushed out twice. I didn't put this together at the time as I was so freaked out by it (the previous month my mother died of kidney failure due to cancer) I was told it was kidney failure and she should eat a special kidney food and she wouldn't live more than a couple of months. She refused to eat the special food so she has been eating normal dog food and although the arthritis is making going up stairs a bit hard (I carry her as she gets distressed if she doesnt sleep with me) she has been fine. Scratch tht she has been taking shameless advantage. Of her "illness" to get away with blue murder but as she is 13.5 years old she get the privilege of old age!

Possibly. I am so glad you got her to the vet in time for her to be healed. They tried that for Mack but it wasn't meant to be. Wow, 13.5 and she made it, what a strong will to live. Yes, I'm sure she is taking advantage as well she should. We baby our pets too and they so appreciate. Mack was a big boxer 80 lbs. My husband and 17 yr old son had to carry him up and down stairs when he was sick. I'm glad your dog made it. Now yoou know about this and can talk to your vet and do research so you don't lose your precious dog to these meds.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Again, so sorry for what you are going through. We understand your anger and grief. As a dog lover I'm touched to hear how much you loved your dog - every dog should be so lucky - really. It's been many years since my dog died during surgery and it still stings to think about. I feel differently about him than I do any of my other dogs who came after him, who were all able to live out their natural lives with me carefully weighing every decision there was to make about them. (I was only 17 when I consented to the ill-fated surgery, which wasn't even legal. )

As a hospital nurse of almost 30 years, I am as familiar with medications and their risks and side effects as anyone. It wouldn't be a stretch to say I've probably administered hundreds of thousands of medications, including serious intravenous cardiac medications. It's my responsibility to know about each and every one I'm giving and to also teach the patient about them as well. When a medical decision is made to give a certain medication, physicians (and veterinarians and dentists, etc.) weigh benefits and risks and always remember to "first, do no harm". This is not a perfect process. (Wait, that's an understatement - it's an incredibly complex process!. How do I know if I'm not a physician? Because we work as teams and everyone has to be on the same page about why someone is to receive something.)

Unfortunately, even with the best laid plans, adverse reactions can occur. (Not talking about medical errors here, just reactions.) This is an unfortunate reality of using medications. Nobody can ever say for sure who will react negatively and who will not. Thankfully the vast majority of reactions are not fatal ones.

To share a story that I hope might make you feel better and that comes to mind in discussing medication reactions... After I was diagnosed with breast cancer and learned I had to get three types of chemotherapy, I was so scared. Being a nurse in these situations is never fun, having seen so many things over the years. When the day came for me to have the first infusion, I kid you not, signing the consent form and reading through the possible adverse events that could occur, the thought went through my mind that I was signing my own death certificate. (Not a nice thought with two six year olds at home.) Prior to that, I had spent weeks preparing myself, and weighing all the risks and benefits of receiving these caustic medications. The bottom line was that I wanted the best odds I could to live to raise my children, and this was the avenue that was going to take me there - my oncologist telling me, "The time to fight it is now". Still, the process of receiving these meds was a difficult one. Thankfully I had a great nurse who understood when I asked her to let me read the label after it was mixed (not that I knew much about the complexity of that medication or label since I didn't work in oncology; somehow it just helped me feel more in control in a predicament where I had little control) and supported my need to relax during administration, having spent weeks learning (make that forcing myself) to think of the drugs as helpful to me rather than harmful, etc. Being here to type this, you can see I was one of the lucky ones who had no unfortunate outcomes (yet, since they can still occur years later), and more importantly, I'm sitting here with my two 14 year olds enjoying our Sunday morning together. Subsequently, I have no regrets as I know I made the best decision I could at the time, and I think I would feel this way even if the outcome been different.

