Overdose on Rimadyl - Watch where you put your meds.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our Springer Spaniel has a prescription for Rimadyl to aide in his recovery from CCL surgery. I would love to look on the bottle to figure out how to spell Rimadel, but........ my daughter was over with her lab and while we were at the store, he decided to get the bottle off the counter - only this big guy could even try to reach it. There were between 6 and 8 - 50mg chewable tablets left. We found Ned playing with the chewed bottle - no pills. All four dogs appear fine and we don't know if any or all shared in this unexpected feast. Rimadyl can cause serious stomach, liver and kidney damage. All four dogs are on a 3-day medication regime to coat their stomachs to try to avoid these long term health issues and we are to watch them for any "off" side-effect. If we notice something we are to bring that dog in for further blood work. This was a situation that was totally preventable - our own dogs were unable to reach this bottle - but "cuz" LeRoi is a big 75 pound lab.

[Adina P]

Are they doing okay so far? It's amazing how quickly they can get into something ... even when we are careful.
I normally take my prenatals and a couple other supplements in the evening. I take 'em and put 'em right back in the cabinet. Yesterday I took them with breakfast and had them on the dining room table. Well...I was about to leave for an appointment I realized was in 10 minutes (eeek!) when I immediately rethought things, went back to the table, grabbed the bottles and put them away. Plastic bottles can be just tooooo tempting. But I was pretty close to leaving them there.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

If your doggies took your meds they would just be soooo healthy. Yes, so far all four dogs seem fine. My vet said that he has had only one dog who ended up with kidney failure that most likely was caused by a delayed reaction to Rimadyl. So at least that sounds better than most dogs....

[ClarkP]

I agree that we should not get any meds that taste good. For all our dog pills, I use a pill dispenser (also called a 'pill gun') and HIGHLY recommend it. The one we use is dirt cheap on Amazon ($1.74!):
Four Paws Quick and Easy Pill Dispenser

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Dispensing the pills wasn't the problem........ but actually that is a good idea.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I posted this to alert people about the danger in leaving things out. Our house is dog-proofed for our dogs, but not for the visiting cousin dogs. We just need to keep watching and realize that serious side effects could occur down the line - or not at all., but so far all four dogs appear to be fine.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm glad to hear they're doing well so far! I hope they continue to be fine.
I think this discussion is very helpful, although I'm sorry for the reason you posted it. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't think that dogs would voluntarily take medicine. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Oh my Nancy. Just read this post. It has been a few days so I hope your druggie dogs are doing okay :)

My chocolate lab once ate a whole bottle of liquid codeine. My toddler had bad earaches. As I frantically tended to my babies crying, I left the bottle on the counter and when I returned all 90cc's of a brand new bottle of codeine had been dumped on the floor and cleaned up. Gone! Lick Lick
I did call poison control and then notified my vet. They recommended to not induce vomiting.
The dog slept for a few days and had really silly dreams, but he lived many more years.

I think LeRoi did it :) Gotta love those labs