Posted by connie on 12/30/2004, 3:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Novartis wasn't timely in reporting Deramaxx problems--" There is a vet at the clinic where I take my dogs for chiropractic (our chiro is not a DVM and is not affiliated with the clinic, he just uses it on Saturday afternoons to see his canine clients), and this vet owns a Sheltie. The Sheltie is younger than Sander, and has elbow dysplasia and some other arthritic conditions. The last time we saw the dog (his name is Chivas) he looked terrible, and his owner (the vet) was telling me how she's switched him from one NSAID to another, from Rimadyl to Deramaxx to something else, and now he's in the early stages of renal failure. And still very much in discomfort from the arthritis. I asked the chiro, who knows the vet and the dog pretty well, if Chivas has worse DJD than Sander. No, the chiro said, Chivas is about where Sander was 3 or 4 years ago in that regard. And yet the dog is dying, at age 11, of renal failure, while Sander is 13 1/2 and has had cancer for more than 6 years, and STILL is on no prescription drugs for his DJD/CHD/elbow dysplasia/spondylosis, etc. Well, I said to the chiro, at least you adjust the dog, since you're here twice a month? He shook his head no. The vet owner hasn't had Chivas adjusted in over a year, he said. Sander sees his chiro every 4 weeks now. The vet of course feeds Science Diet to Chivas. Kind of adds insult to injury, IMO. Meanwhile Sander consumes raw meat, salmon oil, bromelain, MSM, glucosamine, various herbs that are beneficial for arthritis, and very occasionally gets an aspirin. Seems to me an easy choice between those two therapies, but that's just me.
4.17.193.130
There are so many non-toxic alternatives to those meds, for dogs and humans, that I think the degree to which those were prescribed is appalling. For extreme cases where the benefits outweigh the risks, a decision to dose with one of those might be appropriate, but even relatively mild cases of arthritis were being "treated" with one of those.
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