I really need some advice re my GSD - Page 1

 My 18 month old GSD was neutered five days ago. The procedure was done by a well regarded vet who said the blood-work, heart and lungs were all great. The procedure went off without any complications.

We were given four 75mg tablets of Rimadyl to alleviate pain with instructions to give the first dose that evening, and then two doses the following day and a final dose the third day.  He was not given anything to eat the day of the surgery and the following day he was given a cup of his usual kibble and later in the evening we gave him a bland feed of rice and chicken. We went out that evening and returned to find that he had pooped (diarrhea) in his crate - something that he never does.  His poop smelled pretty bad.  We gave him a dose of imodium.

The following day he was vomiting repeatedly. We contacted the vet and he suspected bloat and we took him to be xrayed - fortunately, it was not bloat.  He was hydrated while at the vet and when we brought him home he was quite lively and the vomiting and diarrhea had ceased for the most part. We did not feed him anything until the following evening when the vet told us to give him half a cup of kibble and wait a couple of hours to see how he handled it. If there was no issue we could give him another half a cup.

We followed the instructions and he seemed fine but this morning he had again pooped in his crate and his diarrhea was worse than ever. His poop smelled absolutely FOUL.  As we took him out he began to literally squirt watery poop uncontrollably. We again gave him imodium which has controlled the diarrhea. He has not been fed all day and his diarreha is under control again since about noon. We gave him a dose of Pepto-bismol around 5 pm.

The whole problem appears to have commenced since he was given Rimadyl. I know that Rimadyl has a side-effect of vomiting and diarrhea. He has not taken Rimadyl in the last three days and I would have thought that any side-effects should have worn out..

I am taking him to the vet again tomorrow if he does not show improvement. He is quite alert and lively, drinking water and in overall good spirits. His appetite has been fine though we have not fed him today for obvious reasons. His stools were fine before the surgery and the Rimadyl.

Can someone give me some advice or guidance as to how I should proceed?

Have your vet check for parvo, sounds just like my dog I had for 9 days before she passed, not scaring you or saying this could be it but just a suggestion

hope it is nothing and makes a quick recovery

Hi,This dam Rimadyil has hurt more dogs than i care ti know about.If you research it ,you will see how nasty a medication it is.I also had trouble years ago with this drug.I personally would not give it and it sounds like you dont have anymore.It hurts the dogs more than it helps in my opinion.I hope your dog is ok.Let me know if he starts to improve,also i would keep his diet very bland for a couple days.They do have prescription type foods that will help him get over a couple days of healing incase you would rather give him something like the  say Hills ID.Hope all goes well ,Good luck

 KTF, by keeping in contact with the vet, you are doing exactly the right thing.  The only thing I'd add, is to make sure you get a fresh fecal sample to take with you, if the diarrhea continues tomorrow.

Micky

 BTW, there are warnings with the use of Immodium in dogs:

Adverse Effects/Warnings - In dogs, constipation, bloat and sedation are the most likely adverse reactions encountered when usual doses are used. Potentially, paralytic ileus, toxic megacolon, pancreatitis and CNS effects could be seen.

I agree totally with both of Mickey D's posts.  I hope your young dog is soon all well again.  Keep us posted.  Good luck!

 KTF,

I have a different opinion and experience with Rimadyl that is quite positive. I have given it without incident and with great benefit to many, many dogs.

However, it is possible that the diarrhea is from the medication.  But I would suggest the possibility that the dog picked up a viral or bacterial infection while at the vet, or he was harboring it and the little extra stress brought it on. At the very least, yes, stop giving the Rimadyl, keep the dog hydrated and take a stool sample to the vet. As long as the dog is drinking, alert and not lethargic, he probably will be fine.

It sounds like you have things well under control and I bet your dog will be fine in a few days. Good luck.

Rimadyl for post surgical pain??  Though it's been a few years since I worked as a Vet Tech, the only thing we used Rimadyl for was arthritic or dysplasia pain... bone pain basicly... hadn't heard of it used for generalized pain....   And when you mentioned the HORID smell the hairs went up on the back of my neck also, as that's a primary trait of Parvo.... If your dog wasn't vaccinated specifically for Parvo AFTER 16 WEEKS OF AGE I'd be conserned.  (Dogs don't take a solid immunity to parvo from vaccine til 16 weeks, so the basic 2 shots folks give @ 8 and 12 weeks fall short... I used to recommend a 3rd shot @ 16 weeks as well specifically because of parvo)

Personally I would only give Blitz Rimadyl if he were in a incredible amount of pain. It is a very strong drug and many dogs suffer serious side effects from taking it including irreversable liver damage. Dispensing Rimadyl for a dog that has had a simple castration is overkill IMO. Buffered aspirin is the drug of choice if anything is required and most dogs do not need anything. Make them too comfortable and they will  abuse themselves with too much activity. I recently heard of a vet that dispensed this drug to a 5 month old puppy with pano. Yikes!!

At any rate, I like pepto for diarrhea but have used immodium for my first GSD as directed by the oncologist for the side effects of the chemo. The danger with immodium is that it  slows down the gut and most diarrhea in dogs is not the result of hypermotility. Pepto or charcoal tabs might work a lot faster.

Next thing you will probably see is that his scrotum will be very swollen. If your vet tries to talk you into      more surgery to remove the scrotum. first try warm compresses and buffered aspirin.  Most dogs do tend to swell a lot and, in time, that empty scrotum will shrink away to practically nothing. Don't let the vet cut it off!

TAKE your dog OFF THE Rimadyl