Death from a Virus

[Yorkie_Bear]

My poor friend had a sweat little yorkie (Her baby) who had a virus. She gave him sleeping medication for a little while and when she came to check up on him he was dead. She is having a really hard time and I feel horrible. I don't what to do to make her feel better; that dog was her child, her husband left her with only the yorkie after he took all the rest. Help me, please!

[Kirby]

That is so sad and I'm sorry for your friend. The best you can do is listen and be there for her. Nothing can take away the sting of loss except time.

God bless.

[miabellaamoure]

Do you know why she was giving this dog a "sleeping medication"?

Sorry for your friends loss.

[kalina82]

I'm sorry to hear the dog died. Why did she give him sleeping medication? what is dog or human medication? what kind of virus did the dog have? was he taken to the vet or did the vet advise her to give the dog sleeping meds?

[Yorkie_Bear]

Originally Posted by kalina82

I'm sorry to hear the dog died. Why did she give him sleeping medication? what is dog or human medication? what kind of virus did the dog have? was he taken to the vet or did the vet advise her to give the dog sleeping meds?

The yorkie had some surery, and was given some medication to ease the pain. The vet gave him some medication and he died in hi sleep from pain.

[Rhetts_mama]

So did the virus kill the puppy or did she give him an over-dose of medication or was it a complication of the surgery?

In any event, I'm sorry for her loss. Losing a pet is never easy.

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by Yorkie_Bear

The yorkie had some surery, and was given some medication to ease the pain. The vet gave him some medication and he died in hi sleep from pain.

what kind of surgery did the yorkie have? its uncommon for healthy dogs to die from pain meds. what kind of "virus" did this dog have? I highly doubt the dog died in his sleep from pain. There must have been something else going on.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by kalina82

what kind of surgery did the yorkie have? its uncommon for healthy dogs to die from pain meds. what kind of "virus" did this dog have? I highly doubt the dog died in his sleep from pain. There must have been something else going on.

not uncommon these dogs died of nsaids and why I am not a fan of them

NSAIDs Memorials/Survivors

can you give us more information on the pain med used and the surgery?

so sorry your friend went through this

[dwerten]

here is a link to a discussion of nsaids on our maltese group - hope you can read it as there is a malt on there that went into renal failure from rimadyl.

Rimadyl Warning - Maltese Dogs Forum : Spoiled Maltese Forums

[kalina82]

Originally Posted by dwerten

not uncommon these dogs died of nsaids and why I am not a fan of them

NSAIDs Memorials/Survivors

can you give us more information on the pain med used and the surgery?

so sorry your friend went through this

there are over 70 MILLION dogs in the USA. once again i ask you to look at the big picture here and not the unprofessional, non peer reviewed websites on the internet. that's all i'm going to say on this matter.

[dwerten]

Originally Posted by kalina82

there are over 70 MILLION dogs in the USA. once again i ask you to look at the big picture here and not the unprofessional, non peer reviewed websites on the internet. that's all i'm going to say on this matter.

and how many reactions go unreported? So can we really rely on big Pharma to give us the truth?

All I can say since it happened to my dog on metacam and she was sick on one dose - I will keep warning others as I went through a nightmare getting her balanced.

Also how are you going to feel when you tell someone it is ok to give nsaids to a dog with liver disease and they die?

[dwerten]

I posted the link but you might want to read this on how Rimadyl came about

WARNING...To Every Dog Owner. (Pfizer Rimadyl Carprofen)


Product: Pfizer Rimadyl Carprofen
Date: 01/11/01 (20311 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: May help some dogs

Disadvantages: May be wrong for others

This is the most difficult opinion I have ever written, because of the painful memories it brings back, but I feel it is something I must do, and I'm grateful that opinion sites like Dooyoo are giving me a voice. The name of this drug, Rimadyl, sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it, but in truth it should not be the medication itself which affects me, but the arrogance of many veterinary surgeons who administer it without taking proper precautions, or discussing the pros and cons of its use with the owners of their patients.

HISTORY OF RIMADYL.

