I've always used Rimadyl for my dogs when they've been spayed and neutered with no issues.

Is it just me or does her incision look really far up?

To each his own, but just so informed decisions can be made.

I'm glad it has worked for you with no issues, honestly. It's just that I wouldn't use it and I want people to know of the dangers. I've never used it but a friend of mine did and he lost his dog to it, so I don't like it. I didn't know anything about the drug until then. Now that I know, I don't like it.

I'll take a better picture of her incision and see what everyone else thinks.

That vet really (for lack of better words) pissed me off! I was up for hours last night researching for a new vet, reading reviews and what not. Thankfully, I came across two clinics relatively close to me that had 5-star raving reviews, one is even open 7-days a week and they make house calls (doubt I'll ever use that).

I do however have to bring Nicky into the vet that did her spay this morning for them to check her stitches. I'll also be picking up all my animals shot records as well as a surgery report, just in case she has any issues.

Does anyone find this odd? I went to pick up Nicky last night and asked for the surgery report and they couldn't supply me with it, because the vet coincidentally had to leave early and didn't have time to finish it. I would think a person would want to finish a report while it was fresh on their mind, especially with something so weird happening after the surgery. I asked for a copy of what they had so far and the lady kept overwhelming me with paperwork and then brought out Nicky and I was distracted by her that I forgot to get it, since they didn't bring it out to me the first time I asked for it. What I also found odd, was when I went to talk to the manager (she is fair skinned woman) she walked in normal looking, but by the end of our conversation she was so red in the face and looked like she was breaking out in hives (not that she was allergic to Nicky, because no animals were in the room). I just thought everything didn't add up and seemed very fishy.






I swear she looks like she has a 6 pack!

I have never seen any adverse side affects from short term rimadyl use... long term? Yes. It can cause liver damage, (others as well, but this is the most common) which is why we monitor their liver function every 2-6 months depending on the dosage. I don't know where you are getting your information from, but a lot of the side effects you listed I've never seen exhibited, and I've been working in vet offices for almost 7 years (and if a drug had that may adverse side affects, vets wouldnt use them and they wouldnt be on the market, every drug has a side affect) We need your sources for this information. Usually if dogs are prescribed Rimadyl, they are elderly, can't get up off the floor and are in severe pain. The Dr gives the pros and cons of the medication, and most owners say that If it helps them get around and improves their quality of life till its time to say goodbye, then it's worth it.

The incision does look really far up Jennet. Way too far up. How old was this vet? Young, old?

Dr.Bowling was the vet that did her surgery. I've never seen her before, because our previous vet moved.

This is a little about her.
http://hayfieldanimalhospital.vpweb.com/Our-Doctors.html

Hm. She must have had an interesting time getting the uterus out, it sits lower in the abdomen than the incision. Interesting cruciate sutures as well, seems like the middle didn't get as much love as the ends, and they dont seem even. Incision looks good though, minimal redness and swelling, so that's really good! how is she acting this morning?

She didn't want to eat her normal food, so I made her boiled chicken breast and white rice. I managed to sneak her pills in the food and she ate them up. She didn't eat all her food, maybe a little over half a cup. Poor girl has stitches in her lips too where they took off the growths

I bet she's in all kinds of pain. Throat, body, & mouth

Aw! She's eating! So that's good! She's been through a lot the past 24 hours, but she'll be just fine. She has a good parent that's taking excellent care of her

Thank you for all the advise Brooke and keeping up with the thread, I really appreciate it!

No problem! If you have any more concerns or questions, don't hesitate to post here or shot me a PM. If i dont know the answer, ill find it out. I'm still planning on doing the tonsillitis research as well, I just need to schedule some time today to do it. My tech books need a good dusting off anyway! Haha I think I'll have time to at work, it looked pretty show for this morning, but that can always change lol

How did you think the vet did on the stitching job?

My boyfriend has a family friend that is a vet in NC and they sent her the pictures above and she was appalled at the horrible job they did. Her words were "she's an animal not a pillow". Do you agree?

Yea the cruciate sutures aren't done very well, like I said above, they look uneven and there should be another small one in the middle. Lemme see If I can post a pic of Kale's cruciate sutures from his obstruction surgery. Usually drs will do simple interrupted sutures for spays, and there's nothing wrong with the cruciate style, but it does look a little amateur IMHO. I wouldn't take anymore pets to her for surgical procedures, a few things seem off from the pictures you posted.

Just got back from the vet and again pissed. The girl we saw was not very helpful at all. She tried saying she had 3 other doctors look at the incision and technicians and all of them were in agreeance that it is straight and in line and none of them would have done anything differently. They have internal stitches as well as the outside stitches and they did that "because Huskies are crazy and she will rip her stitches out".

I told her "what if I take her to a different vet and find that they feel differently" and she was like "what honestly, what can be done" pretty much saying whats done is done.

I did get copies of the medical notes, which still are not finished. The nurse we spoke to said that the vet who did the spay isn't always there and always does her notes over the weekend and she will have them to me on Tuesday. She must have a memory of a God to remember every single patient she has seen through the week to be able to do it all over a weekend. Sound's like BS to me. She probably writes the same thing for every patient.

I'm really sry about all this craziness. I know she'll heal up perfectly normal, but I completely understand your frustration.