I think, as upset as you are, that you can take comfort in the fact that you and your vet were acting on your dog's behalf to help him. (And somehow I bet Mack knows that.) What happened was terrible, and your heart will be broken for a very long time. But you must distinguish between deliberate actions of wrongdoing or negligence, and an unexpected, unforseen reaction to a medication.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

On another note, I have never had anyone in my family or any friends get deathly ill or die from medication till now with my dog. I have never been a big pill taker. We humans in this house don't take anything unless we absolutely have to have it and the minute we dont, we stop taking it. So glad we are healthy and that's how we do things here. Since dogs can't talk I will really be educating myself on how to handle this in the future. A more natural way of doing things for them to help them if they need pain relief.

Just remember that even "natural" things can, and often do, have untoward side effects as well. Most of them are not scientifically studied or regulated like medications are.

 

[ilovejack02]

We believe Rimadyl was the downfall of our doxie a few years ago. She was doing fine health wise, but stiff. Vet recommended , we knew the risks but decided to go ahead with it. She was gone with in five weeks. : ( . We don't blame the vet , he kept us fully informed and we did our own homework. It works great for some dogs, not for others.

I will look into alternatives before I put another pet on it. We will have to address this prob in the next year. Our old man doxie is 12 now .

 

[Pea-n-Me]

If you search NSAIDS killing dogs you will find pages and pages or dead dogs. Dogs of all ages and dogs that were healthy before they took the medicine and then dead either within 2 days or months later.

People are more likely to post something negative than positive, especially when they're highly emotional about it. There are millions of pets taking these medications with good effects that we won't hear about because there are no "issues". The same can be said of many things.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I will look into alternatives before I put another pet on it. We will have to address this prob in the next year. Our old man doxie is 12 now .

That's the thing. Twelve years old in the life of a dog is old. Young dogs, like people, usually do better with things. That's a fact. They heal faster, their immune systems are better, they tolerate medications better. With old age comes things like artherosclerosis, mini strokes (even asymptomatic ones), skeletal changes, you name it. These put the dog higher at risk for adverse events, naturally. I am going through this now with a very elderly parent. We have to weigh everything at this point more than we ever had to, and balance out things like procedures and surgeries with risks of those procedures vs. living out a natural lifespan with disease, etc. Medications and procedures are great and they have their place in our lives. But unfortunately, we are still fighting an uphill battle when we're treating living beings toward the end of their lifespans. Any medication or procedure will carry more risk in an elderly dog, or human.

She was doing fine health wise, but stiff.

Not picking on you (I swear), but pointing out that if she was stiff, there were a lot of age-related changes that had already occured.

 

[Feralpeg]

I am so sorry for your loss, OP. Sadly, we just never know what will happen when we give medications to our pets. My elderly golden was to the point that I was considering having him put down. He could barely walk and was in severe pain. My vet put him on Rimadyl. It was like a miracle. His quality of life improved drastically. Eventually, even the Rimadyl could not handle the problem and I lost my beloved pet. However, Rimadyl gave me an additional three years with him.

Please don't think that all of the companies making these drugs are evil and that the drugs are bad. It is the same with people. Some people will react badly to drugs that are life savers for others. It would be wonderful if that were not the case and that all people and animals would react favorably to all medications. That will never happen.

Again, OP, I grieve for you. I have lost way to many pets in my lifetime and it never gets easier.

 

[TerriP]

I am so very sorry for your loss. I have been where you are and I know your grief.

I understand that your intention was to spread the word on your experience and encourage others to gather info and make informed decisions when placing their pets on medication. I thank you for caring enough to try to help others avoid the traumatic loss you've just experienced. I'm so sorry that some of the responses have been argumentative and hurtful. It is, unfortunately, the nature of the internet. Please know your intention was clear to me. I hear you, and I thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I understand that your intention was to spread the word on your experience and encourage others to gather info and make informed decisions when placing their pets on medication. I thank you for caring enough to try to help others avoid the traumatic loss you've just experienced. I'm so sorry that some of the responses have been argumentative and hurtful. It is, unfortunately, the nature of the internet. Please know your intention was clear to me. I hear you, and I thank you for sharing your experience.

Terri, I just reviewed the whole thread and I fail to see any responses that were argumentative or hurtful.

