So glad I read these incredibly sad stories. My dog was given Rimadyl last night and I am NOT giving him any more. This is a bad drug.

My Boston had a tumor removed three weeks ago and was given this for pain. She had no side effects that I noticed. I gave it to her for maybe 5 days post-surgery. I can say she was not as spunky and her appetite was not great. She cut her paw and had to have stitches Tuesday. Today, Thursday, after 3 doses she is throwing up with blood in her stool. I stopped the drug, and no food. She is drinking water. I am scared I will lose her after reading all of this. I am monitoring her closely. I was never, ever told these side effects. I am angry, scared, and upset. She is 10 and I am so scared I will lose her. Should I take her for bloodwork tomorrow? This medication is evil, and I will never give it to her again!

We put down our beloved black lab on Saturday. Eleven years old. We had been giving him one Rimadyl once a week for about a year now. It seemed to help his arthritis . He had been having various issues this past year, excessive thirst, lethargy, and weakness/limping. We had him to the vet’s several times and had him tested for all kinds of things. In fact, we have spent $3,000 in the past year on vet bills. No one ever mentioned the Rimadyl and just kept supplying us with more. When we took him in last week the vet suspected his thyroid might be out of wack so we had another expensive test done. Came back positive for thyroid disease so the vet prescribed thyroid medicine and told us to give him a 75 mg rimadyl once a day. We did that. Four days later he was not eating, laying on the floor, urinating where he lay and looked like he had just given up. We put him down. We are just racked with guilt because all these months we had thought we were doing a good thing giving him this drug and we were really slowly destroying him. I wish we would have investigated this drug before it was too late. I would say don’t give this drug to your dog. In the past 25 years my 13 year old Rottweiler had to be put down as he was having seizures and was in great distress. He had been on rimadyl for his leg pain for quite some time. Next my 12 year old yellow lab starting urinating blood and could not get up and down the steps. He was very ill and we had to put him down. He had also taken rimadyl. I am now thinking that this drug killed all three of my dogs, or at the very least shortened their lives and made them miserable. I feel so guilty.

As the info says, 1 (one) milligram per pound of body weight twice a day. Always give with plenty of food. My Lab has hip dysplasia and cannot feel the urge to defecate quick enough to make it all the way outside. Since starting her on Rimadyl, she hasn’t had one accident in the house. All dogs are different. Any change in appetite (won’t eat), vomiting or changes in stool, stop the drug immediately. Another Lab we had could not tolerate the drug and it almost killed him after a week. For days all he could ingest was Ensure until he was back to normal. It really is a gamble.

Can I give my 40lb. Wheaten 1/4 of a Rimadyl tablet (75mg) every 4 hours for 24 hours?