roostershmoo

Hi, my 8-yr old Clem has sever arthritis in both knees. Glucosamine did nothing, so we progressed over the spring to two deramaxx a day, a monthly shot of I can't remember, and tramadal twice a day.

He is very much top dog in the household of a younger meek girl basset, and a cat. When he gets his tramadal he becomes extermely agressive, growling and snapping at anyone who walks by him.

Yesterday, the vet said to take him off tramadol, but that she had never heard of agression as a side effect.

Has anyone had success with tramadal, or with managing sever arthritis so that your pup is as comfortable and as happy as can be?

I'm in Toronto, and worry that my vet doesn't understand bassets as well as she might.

Thanks for all the advice on armpit rashes, I got some great ideas from you guys.

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Lucky mom to two-year old twin sisters Emily (omega) and Mabel (alpha)

BubbaLeroy

Clem is beautiful!! On the arm pit rashes, if it's yeast related you can use "Miconazole 7" which you can buy over the counter in the women's aisle used for women's yeast infections and is antifungal. Once it's cleared up we use "Tinacitn" antifungal foot powder for athlete's foot. We just sprinkle it on every other day, and Bogie hasn't had any more problems. Also works great on their paws for the same issues between their toes and pads.

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You don't own a Basset, a Basset owns you!!
Aroooooos from Bogie !! - Trumbull's Who's Teasin Bogart CGC- Born April 21, 2005
ATB: Bubba - (Trumbull's Surley It's Stormin Norman) Sept. 8, 1998 - Dec. 20, 2005

Betsy Iole

Since tramadol is an opioid, do dogs develop dependence on it? Do they go through withdrawal when they stop taking it?

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Betsy, Mom to
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Caper UD RE TD BHCA-VC
CH Bugle Bay's Sin City Cuppa Joe TD
CH Bugle Bay's AllUCanEat Buffet CDX RN TDX NA CGC BHCA-VCX, 1996-2008
"Bugsie" UDX NA NAJ CGC, 1991-2006

roostershmoo

Indeed, I was worried about it--I was giving him two a day, and I found that he would tremble slightly when it was time for a pill. I slowly weaned him down to one a day, but the vet said it was now ok to stop cold turkey from the one pill.

Tramadol is very addictive, but she did say that he wouldn't be in a position to go rob a drugstore (she doesn't know Clem that well, however )

At the beginning, he would get soo loopy when he'd take a pill--wander down the hall limping with his tail waving madly, looking for something to hump, and then go to sleep. After 4 months though, they just made him act very very cranky, to the point that we were worried he would bite. Unfortunately, in the 6 years we've had him, he has bitten my husband twice. I'm glad he is not taking them anymore-they just weren't right for him.

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Lucky mom to two-year old twin sisters Emily (omega) and Mabel (alpha)

Maggie's Mommy

Rusty was prescribed Tramadol when he had his rock surgery. The Vet stressed only as needed for pain. We didn't keep him on the pills for more than a few days. I just remember him sleeping alot during that time. I know he was exhausted from the whole ordeal. That's been my only experience with that drug.

When my Maggie Mae (AT got very old and her arthritis was very bad the rimadyl and other things just didn't work well. Her Vet prescribed Metacam liquid. It's for arthritis and inflammation. She did very well on it. Hope this helps!

AmyB

When Sadie was alive, she had severe spinal arthritis. She was on several different medications. After awhile on one, she seemed to become immune to it & it no longer worked, so we had to keep switching. Like Maggie's Mommy used for Maggie, Sadie took Metacam liquid & probably had the best results from that. Beware though, that these medications affect the liver. Sadie's vet regularly took blood to check liver function. After being on the arthritis meds for so long, she eventually needed liver medication to keep her liver functioning properly.

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Amy, mom to
Sadie (ATB, 6/9/06) & Spencer (ATB, 8/19/10) - always in my heart
and Clifford (gotcha date 7/2/11).

shallhb

Hi,
We had a poor response to tramadol also. Pearl had an abscessed tooth, and the vet prescribed it because she felt there were no side effects. She was on it about 3 days--the day before the fang surgery and a couple of days after. It made her loopy in a weird sort of way--she didn't look all that comfortable, but looked confused. She was on the lowest dosage, too. They had her on rimadyl at the same time, and after talking to the vet, we stopped the tramadol and just kept giving her the rimadyl, and she seemed just fine. It couldn't have been withdrawal from tramadol, because it was while she was on the drug. Is this the new drug of the month or something? I'd never heard of it until Pearl got it a couple of weeks ago. Seems like there's lots of other things for arthritis out there.

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Sharon Hall

Grace (puppy in training)
Bella, UD, VER, TD, RE, CGC
Pearl,UD, TDX, RE, CGC (Waiting at the Bridge)
Samantha, Theodore, CGC, Louella, Zeke and Arty, Bassets All; (All Waiting at the Bridge)

biscuit

I've never used tramadol, but I have an old German Shepherd girl, Lady, who has horrible arthritis and dysplasia.

She was on Rimadyl for maybe 6 months? and it was like a miracle drug. But she developed Old Dog Vestibular Disorder and, given Rimadyl can cause vestibular problems, I took her off of it.

I then was giving her a chewable dog aspirin that I was getting through drugstore.com. It worked (and is working - I've had to change the dosage) just as well as the Rimadyl - but then Lady got what appeared to be ehrlichia, a tick disease, although we could never get blood tests confirming it. Because her platelet count was so low, and because aspirin affects platelets, I dropped the aspirin, as well, for a month or so.

Now she's back on the aspirin, but at a very reduced dosage. Instead of daily aspirin, I give it to her 2-3 times a week. And it does work.

I've considered Metacam, but am pretty spooked about any of those meds because I am not convinced the Rimadyl didn't contribute to the vestibular disorder.

And glucosamine was worthless. I tried a very good human quality glucosamine and it didn't do a thing. Money wasted. I ended up putting it in the compost heap.

Now mind you, Lady's dysplasia and arthritis are pretty bad. But I've found the most important thing is to keep her as active as is reasonable. That is, she can't be a total maniac anymore like my younger pup, Yogi. But she has got to get up and moving every day, a few times, or she can't get up without extreme difficulty.

I also toss a little ground flaxseed on her food, as it appears to have anti-inflammatory properties, at least from what I've read.

And keeping them well hydrated is also important.

Good luck. It is tough to have a doggie with severe arthritis and other mobility problems. But you'll figure out a way to manage it.

Rubydoo

All I know about tramadol is from my own personal experiences. I have taken it on and off. One of the side effects on the pharmacy sheet is that it can increase the central nervous system.

So perhaps it does the same in a dog making aggression. ???

Personally, I can't take it for very long at all even tho my doc wants me to..yes it gets rid of the pain but it causes me to feel weird so I only use it "here and there".

Take care,
Janice

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Gidget's_mama

I just took my Gidget to the vet today and the x-rays show she has severe arthritis in her hips. She's only about four years old (and a mix breed to boot so she's only about 33 pounds). Is it unusual for such a young basset to get arthritis? I was flabbergasted, she jumps around and has never shown any signs of being in pain until yesterday. Also do bassets normally pant with pain or just shake? She's my first basset mix and from my other dogs I would have expected her to pant when she's in severe pain, but she hasn't been panting with this at all.