This is a discussion board. Are we not supposed to discuss things if we have something meaningful to add?

Should we let all the Dis pets suffer in pain because posters are afraid to give their animals NSAIDs that are safe for most who use them?

Seriously, I don't understand posts like this.

 

[chisnpeke]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[twinboysmom]

OP, I am very sorry for your loss. We are huge animal lovers and are very attached to our "zoo".

I just wanted to give another side to NSAIDS use in dogs. We have a 11 year old basset hound named Molly. She developed a severe case of arthritis in hips when she was just shy of 8. She could no longer get up the stairs, no longer play with our 2 other dogs. She stayed on rimadyl for a little over a year. For her, it was a true lifesaver. She was able to be a dog again, she wasn't quite as quick but could still play. We truly thought we were going to have to put her down before rimadyl.

Our vet switched her almost 1.5 years ago to an injection called Adequan. It also has similar side effects as oral NSAIDS. She improved even more and now just occassionaly uses rimadyl for when she has overdone it.

Without these medications, our precious hound would not be with us. We were and continue to be aware of the side effects. We knew about the potential bleeding and kidney failure. We chose to take the risks and have no regrets.

 

[maxaroni]

I responded to you on your other thread but wanted you to know am thinking of you. We are close to a year from losing our beloved cocker spaniel to Deramaxx. Kidney failure was what happened to him as well. I understand that not all dogs have a bad reaction or die from there's meds but feel that even the small percentage of dogs that it happens to is too much. I realize that many do well on these drugs but I feel that our word to people is to make them aware of what can happen. If one chooses to put their dog on them be aware of the risks. We are still heartbroken. You weren't with your beloved boxer when he crossed which has to also be very hard. Our beloved Max was in the vets for 4 days, home with the kidney dog food and downhill again within 24 hours. We took him back to the vets and put him down. It was so hard to do but he was in bad shape with no hope to get better. Ironically, my mom is heading into end stage renal failure with dialysis soon.

We had 2 cocker spaniels...Lucky, who we found abandoned and adopted him after not finding his owner. Then we adopted Max from the shelter when he was about 5. Lucky was older and we loved him and cared for him for nearly 4 years to the day. He died on my lap, on my birthday. Losing him was so hard but he had heart and lung problems and they just gave out. Losing max we feel as though we let him down by giving him the Deramaxx. Very difficult for us. We don't want another dog...can't go there.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

 

[maxaroni]

OP, I am very sorry for your loss. We are huge animal lovers and are very attached to our "zoo".

I just wanted to give another side to NSAIDS use in dogs. We have a 11 year old basset hound named Molly. She developed a severe case of arthritis in hips when she was just shy of 8. She could no longer get up the stairs, no longer play with our 2 other dogs. She stayed on rimadyl for a little over a year. For her, it was a true lifesaver. She was able to be a dog again, she wasn't quite as quick but could still play. We truly thought we were going to have to put her down before rimadyl.

Our vet switched her almost 1.5 years ago to an injection called Adequan. It also has similar side effects as oral NSAIDS. She improved even more and now just occassionaly uses rimadyl for when she has overdone it. Without these medications, our precious hound would not be with us. We were and continue to be aware of the side effects. We knew about the potential bleeding and kidney failure. We chose to take the risks and have no regrets.

I just wrote about our experience with Deramaxx. It was awful. However our beloved cocker spaniel, Max, did do well for a short period the Deramaxx did wonders for him. However, it was short lived. For you, you are aware of the risks and taking that chance. That is wonderful that Molly is doing well but you made an informed decision. Many people don't realize the risks and I feel that is what is important...making people aware to make an informed decision for your fur baby. It's nearly 1 year since max died and we are still heartbroken. May Molly continue to do well

 

[weeluvdisney]

I responded to you on your other thread but wanted you to know am thinking of you. We are close to a year from losing our beloved cocker spaniel to Deramaxx. Kidney failure was what happened to him as well. I understand that not all dogs have a bad reaction or die from there's meds but feel that even the small percentage of dogs that it happens to is too much. I realize that many do well on these drugs but I feel that our word to people is to make them aware of what can happen. If one chooses to put their dog on them be aware of the risks. We are still heartbroken. You weren't with your beloved boxer when he crossed which has to also be very hard. Our beloved Max was in the vets for 4 days, home with the kidney dog food and downhill again within 24 hours. We took him back to the vets and put him down. It was so hard to do but he was in bad shape with no hope to get better. Ironically, my mom is heading into end stage renal failure with dialysis soon.

