More Fentanyl patch questions??
 

My younger yorkie Millie just had surgery to repair her LP and her torn cruxiate ligament on Thursday. She came through the surgery okay and was given Metacam to take once a day. She started using the surgical leg a lot more today, putting weight on it while she is walking, so it seems today she is in a little more pain. She was agitated and whining. I called the surgical vets (they are open 24 hours) and they said to bring her in so they could put the fentanyl patch on her. Well, now she has it on, but I started reading about the effects online and am starting to panic. I am a pharmacist so I know it is strong, but I have no idea how it is metabolized in dogs.

Has anyone used this with no issues with their dogs or has it only led to bad side effects? I don't want her to be in pain, but I also don't want to risk her not eating/drinking/ or depressing her respirations. She is about 2 years old and about 4.5 lbs for reference. They said they put a 12 mcg patch on.

Please anyone with any experience let me know, I am getting very worried even though she if fine right now, I am afraid of any side effects popping up.

And thanks to Hot Rod's mom for the soft e collar, it is working really well.

Thanks,
Jessica

I don't have an answer for you, but I thought I would bump it up.

Never dealt with it here.
Did they give Tramadol with the Metacam though? That can work well for some...

My girl has taken buprenorphine and did fine with it.
Side effects are scary though. :(

I'm really surprised they put a patch on her. Did they say if they used the whole patch or just half of the 12?

I used to work for a board certified vet surgeon and a fentanyl patch was protocol for dogs getting orthopedic surgery done. I just went to my work note book to look up the dosages for fentanyl and it says dogs under 7lbs do not get a patch. dogs 7-10lbs get a 12, 11-22 get a 25, etc...

So where i worked we would not have put a fentanyl on a dog this small.

As far as side effects go I rarely saw any. We put these on 90% of our patients (dogs and cats of all sizes) right after surgery while they are recovering and tell the owners to take it off on the 5th day. technically the meds only work for 3-4 but we do 5 just in case. I don't recall any breathing problems with the patients. The side effect i do recall is urine retention. Very rarely we would get a patient that just would not urinate, so the patch was removed. After removal the patient would either urinate a little while later or we would catheterize it to help them out a little. As far as eating/drinking problems i don't recall that being a huge problem either. Most patients handle it very well.

both my yorkie and my maltese came home with a fentanyl patch after their lp surgeries. both did absolutely fine with them. if I remember correctly, I had to remove it after 3 days and then we used the tramadol. hope your baby starts feeling better soon.

Roxy too, she got the patch for her LP surgeries, and I had to remove it 2 or 3 days after she came home, she was also on Metcamp.

In AZ, my Mom's Yorkie had 2 LPs surgeries, and they said they normally do no use the patch, but we requested and they did it.