I’ll add that sleeping a lot may not be a bad thing for old arthritic dogs. I can think of worse.

Has there been any discussion on Rimadyl? I know nothing, really, but it has been prescribed for a couple of our dogs and I don’t remember any side effects.

I think his arthritis is quite advanced and I'm not sure that a supplement like glucosamine/chondroitin would help. It's probably more helpful early on.

He was on Rimadyl (carprofen) when we got him in April 2021. He had ongoing tummy problems and we suspected the carprofen, which can have that side effect. Tummy probs cleared up when we took him off of it.

We had him on some Chinese herbs from our vet, a formula called Body Sore. They were about as effective as the carprofen and they agreed with him. Things were pretty good for quite a while.

Summer of 2022 we noticed the arthritis getting worse, so we added back the carprofen at a very low dose, a quarter of what he was getting when he came to us. We kept him on it for over a year. It helped some with the arthritis, but the gastric problems came back over time and just kept getting worse, even at the low dose. He would have periodic episodes of mucousy blood tinged stools and diarrhea. In between those bouts, his stools would have black blotches, indicative of bleeding in the stomach. Appetite got worse over time, which was no surprise given what we're pretty sure was going on in his digestive tract.


We took him off the carprofen in late August. Digestive issues resolved in a couple of weeks, but the arthritis got worse again. He had blood work done at that time and had a physical and everything looked great for a dog his age, except for the arthritis.

Decided to try the gabapentin again at a super low dose. He was on it for a month and I wouldn't have had a problem with the sedating effect, but his appetite took a nosedive and he was pretty much refusing to eat. He's a dog who normally wolfs his food down. Took him off gabapentin and the appetite bounced back. He just seems to be a dog with sensitive stomach. And from what the vet said, he isn't an outlier when it comes to these side effects. A lot of dogs don't do well on NSAIDs (and cats are even worse), which is why the monoclonal antibodies are getting so much attention.

Old age is a balancing act with all kinds of tradeoffs. You do the best you can.

On behalf of Raffi, thanks for all the suggestions! I'll keep you posted about what happens with the Librela.

I don’t think gabapentin is an NSAID.

It’s not. I didn’t mean to lump it with NSAIDs. Badly constructed/placed sentence.

So it's been almost two weeks since Raffi got his first shot of Librela. He hasn't become a puppy again by any means, but he is definitely moving better. We're encouraged.

Meanwhile, we were watching Shark Tank tonight and saw this product pitched to the sharks. Non-slip booties for dogs with arthritis.

Walkee Paws Indoor Leggings.

https://www.insider.com/guides...-dog-leggings-review

Glad to hear Raffi is responding to the new treatment!

Happy to hear Raffi is doing better!

Sarah is on Gabapentin, 4x daily for her nerve pain caused by her strokes, which she also just suffered a new one just before Xmas. She is fine with the new stroke mainly affecting her speech and right hand. She is progressively getting better and is now on some new meds and will be having a procedure in the next couple of months to close the hole in her heart.

I would love to sedate Cosmo during bath and grooming time. What is the recommended dose of gabapentin for a 20lb dog?

I don't know about dosing to sedate a dog. Probably best to check with your vet. Some general info:

https://www.petco.com/content/...pentin-for-dogs.html

Quirt mentioned that human gabapentin is cheaper than what you get from the vet; I'm assuming he was referring to the capsules.

There are liquid forms of gabapentin available for people, but some of them contain xylitol, a sugar substitute that's toxic for dogs. If you need to go the liquid route, your vet can compound the med into a liquid that's safe for the dog. One advantage of the liquid for us was that we could try a super low dose that we couldn't achieve even with the lowest dose capsule. The capsule is 100 mg, and I was able to dose him at 5 or 10 mg with the liquid.

Sorry to hear about Sarah's medical problems. Big hugs to you both.

Oh my, Mark. If there was an earlier thread about Sarah I missed it. Sounds like things are under control at this point but you have to be worried sick.

Sending our most positive thoughts to you both.

Raffi got his fourth shot of Librela a couple of days ago. Most dogs start to plateau around month 3, but Raffi seemed to continue to improve last month. There's no question he's responding well to it.

He can sit down (if a bit sloppily) though he still occasionally hops on one front leg that I suspect may have elbow dysplasia. But he moves and gets up better, and even when he's sleeping, it's a deep restful sleep. He used to get up and move around, shifting positions. I think he was pretty uncomfortable. Now it's a solid eight hours a night.

The vet is pretty thrilled and even went as far as talking about water therapy to help Raffi build up muscle. I'm certain Raffi would find that a non-starter, but it's remarkable that it would even be under consideration. We'll just try to walk around a little more, now that he's moving more easily.

From what Dr Chris said, his other patients on Librela are doing similarly well. It really does seem to be a breakthrough therapy.

Probably should start a different thread, but...

Mark, how are things going up your way?

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Raffi got his fourth shot of Librela a couple of days ago. Most dogs start to plateau around month 3, but Raffi seemed to continue to improve last month. There's no question he's responding well to it.

He can sit down (if a bit sloppily) though he still occasionally hops on one front leg that I suspect may have elbow dysplasia. But he moves and gets up better, and even when he's sleeping, it's a deep restful sleep. He used to get up and move around, shifting positions. I think he was pretty uncomfortable. Now it's a solid eight hours a night.

The vet is pretty thrilled and even went as far as talking about water therapy to help Raffi build up muscle. I'm certain Raffi would find that a non-starter, but it's remarkable that it would even be under consideration. We'll just try to walk around a little more, now that he's moving more easily.

From what Dr Chris said, his other patients on Librela are doing similarly well. It really does seem to be a breakthrough therapy.

So the above is where we last left our hero Raffi...I wanted to pass along our further experience with Librela in case anyone might consider it for their pup at some point.

Raffi didn't tolerate the fourth shot very well. A week or so after the shot he was incontinent for a couple of days, his IBS kicked up a little (after having been under control for a long time), and he developed hind end weakness to the point he couldn't stand up. That lasted a day or so. We weren't sure if these symptoms kicking up were a sign of old age or the Librela. They did resolve, so we were thinking it could well be the Librela.

We waited three months and he started to look like he could use another shot. In consultation with the vet, decided to try him at a half dose to see if that would reduce the side effects but still give him some relief Unfortunately it didn't pan out as we'd hoped. This most recent shot has hit him even harder with all the same side effects only more severe. So no more Librela for Raffi.

The vet indicated that Librela works a bit like a vaccine. In Raffi's case it seems like it's just too much for his system and the side effects outweigh the benefits. He may just be too old or it may be he is one of those dogs who reacts particularly strongly to this treatment.

I've never been to a human chiropractor, but in the past we have used various vets who do chiropractic. Raffi has been seeing the doggy chiropractor and that's actually helped as much or more as the shots did.

We hope he continues to recover from this last treatment and that he's with us for a while longer.

End of update.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
Probably should start a different thread, but...

Mark, how are things going up your way?

Any update?

Fingers crossed for better times for Raffi.

That sounds very challenging WTG



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