Roxie developed a nasty infection on her front leg which cause the whole leg to the shoulder to swell significantly and the pain was extreme. I know this because of E Collar training, I dialed it to where her ear would just flick and then I tried on myself. I cried like a little girl it hurt so damn bad. Well her leg was so sore that if I even touched it she would yelp and cry. I got her to the Vet and he gave a script for an NSAID, his best guess for an antibiotic until the Lab culture results came back and Tramadol, a Codiene type of med. At first she was difficult to pill so I would pill and then give a bit of hot dog, and repeat. By the third day she got the routine down. Well last night she ran/hobbled/limped over and I gave Roxie her pain meds and then the hot dog. She didn't want it. I did the same thing this morning and she did the same thing, sat nice for her pill and swallowed quickly but didn't want the hot dog. She rush the gate this morning and did the same damn thing. I'm convinced she likes getting high.

Seriously

My question is do I wean her off the drug or cold turkey. I'm afraid of cold turkey because she's bite trained and may be in a foul mood for a few days

Maybe, she is just feeling no pain and not yet a junkie! Which, as you said was no fun for her. How is the infection going? is it getting better?

Tramadol is a good choice, IMO.

What is the dosage?

The swelling is down, there is drainage, the Lab results came in and the Dr adjusted the antibiotic to the specific infection, the pain is down, Dr B said she should be good to go in seven to ten days.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Tramadol is a good choice, IMO.

What is the dosage?

100Mg twice a day or as needed

For how long?

Because stopping tramadol suddenly after a fairly long protocol can cause any of these: tremors, muscle spasms, chills, anxiety, diarrhea, and sleeplessness, I have always eased off it unless it was a short regimen (a few days).

The vet will advise you, but I have personal tramadol experience and have learned that while it doesn't have anything like the cessation side effects of something like Vicodin, it still can trigger stuff that's very unpleasant. Worth the effort of decreasing it in step-downs, in my opinion.

JMO, though. And again, I have found it to be a good pain med both for me and for my dog's occasional needs.

I asked for something to slow her down because she kept trying to do stuff and hurting herself more. It seems to work, I think I'll start tommarow and cut it to 100Mg per day, 50 in the moring and 50 at night

Poor Roxie. She is an uberhund if she put it together that fast that her pills make her feel good.

Any idea what caused it? Hope she's up and at 'em again soon.

Only the pain will slow them down, in my experience, you can't take away the pain and expect the animal to rest. The expression is, "the pain is used to protect the part". If the pain is gone, they don't rest. You can give pain meds at night or when the animal accepts confinement, like the time she expects to be in the crate. Then she will rest easy. If you give pain medication when the animal can exercise, it will exercise as if there was no injury. That's what they taught at Colorado State in l979-maybe it's not true!
All animals do get "into" pain meds, and develop tolerance quickly, so that more drug is needed for the same analgesia(only narcotics=tolerance, notNSAIDS). I don't know Tramadol, developed after I quit. I have had cows and horses clearly look forward to and seem to really want their NSAIDS.

 Quote: Meredith Hamilton

Poor Roxie. She is an uberhund if she put it together that fast that her pills make her feel good.

Any idea what caused it? Hope she's up and at 'em again soon.

she chewed her pills a couple of times so I think that's when she figured it out.

When I start finding my stuff in pawn shops and flea markets then I know I'm in trouble