Losing Lucy to rimadyl

Back in June I posted that our beloved (belonged to me and my daughter) 6 year old vizsla had passed away. I was waiting until Zoetis completed their finding before posting the whole story. They have now spoken to all vets involved, and went over all of her medical records. Their finding are that her colon perforation, and death will be listed as a side effect of rimadyl, and all proper paperwork will be sent to the FDA.

Lucy was put on rimadyl for pain management after a spay. She was only on the medication for 5 days, when she started to show distress. We took her straight to the ER vet, and within 20 minutes they located fluid in her abdominal cavity. With a estimated cost of 4-6 thousand for emergence surgery, and only a 50% chance of survival. We elected to have the surgery, and hoped it would save her. She made it through the first surgery, but 2 days later the colon started to deteriorate at the surgical site. We were all in on trying to save this little dog, so she went back into surgery. Our bill was $6500 before this surgery. We had two days of her improving, and there was no bacteria in her drains. Her vitals kept getting better, and she would wag her tail and be happy to see us. Day 3 after the second surgery that all changed. Bacteria began to show in her drain, and her heart rate was high. It was either the colon again, or her gall badder had ruptured. We opted for them to do exploratory surgery. If it was the gall bladder, they would remove it. If it was the colon, she wouldn't be woken, as the vet felt we would keep having the same outcome. Thirty minutes into the surgery, the vet came out and spoke with my daughter and I. The colon had deteriorated again at the surgical site. I signed the papers to let her go, and they got her ready for us to see her one last time. She was still under anesthesia when we hugged her, and said our last goodbyes. I told the vet he could administer the last of the drugs, and in under a minute she slipped away.

My daughter and happy little Lucy


Lucy in the ER hospital

Sorry Kindall. R.I.P. Lucy.

OMG that brings back a lot of personal pain with Reba and Mikey. My heart goes out to you and your daughter.

So ha e you had any contact with the pharmaceutical company?

Is this commonly prescribed?

That is just devastating, my thoughts and prayers go out to you and your daughter. I dont know what id do if that happened to me.

Yes, Zoetis is the pharmaceutical company.
I contacted them after the vets believed it was caused by their product.
They then consulted with my normal vet, and the ER surgeon. They also requested, and were sent her medical records.

Its my understanding that its prescribed quite a bit.
I knew it had side effects, but thought they were after long term use.
I had no idea the amount of damage it could cause so quickly.

I've used it off and on for years.

Yeah Bill, I came across a saying on it.
Rimadyl is great, unless it kills your dog.

There was a class action lawsuit against Pfizer a few years ago. They were the ones that first put rimadyl on the market, and a lot of dogs were dying from it.
Since then it was reformulated (supposedly safer), and Zoetis is now the manufacturer.

I know its helped some older dogs live a more comfortable life, but I know its taken the life of others. Its tough not to be bitter after seeing her suffer, and not being able to save her.

Her case will go before a review board, and they will decide if, or what amount of compensation they will offer. I'm not kidding myself into thinking they will come close to covering the $11000.00 we spent trying to save her.

Im so sorry.

I am very sorry.

No but paying for treatment to save your family member from death created by their product is adding insult to injury. And eleven thousand dollars is a large chunk of change to spend with such devastating results. Hopefully they will at least be fair to you and ease the financial burden.

Kindall, I am so sorry for your loss. May Lucy rest in tall grass with many birds.

Damn onions!

Sorry for your loss.

She was a sweetheart of a dog. Still young and healthy. Its hard to explain the amount of guilt I feel for giving her that drug, and knowing she would still be with us if I hadn't.

She was a Sparky x Ginger pup from Doubleb20.
If any others on the forum own one of these pups, please don't give them rimadyl. There is a good possibility they will have a higher chance of having the same outcome.

Sorry to hear that Kindall. That really sucks. I use Rimadyl fairly often if a dog is sore or injured. Always have had great results and never have had a problem with it. This is the first time I've ever heard of something like this happening. Wow.

Kindall, You did all you could do. I thank you for taking the time to follow up with vet and pharmaceutical company.
So sorry for y'all's loss.

Condolences.

So sorry to hear about this. Thank you for posting.

I love those red dogs, just too energetic for me, my deepest condolences

So sorry. 'Told my wife about this and she said (retired RN) that's that what our two were on after spaying. Scary stuff.

My heart breaks for y'all. Is there a gofundme or anything?

Thank you for asking CloudX. We were able to pay for her medical expenses.

That's horrible, I've never heard it being so harmful or risky. Sorry kindall, I remember you posting about her when it happened

Sorry about your pup.

Losing your fur baby is tough I'm really sorry for your loss.

years ago our vet put my Moms weiner dog on rimadyl and he told us 10 days on and 10 days off because its so bad for their liver..The side effects were not listed for liver problems but the Vet said he had seen many cases after 30 days of liver failure and damage in many dogs..he reported his findings to them as well..

While the NSAIDS can cause bowel perforation, I would be suspicious of an oversewn bowel with a recent spay.

My heart is with you.

OMG! I'm taking our Lab puppy in for spaying on the 2nd of Sept. That's next week! I'm going to have a serious conversation with my vet about rimadyl before we have the surgery. I'm so sorry for your lose. Hugs to you and your daughter.

I waited until the drug company concluded their investigation before posting the cause of Lucy's perforated colon. I assure you they would not want to accept fault, and have to list it with the FDA, if they did not have too. Or decide compensation before a review board. Before they concluded their findings, I had 2 different vets, and a surgeon saying it was the rimadyl. The second vet, and surgeon have no affiliation with the vet that spayed Lucy.

I did not take her to one of those cheap clinics to be spayed. It was a vet I think highly of, and has been in practice for 35 years. He has never lost a dog this way in all of those years. Since Lucy's passing he has put in a lot of personal time researching rimadyl. Finding there are more dogs having side effects from it, than what he had believed.
Lucy was a special little dog, and I still cry over losing her.

Zoetis called my vet this week, and told him what they are going to be offering me in compensation for Lucy.
Its roughly 20% of what we spent trying to save her. They are calling it a gesture of good will. I can tell you it feels more like a kick in the gut.

I know what I would tell them and then what I would do.

Tell them to watch the movie John Wick if they want see what we feel about our dogs

I've had a settlement offer sitting on the desk for about two months. If I were to sign it,I would never again be able to say how we lost Lucy. I also could never say anything adverse about the company, any of their affiliates, or products.

There's a second one coming out and there's a dog sitting by him in one preview scene. Don't tell me another pooch is going to die.


Kindall - That's a tough one. 'Don't know if I could take the money. But please try to have a good Christmas this weekend.

Real sorry Kindall. I do appreciate you posting this because Kinzie's is out of the same stock. I have used rimadyl many times with my labs and Goldens. I wouldn't have thought twice to give her some if she was sore or in pain. So, thank you. I will make sure Kinz never gets any!

Greg
By not taking the money, I'm hoping to save someone else the heartache we went through. I can tell you even with them trying to manage her pain,that little dog suffered.

Really sorry for your loss. I appreciate the education. Low dose Rimadyl has always been a standard short term treatment for me to use on my old dogs. Sounds like a bad idea now.

X2 that is terrible. So Sorry for your loss

I know there is a very limited choice in anti inflammatory drugs for dogs, and both have the same risks.I would still use one for quality of life in a arthritic dog, as a last resort. I just will not use it where pain can be managed by a safer drug. Had I given her tramadol instead, she would still be with me.

I don't think I could do it unless it were an amount that could change the quality of my life.

Nah, I still couldn't.