We had 2 cocker spaniels...Lucky, who we found abandoned and adopted him after not finding his owner. Then we adopted Max from the shelter when he was about 5. Lucky was older and we loved him and cared for him for nearly 4 years to the day. He died on my lap, on my birthday. Losing him was so hard but he had heart and lung problems and they just gave out. Losing max we feel as though we let him down by giving him the Deramaxx. Very difficult for us. We don't want another dog...can't go there.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

You defintely get where I'm coming from and I'm so glad. The whole point it you don't know what dog this medication will harm. Again, I am so happy for the people that have great luck with these meds. I never thought anything of it or that our dog would have any other outcome. I had no idea NSAIDS are toxic to some dogs and you don't know ahead of time if it will be to your dog. People that have more then one dog could have one dog on an NSAID as we speak. Say 2 months from now their other dog gets injured or needs surgery and needs an NSAID...they think nothing of it because their other dog is on it and fine. Then...BANG the other dog dies in 2 days 2 weeks or 2 months from being poisoned by a drug that their other dog was on for 2 yrs. This is my point. It's great if your dog is on it and they have a new life or it saved them but that doesn't help the people who might put their dogs on it not knowing like me and end up with a suffering needless death.

I am doing a bit better today. I have still held down the chair all day but I have been active on the internet spreading the word.

Maxaroni if you get a chance in the next couple of days I would like you to visit a website. A lady started it in 2007 after she lost her 2 yr old lab to previcox. It has 9 pages of dogs that died, got really sick, or are on the drug with no problems. She will be adding my story and Mack's picture. The picture was taken at the vet the day before he died. A picture tells a thousand words but he was smart, loyal, loving, affectionate, handsome and amazing till the end. Thank you to those accepting of this info, I'm just trying to help, not hurt. Spread the word so no one else has to go through this.

Website is death by previcox Rowdy's last vacation. Look for the email story section. Hopefully she will have Mack added in the next day or two.

 

[maxaroni]

You defintely get where I'm coming from and I'm so glad. The whole point it you don't know what dog this medication will harm. Again, I am so happy for the people that have great luck with these meds. I never thought anything of it or that our dog would have any other outcome. I had no idea NSAIDS are toxic to some dogs and you don't know ahead of time if it will be to your dog. People that have more then one dog could have one dog on an NSAID as we speak. Say 2 months from now their other dog gets injured or needs surgery and needs an NSAID...they think nothing of it because their other dog is on it and fine. Then...BANG the other dog dies in 2 days 2 weeks or 2 months from being poisoned by a drug that their other dog was on for 2 yrs. This is my point. It's great if your dog is on it and they have a new life or it saved them but that doesn't help the people who might put their dogs on it not knowing like me and end up with a suffering needless death.
I am doing a bit better today. I have still held down the chair all day but I have been active on the internet spreading the word.

Maxaroni if you get a chance in the next couple of days I would like you to visit a website. A lady started it in 2007 after she lost her 2 yr old lab to previcox. It has 9 pages of dogs that died, got really sick, or are on the drug with no problems. She will be adding my story and Mack's picture. The picture was taken at the vet the day before he died. A picture tells a thousand words but he was smart, loyal, loving, affectionate, handsome and amazing till the end. Thank you to those accepting of this info, I'm just trying to help, not hurt. Spread the word so no one else has to go through this.

Website is death by previcox Rowdy's last vacation. Look for the email story section. Hopefully she will have Mack added in the next day or two.

