# Has any dog recovered from Rymadyl side effect?



## orbitalpunk (Sep 26, 2007)

*Has any dog recovered from Rimadyl side effects? Please Help.*

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone had experience neurological side effect after using Rymadyl on there doggie. after taking Rymadyl for 2 weeks for my golden retriever he as experience Incordination, Seizure, paralysis and disorientation. I stooped administering it and am hoping there is hope for recovery since it states that in Pfizers literature. 

for more history you can view my first post yesterday and updated today. put please post your experiences here if you can.

Thanks so much.

http://www.dogforums.com/13-dog-health-questions/14202-golden-retriever-arthritis-tumor.html#post127775


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

My dog was given Rymadyl after his neuter and suffered bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Thankfully, he'd only been given 2 doses, and I stopped. It could have killed him. This drug is lethal to many dogs. 

I do hope your dear golden recovers.


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

I've used Rimadyl on, oh, at least two dozen or so dogs (my own and fosters) and have not experienced any negative side effects. A couple of our seniors were on it long term for arthritis, which it helped with tremendously. Your vet is going to be the best person to assess what, if any, permanent damage has been done. Typically, if the drug is stopped when side effects are first noticed a full recovery can be made.

If there is some other disease process causing your dog's lameness, it could be his neurological symptoms are stemming from that, and not the rimadyl.



poodleholic said:


> It could have killed him. This drug is lethal to many dogs.


Not exactly. SOME dogs have a reaction to it. Just like they can have a reaction to ANY drug. Rimadyl is used without complications in many, many cases every year across the country. With ANYTHING you give your dog, be sure your vet advises you as to possible side effects and when you need to take action. Most reactions are seen within 24-48 hours of taking the drug. Long term use should have bloodwork drawn before and while on the medication to check kidney/liver values - per Pfizer's insert. Some vets skip this part. 

I know a dog that nearly died from prednisone, but I wouldn't exactly say it's lethal to "many" dogs. Some dogs do not do well on it, others do fine. Just like with humans and human drugs.


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## orbitalpunk (Sep 26, 2007)

well i just came back from transferring my dog from the evening clinic to the day clinic. i feel so lost. the vets and both places are pushing the idea that its a possible brain or spinal tumor instead. they honestly dont know but want to rule out cancer by doing a MRI and Ultrasound. but its so expensive. there talking about thousands of dollars for each test. but also they have never seen a dog in person that had neurological problems related to Rymadyl so there knowledge is limited in that respect. his blood was pretty good. hi white blood count was slight elevated to 22000. but he has also had ear and eye infections all his life so that could be why. they usually go away with topical ointments. he is also slightly anemic but not seriously and it is holding. his xrays showed no problems what so ever. no arthritis, tumors or hip problems.

if anyone know a place in los angles that could provide affordable internal medicine advice or neurological services, it would mean the world to me. at this point i dont know what to do. pursue the cancer route or keep him stable with cathaders and IV's to see if time will reverse the side effects of Rymadyl if that is even the exact cause. hence, some knowledge with dealing with Rymadyl would be so help full. ill be happy to email his lab work and xrays if anyone can help.


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## chicroses (Sep 26, 2007)

My golden retriever/springer spaniel has been on Rymadal since 12/06. He damaged his Keelia tendon then we had x-ray done and he has hip dysplasia. He is 7yrs. He takes one pill a day. I really think it has helped him to be able to still walk. Not run anymore. But he is doing well. Were supposed to give him 2 a day but he gets 1. Sally


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## GreatDaneMom (Sep 21, 2007)

my pup has Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy, shes a great dane, and has been on rimadyl for a few months now, shes actually going to start being weaned off of it next week because shes walking and running and normal now. i personally love rimadyl. she went from being a pup who didnt MOVE for a month, to being a pup who could scoot across the floor on her butt, to being able to hold herself to go potty, to gimpimg around, and now shes normal. she went through 3 months of not walking at all. she was also in tramadol, but we already took her off of that. she has had no side effects from either drugs at all.


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## orbitalpunk (Sep 26, 2007)

well he has had 2 seizures today at the clinic. i dont know why he's been off all meds for 4 days and this was the first time it ever happened. im even more confused now.

I have written up a better timeline of what happened. if you know anyone with any knowledge of dealing with Rimadyl and its side effect, please show them my time line. see if they feel its Rimadyl or not and how i can treat Alex.

http://homepage.mac.com/orbitalpunk/.Public/alex.pdf

Thanks so much


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## SandyA (Sep 30, 2007)

*Re: Has any dog recovered from Rimadyl side effects? Please Help.*

orbitalpunk, 

I had something VERY similiar happen to my dog recently (a little over a month ago). I'm also based in Los Angeles.

Warning this is long, sorry!

I got almost the same story as you, at first. He started limping on his front left leg on 8-20-07, so I took him to the vet 2 days later, he says it's a sprain (took x-rays no fractures), so he gave him a soft case and rimadyl for 7 days. When he took the cast off, Pookie was okay, a little stiff (vet said it was normal because of the cast), then 2 days later, he starts falling over to his left when walking, and then his back left leg starts to get stiff, he doesn't want to walk much. So, I get really concerned, I know something is off, and his vet just keeps writing him off, so I took him to a new vet hospital , they did, bloodwork and x-rays and there were no fractures, and vet said it was probably a sprain and it was taking a while to heal, because he has arthritis in his elbow, and also he is overweight at 8.8lbs, and he said he should be 6lbs, so the weight isn't helping as well, and he put him on a diet and gave him carprofen and cosequin for arthritis and pain. 

