I have an old guy who we think has pulled his knee. The vet is suggesting I put him on Daramaxx or Rimadyl. I have heard bad things about Rimadyl and labs. Any suggestions which would be better or more effective?

It would be like taking either advil or motrin, both are the same type of thing and work the same way, but some people have a better response from motrin and some from advil, same with dogs and rimadyl or deramaxx. I have used both with my dogs. I had one old dog that deramaxx did nothing for him but he was much better on rimadyl, and another who responded better to the deramaxx, only way to know is to try one and see. I have never had any bad experiences with rimadyl and have had seniors who took it daily for several years. Deramaxx you only give once a day and rimadyl is twice a day. You can also get generic rimadyl which is a bit cheaper.

You could try a course of Ascriptin which is aspirin coated with Maalox. We find it to be effective and it's far less expensive.

Good luck, gotta love our old guys!!!

Ummmm, Advil is a BRAND name. MOTRIN is a brand name. Ibuprofin is the exact same drug in both of them.

I would do a liver and kidney panel before putting them on either long term. I would repeat after the first six weeks, then every few months thereafter.

We've had good success with Meloxicam and now only use it when/if necessary in the winter months with the weather changes and if our senior decides to act like a pup just a bit too much!

And Deramaxx and Rimadyl are also brand names if you want to get picky about it, Rimadyl is actually a drug called carprofen. They are all NSAIDs. Maybe I should have used Tylenol and Advil as examples instead, sorry, geesh! Also, to the OP, with using any NSAID it is a good idea to do bloodwork before starting and if longterm use repeat every 6 months.

We have used both meds. I was told that the old test results on Rimadyl were found to be somewhat incorrect and that the drug is not as dangerous as the test would indicate.

We currently use Deramax, along with other supplements for arthritis.

Testing would be indicated .

I have been told never to give ibuprophen to dogs because it can be toxic.

http://www.theinternetpetvet.com/is-advil-safe-for-your-dog/

MWK

Actually if you want a drug comparison it would be like comparing Ibuprofen(Mortin/Advil) to Naproxen(Alleve) both are NSAIDS ,yet some can take one drug without side effects and yet can't take the other. I can take Alleve and don't have any, but give me Ibuprofen and after 2 days I bruise easily and frequently and get stomach upset.My mom's the opposite.

Just a note years ago I had a bitch in the Rimadyl study for once a day dosing,she was on it for at least 6 months, they did xrays and monitored all of her bloodwork. The only issue we had that was the first week and a half she had diarrhea and we had to get permission to use some Flagyl on her otherwise I would have pulled her from the study. It resolved and her bloodwork was normal.Eventually I switched her to coated Aspirin. Many years later at the end she was on Celebrex, but that's more of an off label use, as she couldn't tolerate the Rimadyl at all at that point.
I had a dog Dean that went into AIHA while taking Metacam,and we lost him at the end of his Pred taper, so it does make sense for any dog taking these to have bloodwork tested periodically and hopefully you'll catch any problems quickly, but overall I've seen less side effects with that. What works for one dog isn't going to necessarily work for another.