My 14 year old has been on Rimadyl for 3 years. All great! Annual bloodwork done. Galliprant is a new drug that isn't a Cox inhibitor. Works with a different prostaglandin receptor. Looks good. But if she's good with Rimadyl, why change.

Good luck! Love the oldies but it's hard to watch them age.

 

My vet likes Duramaxx (sp?) best.

 

X's 2 on Duramaxx as well as an anti-inflammatory. Our old guy who recently passed at 14 1/2 did well on it for his last couple of years.

 

My Shepard Rotty Mix is 16 and still makes it around the block everyday. Rimadyl and Gabapentin.

 

I have always used liquid Metacam along for Pepcid because I could lower the dosage and get along with as little has possible with my old guys, after the loading dose.I would definitely say it added several years to their lives.

 

Metacam also known as Miloxicam not only reduces inflammation but also suppresses the growth of cancerous tumors. Pretty safe and great results.

Meredith

 

Had my 14yo lab on Tramadol for over a year. Really helped her quality of life. She was expected to live 6 months and ended up living over 18mo until the cancer became too much for her (mouth cancer - bleeding that would not stop). Quality of life was quite good right up to the end. The night before we had her put down she went for a swim in the pond and retrieved a couple of sticks. Loved it.

John

 

Renee,

The last year of my last labs life he was on 325 mg aspirin and 10 mg tramadol morning and night. This was purely for comfort measures only. He was a few weeks shy of his 14th birthday when I put him down because he couldn't get up anymore.

Which route you choose depends on what you want to do with your dog.

Tom

 

Dang, I take Tramadol and Miloxicam. Seems to help me.

 

Thanks for the comments!

 

Got to say that the Golden Paste made with Turmeric it wonderful. Mixture of Turmeric, coconut oil. You can goggle " Golden Paste for Dogs" and get the receipt. It is good for arthritis , cancer and a lot of other stuff. My girl is almost 11 and had been way more active since using it. I just started her on ZoomDog Supplements also. That came highly recommended and seems to add to the Turmeric paste. the paste is very cheap to make and the supplement was around 32.00 for 90 pills . depends on the weight of dog on how many you give them. I give 2 a day, 1 morning , 1 evening.

 

Meloxicsm is $4 for 30 pills @ Walmart and you cut them in half, so 60 days for &4. They work well but you should do blood work periodically to make sure there are no liver issues.

 

What is working for mine, is inject-able glucosamine X2 a month, and surprisingly cold laser treatment (which I would've considered hoohum); except the dog is bouncing around like an idiot, after a treatment

 

I've had 3 dogs on Duramaxx over the years along with tramadol. One dog was on this regimen daily for years due to severe inherited elbow dysplasia. Currently, our 12 yo ylm is taking Duramaxx and tramadol - as needed, almost daily - arthritis from overuse. A 8 yo ylf who has inherited hip dysplasia, she's dosed as needed too. All dogs have had much improved movement and pain relief, Duramaxx is generally dosed at once a day. As with any NSAID, annual blood work should be done. I've had the dogs on Rymadal(sic), but had to give 2x daily, and sometimes we had stomach upset, bloody stool. So it comes down to how your dog is doing on the particular meds, and their quality of life.

Enjoy your senior dog, they're the best!

 

Duramax is the GM diesel. Deramaxx is the NSAID for dogs. Galliprant is the newest and arguably safest NSAID for dogs but there is individual variation to response. My observation is that Galliprant, Deramaxx, and Previcox are more effective than carprofen (Rimadyl) and Metacam (meloxicam).

 

Thanks, EdA, and everyone else.

 

I just lost my Wyatt (Golden) a month short of his 14th birthday. He was on Deramaxx (and I drive a Duramax) for about three years for pain in the sacroilliac area. It was clearly effective. Towards the end he gradually lost motor control in that area. The last year or so he received cold laser as much as once a week and turmeric. Couldn't tell if turmeric did any good or not. Recently, the pain increased significantly and the last month was managed with Tramadol, gabapentin, and pred. The pain relief at that time was clear.

As a side note, one of my Labradors (11 years old) does well with acupuncture but the cold laser doesn't seem to do much. Acupuncture didn't do much for Wyatt, but the cold laser did. So some of these treatments get better results than others depending on the dog.

 

Can someone tell me more about the cold laser therapy? Costs? Frequency? Is this something most vets can do?

 

Obviously the vet must have the equipment. I only used it for healing after patella surgery and it worked well. This was a few years ago and I think it was like $40 a treatment. I've never tried it for arthritis but try it and acupuncture too. It's variable what works with different dogs.

 

It sounded like hocus pocus to me at first - who would believe light would penetrate through fur, skin, and muscles to do whatever it is it does. But it sure seems to work (for some). As far as I know it is still considered alternative medicine with mixed evidence for its efficacy. Multiple treatments are apparently required for it to start to work.

My vet sells packages of multiple treatments, and it was administered by a tech. Therefore the per visit cost was a lot less than a regular office visit.

 

Thanks everybody. We just got back from the vet---toe nails trimmed, anal glands cleaned...I am going to transition her to Galliprant, and if that goes ok add in some Tramadol and see how that goes.

I don't think she or I are laser therapy-material but thanks for telling me about it.

 

Why no mention of Adequan? I am considering this for my 10 year old Chessie with elbow problems.

 

Thanks all for the advice for older dogs and medications as my guy is starting to slow and its breaking my heart.

I'd like to add to the laser discussion. I am not a vet but a chiropractor for people as well as horses and dogs. I utilize my laser with all 3 species and for arthritic changes I've not had much success. It is wonderful for repairing damaged soft tissue (skin, muscle, tendon, ligaments). It won't repair or reverse arthritis. It's ability to reduce inflammation is not as good as medications for people and animals with chronic issues unless you're able to use it daily. I've had a few clients purchase their own and use it at home with good success but that is not an option for everyone. Not all lasers are created equal and that muddies things a bit also since there will be significantly varying degrees of success from that alone.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

 

Quick update.

Of course it is hard to tell for sure but my old girl seems to be responding much better to the Galliprant - her appetite has improved, she is tolerating being combed and actually pulling on the leash a bit at the beginning of walks.

I'm also now experimenting with the Tramadol - her stamina on walks is increased (we did about 1.25 miles this morning, no lagging, compared to about 1/4 mile on Rimdayl) and she is climbing on the furniture again.

I'm so glad I tried some new drugs for her, thanks to all for advice.

Bill A---thanks for thoughts on the laser treatments. I had seen them for sale, about $200, for home use, so was wondering. Vet's original thoughts were that she had a back injury and that the Tramadol was best bet for relief if that was the case, but that Rimadyl was best bet if it was the hips.

 

For what it’s worth decent therapeutic lasers with sufficient penetration for backs in a large dog start at 6K, good ones 10K. A $3000 home unit for limbs is useful for certain conditions.

 

For what it's worth? A LOT. Thank you for chiming in!

 

You can prolonge his life, but sooner or later it will.

 

I also wanted to do cold laser therapy for my dog but I was pretty scared. She was pretty old and I didn't know if she is made for it. Luckily, I was talking to my friend about my dog and how I need some pain relieves for her. He said that he had done cold therapy for his dog but didn't see any changes so he got back to old-fashioned medicine. He told me about these natural neuropathy relief pills that he gave to his dog and it helped. I went to buy some for my old girl and daily gave her a pill. Those were great, I saw her move more freely and she had much more energy than before!!