Rimadyl (carprofen),is an anti-inflammatory drug along the lines of Ibuprofen, and is used for pain relief in conditions such as arthritits, painful joints etc., in dogs. Developer, Roche Laboratories initially planned to market it for humans in 1988 and even received FDA approval, but then shelved the idea as they claimed the market for such drugs was too crowded. Perhaps one of the main reasons for this action though, was because some outside experts expressed concerns about unusual liver-function readings in 14% to 20% of the test subjects.

Now. having spent so much money on the development of the drug, the idea of just scrapping the whole project did not appeal to the company at all. Then they came up with the idea of switching the product to the animal-drug market. A couple of corporate transactions later, and Rimadyl was in the hands of Pfizer's animal-drug unit.

Next came the kind of sophisticated marketing Pfizer does well, and a survey of 885 dog owners revealed what they already knew; the vast majority of the owners surveyed were willing to pay "whatever it took", to give painrelief and perhaps add a couple more years to their aging pet's life.

The Federal Drugs Administration requires testing for animal-drugs just as for human ones, but animal-drug tests are smaller, and only about 500 dogs were given Rimadyl in various trials, which

is about a fifth of the number of subjects in comparable human-drug trials. Here some dogs showed unusual liver-function readings and one young beagle on a high dose actually died, but for the most part, the FDA and Pfizer didn't find the side effects alarming, and the drug was approved for an early-1997 launch.

Anyway, when the drug was finally released, after a multi-million dollar advertising campaign, vets were floored by the drug's effects, many claiming the results were close to miraculous. Now, as with all medications, some side-effects were evident, but after the drug's full first year, it was emerging that Rimadyl had more problems than most. Reports about Rimadyl came in by the hundreds. The FDA had received just over 3,000 animal-drug bad-reaction reports in 1996, the year before Rimadyl's launch; but in 1998, the drug's first full year, Rimadyl alone produced more than that many.


MY EXPERIENCE OF RIMADYL.

In August 2000, my Blue Merle Sheltie, Hamish, seemed suddenly to have lost his bounce. He appeared to be walking ok, and no pain was evident, but he no longer jumped up on the sofa or his favourite chair. As he was due for his annual booster, I mentioned my concern to the vet during the visit, but after an examination she said she could find nothing wrong with him and he was probably just overweight. She came to this conclusion without actually weighing him, but he had an exceptional coat, even for a sheltie, which made him look double the size he actually was, and he weighed less than my mum's sheltie who was still bouncing about fine, so I didn't bother too much about the weight issue, and was relieved that she could find nothing else wrong with him.

A couple of months passed, and by now it was the end of November, but Hamish in my view was still not himself, so I returned to the vet. Again she said she could find nothing wrong with him, but ended up giving him an injectio
n and
sent me home with some tablets to see if this helped. I had to ask what exactly he was getting, and was told it was some anti-inflammatory drug which may help him. I said I would rather he had an x-ray just to see if there was a problem, but she insisted he try out this drug for a week first. This all happened on the Friday afternoon.

.

[dwerten]

That night he seemed very sleepy, and I put this down to the injection, but he was still eager for his dinner. Hamish loved his food, and it would take more than an injection to change that. On Saturday I began giving him the tablets he had been prescribed, and he no longer seemed as sleepy, but back to normal. On Sunday he still appeared to be doing well, but that night, for the first time in his life, he did not finish his dinner, and even refused his doggie biscuits.

By Tuesday, Hamish had stopped eating altogether, and nothing would tempt him. I was a bit concerned, and although I suspected he may just have a tummy bug, I decided to withhold his medication just in case it was a reaction to the drug. First thing on Wednesday morning I had him back to the vet. Perhaps he has a blockage of the bowel, was the reaction this time, because he was a bit tender in this area on examination, and no, the tablets would not have caused any problems as they were extensively used and didn't have side-effects like this. So I left Hamish to have his x-ray to check out his bowels.

