Please see: http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=243370&page=0#Post243370

Karma,

Did the lameness start with the Pano or has he been this lame all along?

Are you seeing an ortho vet? Did your GP vet not recommend a referral? Did the GP vet recommend keeping the dog quiet when pano was acting up?

Does the breeder know about this?

What is the Tramadol dose?

Any reason you didn't ask for a different NSAID (instead of Rimadyl)? Maybe Deramaxx or Metacam?

Aspirin, btw, is also an NSAID. Did the vet do bloodwork before prescribing aspirin and Rimadyl?

If you could answer these one by one, that would be great.

I too am VERY sorry that this poor dog is going through such misery.


P.S. What's his weight? (For fish oil dosage, I mean; you are giving a dose for an almost-twenty-pound dog. But there are bigger issues here.)

Did the lameness start with the Pano or has he been this lame all along?

At 4 1/2 months I noticed the limp in the front left leg after only playing 10-15 minutes I thought maybe he was over doing it.

Are you seeing an ortho vet? Did your GP vet not recommend a referral?
No we are not seeing an Ortho vet and she has not referred us to one yet.

Does the breeder know about this?
I have informed the breeder of this and her response was "Oh poor Yuma I have never had a problem with his parents or any of the other puppies I have sold". I guess I got the only lemon out of say 20 something puppies these two have produced.

What is the Tramadol dose?
50 mg

Any reason you didn't ask for a different NSAID (instead of Rimadyl)? Maybe Deramaxx or Metacam?
This is the first time I have had any dog have an issue like this and need a painkiller and I didn't know about the others.

Aspirin, btw, is also an NSAID. Did the vet do bloodwork before prescribing aspirin and Rimadyl?
No there was no bloodwork done



P.S. What's his weight? (For fish oil dosage, I mean; you are giving a dose for an almost-twenty-pound dog.

He is 87 pounds now. The bottle says to give one capsule for every 50 pounds of body weight.


Edited by Connie Sutherland (06/12/2009 01:02 PM)
Edit reason: separate Q & A with italics

Easiest first: I use a gram of fish oil per ten pounds of dog weight. That would be nine of those capsules. Look up "fish oil" here and you'll find many threads. Capsules for a big dog are not very useful; you want liquid.

There are many.

Here's a good one: http://leerburg.com/47.htm


By Tramadol dose, I mean how much do you give (as opposed to the pill size)?

And how often?

I'm curious about the Tramadol dosage also. My boy takes 2-3 50 mg's pills a day, depending on how bad his pain is and he only weighs 36 lbs--1/2 your dogs weight.

I hate to see a dog in pain, so lets try to get your boy better--by both this forum and a good vet.

You need an ortho vet. You have not just pano, but from your description "a mess" of elbow dysplasia.

Not just this, but the fact that your vet gave two NSAIDs, Rimadyl and aspirin, (and aspirin for dogs is not the same as for humans; dogs and NSAIDs are a to-be-monitored thing) with no bloodwork first shocks me.

Others here will explain the liver and kidney values that have to be obtained (and repeated!) as well as the warnings of what to watch for in terms of G.I. problems when beginning an NSAID. I'm sorry that I have to get a rush work job done. However, I'll come back in a while and add this info if no one else has seen it and joined the thread.

But I hope that you will seriously consider an ortho vet eval, taking along the x-ray(s) you have. Nothing you have said about your GP vet fills me with confidence, although of course I understand that these are brief posts and a lot may be omitted. The lack of pre-protocol bloodwork (and regular re-testing) before starting with NSAIDs is troubling.

Tramadol is (IMHO) a breakthrough pain med that is much safer than most. It's not an anti-inflammatory, though, of course.

 Quote: Jo Harker

.... lets try to get your boy better--by both this forum and a good vet.

Much more delicately phrased than my own post.

You do need to get a base line kidney and liver level done. At my vet, this is done for 40 dollars max. You need to know the levels first and then after 30 days or so on the NSAID, you have the levels done again to make sure no damage is being done.

You also need to watch for stomach pain..sometimes hunching of the back, or even lack of appetite, check the bowel movements to make sure they aren't darker than normal...meaning may be bleeding in the intestinal tract..or really light colored indicating possible liver damage...vomiting can happen also.

Make sure Yuma has eaten first and has a full tummy before giving the NSAID. I found giving an NSAID a few minutes before the pain pill helped it work better for pain.

Have to get to work. More will chime in.

By Tramadol dose, I mean how much do you give


The vet told me to give him one a day and he can have it along with the Asprin.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (06/12/2009 12:27 PM)
Edit reason: separate q and a using ital

To quote someone else, hit that "quote" thing on the bottom of their post; you can then reply under their quote in the same box so the question and reply are not mixed into one paragraph.

Can you tell I am new around these here parts ......lol

 Quote: connie sutherland

To quote someone else, hit that "quote" thing on the bottom of their post; you can then reply under their quote in the same box so the question and reply are not mixed into one paragraph.