Well, the next day, Pookie started to stiffen up his rear left leg, and I noticed it would swing out when he walked, and he was slightly dragging it, so I took him back to the vet at night, per vet's instruction, and he checked him, and then just said to bring him the next day for more testing (stomach ultrasound, and new x-rays on rear leg. He also took him off of carprofen and put him on tramadol because he had high liver enzymes- (maybe due to the week on Rimadyl? )He said they would also run the blood again in 1 month to see if the levels decrease and he could start rimadyl again. 

They did a x-ray on the rear leg and said he had grade 3 Luxating patella, and that they did a surgery consult and that they determined that patellar surgery would not benefit him right now. I did not speak to the specialist, just to the vet. 

The vet said they localized pain in Pookie's neck and lower back. They said to rest him to resolve back pain and then we could do an MRI of his spine in a month. 

The day after, Pookie's front left leg seemed to be bit better. He wasn't limping on it as much, nor did he go down while walking, (but I don't know it's just the pain control meds masking it). His rear left still sticked out though, and he wasn't running out, he just walked slowly.

So, I thought I'd rest him for a few days and then I would take him to a othopedic specialist at a animal specialty hospital. 

Well, we went in for a othropedic consult and ended up in neurology. The doctor almost immediately said Pookie's problems were neurological and not orthopedic, he had really bad coordination on all 4 legs. So, they recommended a MRI and CSF-Tap and we went for it the next day. 

The following afternoon I got an update call from his surgeon; he has cervical myelitis, that is what was causing his instability in his limbs, not Luxating Patella. He had high elevated white cells, an indicator of myelitis. They also found a mass 2 cm long , along the left side of his neck, they say it's not pushing on the spinal cord, so they are thinking that it is the myelitis causing his problems. They drained fuild from the mass as well, and the next day I got the news that he has thyroid cancer. They did x-rays, etc...and the radiologist said he did not think that it has spread to his lungs (this was a little over a week ago) and the surgeon thought the tumor could be removed (we would have surgery consult this week).


Needless to say, we're floored, both things were unexpected, but of course we're worried. He was immediately put on low-dose steriods and anit-biotics while we waited on the titers results for the myelitis (there are 2 causes: infectious or autoimmune). 2 days ago we got the results and it's autoimmune, so he's on the steriod and 1 anti-biotic. Treatment for autoimmune born myelitis is autoimmune suppression with high steroids, but we need to coordinate with the tumor removal surgery and chemo, so we're not there yet. We're all discussing it this week (neurologist, oncologist, and surgeon).

It's tough. No doubt, we're all just dumsbstruck and hurt at the turn in events. I urge everyone to never 'settle' for an answer if you're not satisfied with it. I wasn't with his initial diganosis and I pushed further, and now we know what we're dealing with. 

As far as expenses, I'm not going to lie it was expensive. Pookie's being treated at a highly regarded specialty hospital in L-A. The diagnostic test this last time, x-rays, MRI, bloodwork, urinanalysis (this was really expensive because they ran for like everything that could give him an infection) and spinal tap, came out to just under $4,400, and this doesn't include all the other tests I had done before at the vet before. 

You mentioned the MRI and C-tap, this is what they cost me. 
The MRI was $880 for test alone
CSP-Tap was $330 for test alone



My advice to you, is to do what you can do for your dog, I know that $4,000 for testing alone is a lot and not everyone can do it.Believe me, I'm not rich, but I was able to manage that cost, I hope that you are able to find help as well. 
But, I would not just hold out that it is rimadyl alone causing Alex's problem, if you can try to dig deeper by getting him more advanced testing, the seizures are very concerning. We're fortunate that Pookie did not have that, and I believe we caught the myelitis early enough to treat it successfully. 

The specialists also thought that it could be a ruptured disc on his spinal cord, but that was ruled out with the MRI and c-tap, you should ask your vet if that could be a possibly for Alex.

I'm not sure if we can give out vets names on the board, but if you'd like there information let me know. 

All the best to you and Alex.

Sandy


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## orbitalpunk (Sep 26, 2007)

Hi Sandy,

Thank you for your post. I might see the same connection. Why did they check for the lung. was that the next possible place? cause in alex's xray, they did see a unknown spot on his lung. and had do remember seeing his rear swing out when he walked one night for most the the block.

what specific test and identify this. jsut a overall mri? in cheaper options to find this one disease?

thank you so much
right now alex is unresponsive. his white blood count is now 44000. it doubled in a day and a half. were treating it with ampacillin.


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## SandyA (Sep 30, 2007)

orbitalpunk, 

I replied to your email. 

As far as the lungs, yes that is one of the next spots that the thyroid cancer could spread. They did the radiographs and the radiologist said he couldn't see anything, which is good. They think the tumor is movable, so we will have the surgery consult Thursday.

The c-tap is what diagnosed the Cervical Myelitis, (it can either affect the brain or spinal cord) the MRI found the mass and also confirmed the myelitis lesions, and they took fluid from the mass, and it came back as neoplasoia (cancer). The myelitis is affecting Pookie's spinal cord not brain. 

Do a search for encephilitis, you'll see the different types, and treatment options.

-S.


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