Are you familiar with Carprofen?
Noodles had his annual check-up on Monday and I mentioned that he didn't have near as much energy as what he used to. Since his fall down the steps and diagnosis of Horner's Syndrome in March, I thought maybe it was just taking him longer to heal from that. His doctor did blood work and a thyroid test and both of those came back just fine. His doctor prescribed him carprofen. Has anyone heard of this medicine? If so, your thoughts on it? I just picked it up today, so I'll give it to him tonight at dinner. He is to take half a pill with his breakfast and the other half with his dinner. His doctor is thinking he is having some mild pain (arthritis) and that is why he isn't wanting to jog with me as much. He still gets excited to go out, but just doesn't have the energy to keep up with me any more. He is 8.5, so age could be a factor as well. Our morning jog is short enough (1/2 mile), so he will jog with me on that one, but our afternoon jog is over 2 miles. Thank you for any information.
Oh, his doctor said he looks great and is just the sweetest thing. Noodles wore one of his bandanas to the check-up and all the ladies were in love with him. Yup, that is my handsome boy.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Linda on
-
I don't know anything about that medicine but I hope it works for Noodles. I had no idea that dogs also got Horner's Syndrome. To make sure we are talking about the same thing...one or both of his eyelids droops correct? My mother had Horner's Syndrome.
-
Permalink Reply by Alison Prasavath on
-
Linda-
You are correct. Noodles landed on his right side and so that was the side that was injured. His right eye lid drooped, he tilted his head to the side and his right ear looked like it was falling off his head. It was a sad time for all of us. He wasn't allowed to do any walks or really any exercise or things to get him excited. I counted down the days until I was told he could return to normal activities (8 weeks).
-
Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
-
Carprofen is just generic Rimadyl. It is an NSAID and will help with pain and inflammation. I would give it as prescribed for a full week or two and see if you see any improvement. If you do decide to put him on it regularly make sure to do follow up bloodwork as this medication can have negative effects on the liver, though this is rare. I have had 3 dogs now (all large breed) who were given Rimadyl regularly for the last several years of their lives. My last dog was on it at a low dose, then steadily increasing to his maximum dose for about 5 years with no issues. Franklin has an occasional limp after heavy exercise that his doctor has attributed to scarred muscle tissue from a muscle biopsy so he gets an occasional dose of carprofen and it really seems to help. I'd give it a shot if it was my dog, if it helps I would also add in fish oil and glucosamine/chondrotin which will both help joint issues. You can also give Milk Thistle to help cleanse the liver if you are worried about that. Talk to your vet about a corgi dose, I just know a large breed dose :-)
-
-
Alison....poor Noodles! My mother developed it after having a tumor removed from the back of her lung. She had it for over 30 years. It did get worse as she got older but it really only interfered with her reading. I know for humans there is a surgery that they can do to lift the lid back into a more normal position. My mother never wanted it done.
After reading what Melissa wrote that it's generic Rimadyl than I can tell you about it. We had our shep/rottie mix on it for 2 years. Poor Rascal got the wrong body parts of both breeds, he was a tank on toothpicks. He had very heavy hind quarters on skinny legs plus a very narrow channel in his hind legs to hold the tendons in place and he would pop them out all the time. They really helped him a lot. .Plus he was able to tell us when he needed to go out to pee but couldn't feel when he had to poop until it was too late. We dealt with that for over a year...that in itself was not enough of a reason to put him down as long as the Rimadyl controlled his pain.He was 10 years old when it started and by the time he was 12 it just got to the point that he was in too much pain so we had to make a decision. I do recommend that if he is helping Noodles then by all means use it. Nice that they now have it in a generic, it wasn't when we used it and very expensive at 2 pills a day.
-
-
Noodles eye lid did return to normal. There are times when I think it isn't opened up as much as the other one, but you can't tell unless you are starring at him. His vet told me that some dogs never fully recover from it. The other thing Noodles developed during this time was basically having seizures to sound. His doctor said he was having a reaction to sound stimulation, so she said to keep him as calm and quiet as possible. That was a challenge! That lasted for a week and that was the longest week of my life. His eyes would start going left to right, his head would start shaking and he would want to walk, but couldn't see where to walk. He also wanted me to hold him, so that is what I did. After that, he would give me kisses, drink some water and then was off. We never could get a video of it in order to send it to the neurologist. It was a rough 2013 for Noods. Hoping for a wonderful 2014!
-
Permalink Reply by Natalie, Lance &Tucker on
-
awww, give Noodles lots of hugs from us :)....heres to a better 2014...Happy New Year!
-
-
Thank you both for your information. I appreciate your information Melissa on giving him the dose his doctor prescribed for the first week if not 2 and then seeing if I can do a smaller amount. They gave me a small trial dose and I think that will only last 2 weeks. Then if it worked, I will order more. Come to find out, a co-worker of mine at one of our other locations has 1 of her boxers on it. She's only been on it for 3 months, but has shown great improvement. Noodles is taking a vitamin that has glucosamine in it, but maybe that isn't enough. Thank you again Melissa for your other suggestions. I googled this last night and did read the side effects and cautions about it. He did have bloodwork done before being prescribed this and when I check back in with them in a week or so, I'll need to find out how often I might need to have bloodwork done for him.
I will say that I gave Noodles a half a pill last night with his dinner and he had a pep in his step when we went jogging that night (about an hour later). He still cut across the field on our first lap, but he was waiting for me and then jogged the 2nd lap with me. He also kept pace with me on our cool down walk back to the house and even a couple times would get ahead of me. We then played tug-o-war for an hour last night. Not sure if the medicine could make him feel better that quickly or not, but he definitely seemed to have more energy last night. It was nice to see. I'm sure him getting to sleep basically all day yesterday was nice as well. We had been off work for quite a few days and when mom is home, he doesn't sleep since I'm moving the whole time.
Thank you again
-
Permalink Reply by Lois B. Allen on
-
I do hope you can get sweet Noodles stabilized. He seems such a nice boy and I remember the weight loosing episodes.
-
-
It has now been a week since Noods has been on the carprofen and he seems to be doing great (no side effects at all). He has his energy back, is enjoying playing tug-o-war and is back to flinging himself on the ground, rolling over and barking while he does that (crazy dog). I'm going to call his vet today to let them know and see where we go from here. I have enough medicine for another week. Thank you again for all your thoughts and warm wishes for Noodles.
-
-
:)
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