I certainly will visit the website. We had no clue either about how these drugs can be toxic. Even if it is 1% of dogs that is too many. Our beloved Max was in our hearts and will be forever. Yet he was taken from us too soon and in such a horrible way. As I have said it is nearly one year (8/31/11) and we are still heartbroken.

We are our pets advocates and they trust us to care for them. Losing our pets is devastating enough, without the guilt that we gave them this medicine. Yes, most do well and am very happy about that. However, Mack and Max were in the percentage that were poisoned. It is tragic.

You are doing the right thing and I commend you.

 

[Disney Doll]

Thank you for the support.
I am extremely upset and angry but I am thinking very CLEARLY.
I am 42 and it isn't my first rodeo. I know there are side effects from medicines but death shouldn't be an acceptable side effect.
I just want to get the word out for people that have pets and love them.
I thought I would be helping my dog and instead he died. He had the bloodwork ahead of time. He was completely healthy other then arthritis.
The whole point to getting the word out is so people know that you are taking a chance giving any NSAID to any dog of any age including a young healthy dog. When you give your dog this medicine, you have NO idea which if any could kill your dog. I couldn't be more happy for the loving dog owners that can give their dogs rimadyl, previcox, deramaxx, metacam or any others, with no problems. The problem is what happened to my dog could have been prevented in some way if I was more educated and the vet was more open. I take complete responsibility although I am changing vets for a new start and educating myself and if I can save one dog thats my goal. Now that this has happened, I will always know to make my own decisions and then I can better deal with the outcome. There should be a warning in big bold letters on the outside of the box that this medicine has killed many dogs and its possibey that major organ damage can be done before you even know anything is wrong with your dog. At least with people unless they are already deathly ill, they can tell somone that something is wrong or they are very sick. A dog can't tell you anything.
Also, I am not blaming the first thing. The vet said that this medicine ended up being toxic to my dog.
On a final note, I am not here to argue. Facts are facts! I am here to help anyone that I can to not go through what I am going through right now. Everyone has a right to their opinion. An opinion is a personal observation and a fact is a fact. Thank you to each and everyone one of you that are supportive and sympathetic. I have had a miserable 3 days of grief and guilt but one day at a time I suppose. I never thought in a million years I would love a dog this much but I did. He was a stray that wandered in our yard one day October 2004...I was terrified of him and didn't want to keep him but when no one claimed him my husband talked me into it and I'm so glad.

My sympathies on the loss of your dog. I lost my beloved Ted almost 5 years ago and it can still make me .

The statement I bolded above is a risk for any medication, including natural remedies such as herbs etc. My neighbor's dog died from eating a particular brand of dog food, whichis still on the market and causes no harm to millions of dogs, but for THIS dog, something in the food was enough to cause kidney failure.

From your description, it sounds like your vet had done bloodwork to make sure that physically the dog could handle the medication.

As a nurse, I can tell you that sometimes one doesn't know what the reaction will be to a medication until the patient takes it. Any substance, whether chemical or natural, that we put into or ont our bodies can cause a reaction. I've had human patients go into kidney failure from using "just some herbal stuff my naturopath gave me". I don't think herbal treatments or naturpaths are bad because of this, but anything is a risk really. People or animals can react differently to things due to their individual chemical make-ups.

I agree with your premise that pet owners (and for that matter, humans) should be very well-versed and well-educated in the possible side effects of medications. I don't necessarily agree with your premise that this particular medication is bad, even though a bad thing happened to your pet as a result of using it. I know several people who have thier pets on NSAIDs and their pets, like some of the stories shared here, are doing quite well and the NSAID has given their pet a much better quality of life.

So sorry you're sad..

 

[weeluvdisney]

Thank you again for everyones support. SO sorry to any of you that had dogs get sick or pass away from these drugs. Here is a link to the Previcox site that a lady built when she lost her dog to the drug. She added Mack's picture and story. The picture was taken the day before he died when we rushed him to the vet. http://www.k911.biz/Previcox_Emails/main.php?g2_itemId=1328