Rimadyl: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

I was doing some research on something and came across a website:  www.srdogs.com which is The Senior Dogs Project.  Because seniors are near and dear to my heart, having lost one this year, and having two more seniors still at home that I know I will be losing sooner rather than later, I paws'ed to spend some time on the site.  I migrated to the memorials page (I lost the redhead on the left in the picture above this year at 16 years 9 months) and ended up reading the below memorial which really touched me.  In fact the story touched me so much I wanted to do a blog post about it.

Like I have said in the past, I have tasked myself to not rant on this blog so here's a picture to express the flavor of my thoughts about Rimadyl:

But in truth, according to some doggie mom and dad's, there is a 'good' to Rimadyl. As a doggie mom myself, I was not aware of side effects to Rimadyl, but I tend to avoid pharmaceuticals for myself and for my dogs when ever possible.  Never the less I have given my dogs Rimadyl in the past for pain, just as I have given myself Tylenol 3 for severe tooth pain that kept me from sleeping.  But I have never given my dogs Rimadyl continuously for arthritis or the like.

After reading Maggie's story from The Seniors Dogs Project memorial's page (a screenprint of the story is below), I started to do research into Rimadyl.  Whoa.  Here's the bad.  There are serious and severe known side effects to Rimadyl.  Like it did with Maggie in the story below, it can kill your dog.  In the year 2000, an investigative reporter named Chris Adams who worked for The Wall Street Journal at the time, did an article on Rimadyl entitiled:  'Most Arthritic Dogs Do Very Well On This Pill, Except Ones That Die".  I have a copy of this article in the DoggieResearch.com Document Library in the Arthritis section.  Rimadyl is very commonly prescribed by western medicine vets, and I would classify this article as a very important read for doggie mom and dads.

As for the Ugly?  Well, I don't want to spend a lot of time on the ugly.  The Senior Dogs Project has a section dedicated to Rimadyl and the lawsuits, deaths, side effects, manufacturers information, etc.  This is a really excellent resource, and you can find it here:  Rimadyl:  News, Views & Advisories  It is not an anti-rimadyl resource.  It lists all info it can find, which enables you to do your own research.

The bottom line is, you have to do your research.  Your dog cannot do it for himself or herself.  You cannot necessarily trust your vet to do it for you.  As with any medical doctor, vets have a lot of continuous education reading to do.  What if they haven't read this one yet?  What if they are negligent about the side effects?  What if your dog is one of the dogs that gets liver toxicity from taking Rimadyl?  Do your research. 

Go to this page for a review of the signs of a potentially life-threatening reaction to Rimadyl and 10 steps to take if you suspect your dog has had an adverse reaction to Rimadyl.