Here's that pic. His incision was quite a big longer lol but for normal cruciate suture reference. His were "relaxed" or spread out, because I told them I would be crating him till I would remove them at home. Normally they would be a tad closer together if the dog were to be active. This picture was also taken 10 days after his procedure and I was just about to take them out, which is why it looks mostly healed lol Muscle tissue and subcutaneous tissue are always sutured together, so I don't know why they told you it was because of her breed.

http://www.dogshealth.com/pages/rimadyl.html
http://www.carolonpets.com/blog/rimadyl-alert-dog-arthritis-pain/
http://www.ez9articles.appspot.com/article/what-your-vet-may-not-tell-you-about-rimadyl

These are just a few pages. I know that plenty of dogs have been on the drug and nothing has happened to them and they do wonderful with it. Sometimes though, dogs don't do well on it and bad things happen. That's all I'm saying. I know most of the research I have done and most articles I find are written about arthritis, so maybe it has more to do with a long term usage then anything, but it only takes one time for something to go wrong.

But anyway, I'm really sorry you have to deal with such crappy vets and vet techs! I hope you can find a much better vet and soon too. They sound like crappy people to me and I'm sorry you and your baby have to deal with the aftermath. Maybe you can file a complaint with someone if another vet finds something wrong with what they did? I don't really know how any of that works, but I'd be trying to file a complaint with someone if that happened to me. I hope her recovery is fast and painless and I hope you get to the bottom to things fast and painless as well.

Your vet(s) sure are giving you the run around, Kelly
But the important thing here is that the surgery went off (mostly) without a hitch and hopefully she'll be recovered quickly and well. Also that you are attempting to find a better vet!

As for this discussion of Rimadyl use. It does only take one time for something to go wrong - but if everyone lived in fear of things going wrong..we'd all live in bubbles. And even then things can go wrong (suffocation?).

The point really is if it helps the animals short or long term to maintain a specific quality of life I don't see anything wrong with it. There are pros and cons to EVERYTHING. What about all of the terrible side effects that are a part of the medication we humans take? My father is on 17+ different medications - some that have terrible side effects but are needed to keep him ALIVE (Post lung transplant).

Bella was on Rimadyl for almost a month for an anal gland abscess that ruptured. She had no adverse reactions to it. But if she were to be on it long term with no previous reaction to it I don't see why that would be a problem if they are doing checks to ensure the dogs liver healthy enough to maintain the dosage or use of the drug. Especially if it helped her to maintain a quality of life that I couldn't find in another way.

I'm not trying to scare anybody. I just felt that if my dog was using a drug I would want to know if it was a controversial drug or not. Like I stated, I know dogs have done wonderful on it and continue to do wonderful on it.

It's just as a fellow owner to another, I would want the same..well I guess courtesy to know if a drug my dog was taking has serious side effects or not.

Some vets don't check. Some vets hand it out like candy. Others are responsible about it though. Her current vets don't seem very responsible, so I was just putting that out there.

Nicky is on 75mg of Rimadyl "1/2 tablet by mouth twice daily as an anti-inflammatory pain medication. Give with food. Discontinue and call if any vomiting, anorexia or diarrhea occurs." Quantity:7

I was just able to sit down and read all your updates about Nicky. Poor baby!! And poor you!! I would be absolutely livid if any of this had happened to me! It just seems like they didn't really know what they were doing and are trying to save their asses by giving you the runaround. I'm thankful that the issues are relatively small though and they didn't seem to screw up anything really big. How is Nicky doing today??

Good luck with a new vet! I hope that one of the ones you found will work. Try calling and talking to the receptionists to see if you can schedule and appointment to just come in for a meet and greet with the doctors to see if you want to go with them.

When I said sources, I meant controlled case studies where there are weights of the pets and the strength that was prescribed and that was administered, correctly. I'm sure that toxicity and death could be caused by a pet owner overdosing their own pet by not following the instruction on the bottle, then blaming the drug itself, and the vet. That's why you can only take random Internet statistics with a grain of salt. I want hard numbers and case studies done by professionals in a controlled setting. If a vet doesn't monitor thier patients when on carprophen(rimadyl), then they are breaking the law.

Well sorry then, I don't know where to find stuff like that. That doesn't mean I change what I say, I guess just take what I say with a grain of salt.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to warn people, Kelsey . That's not what we're saying. As you are right - everyone SHOULD know the risks.

It's more about how the information is presented and whether or not the sources are credible.

To say that thousands of dogs die from Rimadyl use is IMO an exaggeration. Because many dogs could die from other things not related specifically TO the use of the drug but the drug was blamed.

I don't believe the numbers per say in most of these links, but I believe the info is good to know. I mean, you gotta start somewhere with information. Some of the info about this stuff is obviously from people with an agenda, so I try not to believe everything I read and keep an open mind about most things. But you just never know I guess.

I don't that I would call it an exaggeration - Prescription meds in HUMANS are a number one killer. It would make sense for dogs as well. But, I'm also a holistic nut that prefers not to use meds.

My female is on holistic and homeopathic medications for her issues. Her vets wanted her on Deramaxx for the rest of her life...I said no way Jose. Ultimately ANY drug, supplement, herb, can have a negative reactions..I just prefer to have things in their natural state.

You aren't wrong for being cautious Kelsey. There are good and bad uses for everything. When I got Delilah spayed, I only used pain meds for a day. She was getting to gutsy and to avoid her hurting herself, she had to be able to feel pain.

But, thats just me.