That afternoon I went back to collect him and was greeted with good news and bad news. First off, there was no blockage and everything there was in order, but, it was found he had hip dysplasia. This is when the hips no longer fit into the pelvic sockets, and in his case the sockets themselves were worn away. He would have to have major surgery I was told, and they believed that although it was bad, they could help him. Fine, that was a worry, but why has he stopped eating? This had them all baffled, but they decided to take a bl
ood test t
o see if that produced any answers. Meanwhile, I was told to continue with his medication untill the blood results came back.

Back home, I still felt uncomfortable about giving him the tablets, so I decided against it. Hamish would still eat nothing. Then on Thursday afternoon I received a call from the vet to say she had the results of his blood tests. It was not good news. The results showed Hamish was in renal failure, which basically means his kidneys were not working. The next few weeks was a nightmare I will never forget, and even now I can't talk about it any further other than to say Hamish did not recover.

Now you may think this is sad, but I should remember the good things, and the years we had together. HAMISH WAS TWO YEARS OLD.

I realise that it would appear that Hamish, due to the severity of his hip dysplasia, did have health problems, but what Rimadyl can do is ulcerate the lining of the stomach, causing internal bleeding and prevent the dog from eating due to the pain. The other side-effects related to the drug are renal and liver damage.

WHAT I UNCOVERED.

Initially, I refused to give up on Hamish, and one of the things which baffled both the vets and myself, was the not eating. Even if he did have renal failure, this was not usually how the illness presented, and indeed not how it proceeded. So I used the internet to see if I could find anything or anyone who could help, and after endless, fruitless, searches, I came across a story which sounded identical to mine. Then I looked further on this site and found more, and what all these people were blaming was a drug called Rimadyl.

Now at his point, the name, Rimadyl, meant nothing to me, but out of curiousity I dug out my receipts from the vet detailing the medications Hamish had been given; and there it was. The initial injection and tablets he had been given was Rimadyl. Coincidence? I called my vet immediately regarding
this, but she t
o this day denys this drug caused any problems.

So is Rimadyl a killer drug or not? To write here all the pros and cons on this drug would take forever, so I'll just give some of the guidelines the company which make the drug have issued. They believe it is as safe as any other drug in this catagory, but maintain that a veterinary surgeon should always discuss the possible side-effects with the pet owner before it is prescribed. There is also a leaflet that accompanies the drug which should always be given out with any tablets prescribed. Now although my experience involved renal failure, the most prevalent side-effect is in fact liver damage, which for some reason affects labradors and retrievers more than any other breed. It should also be established whether the patient has any underlying liver or kidney problems before treatment begins, and regular blood tests are advised throughout the period of use.

Now, although my experience with this drug was bad, there are thousands of dog owners who swear by it. It has given many dogs a better, painfree, life, so therefore I would not say avoid it if it is suitable for your pet. What I am saying is, look at the pros and cons first, and make an educated decision.

What I hope to achieve with this opinion, is general awareness of what your pet is being given. Contrary to the advice of the manufacturer, many vets do not discuss this drug's use, and administer it quite freely. I myself would never entertain Rimadyl ever again, and even though my vet knows this, my border collie had a lump removed a couple of weeks ago, and when I read the invoice detailing her treatment, I was very angry to find she had been given Rimadyl as a post-operative analgesic. So if by writing this, I save even one dog from suffering or dying needlessly, I will be happy.

For anyone who is interested in finding out more about this drug, I have added the following links, although a sear
ch engine will bring
hundreds more.

This link is for the actual leaflet which comes with the drug.

http://www.pfizer.com/ah/mypet/mydog/dhealth/d ripkg.html


This one is about a lawsuit against the company, and other links.

http://www.gooddogmagazine.com/rimadyllawsuit. htm


I should also have mentioned that Rimadyl is LETHAL to cats. Several cases have been reported of cats accidently getting hold of these tablets, and not one has survived. So please take care if you use this drug

[dwerten]

here is info from fda

Advice to Dog Owners Whose Pets Take NSAIDs

[dogbert]

I wonder if this is what happened to my last dog "Millie". Some of this sounds very familier.