My dog has been acting funny the last two days (not that new craziness is odd for him at all) suddenly he wouldn’t go to his laundry room to eat without being dragged, and he wouldn’t go outside to the yard at all. It’s very unusual for him to not want dinner (and he ate with gusto once in the room). Seemed to have no problem eliminating on the leash. He had some sort of backyard emotional trauma a while ago where he wouldn’t go out for ages, so I thought it was something like that again.
Just now I let him into my bedroom hoping that would calm him down (he’s also been panting and shaking, but there was a possible storm and he does the same for that) and he yelped and fell down getting on the bed. I didn’t see him do it, so I urged him to try the bed again to see what happened and he hesitantly did and yelped again and favored his left hind leg.
Nothing hot or swollen or bleeding so I am not taking him to the emergency vet last night. (Plus I’m not doing so well myself, as I had a bad reaction at the allergist today and am just now recovered from all those drugs.)
He does seem to be in pain. I’d sedate him but I’m out of his thunder pills. I googled and saw a few sites claiming aspirin is safe, but nothing I’d call really authoritative. Do I have anything safe for him to take for pain until tomorrow?
The symptoms you describe could be something very serious or very minor depending on the age of the dog and a bunch other factors. I wouldn’t worry as much about finding immediate pain relief as I would keeping him still and comfortable and getting to the vet as soon as possible. Not knowing what is wrong. the chance of complicating things with the wrong medicine is worse than another few hours of pain if he has already been like this for several days anyway and you are going to the vet today.
Don’t do it. Aspirin is not nearly as safe as the drugs meant for dogs - dogs seem to be more sensitive to the GI side effects of aspirin than people are - AND giving aspirin could interfere with your vet’s plan to give him something else tomorrow. Because aspirin irreversibly binds to the COX enzyme, it can have lingering effects after a single dose. Thus, you have to have a washout period between giving aspirin and any other anti-inflammatory; giving both increases your risk of side effects. Ibuprofen and naproxen are also harder on their GI tract and kidneys than dog-approved drugs and are a common cause of poisonings/toxicity in pets. Occasionally, there will be a reason to give a pet something like aspirin, but usually not for pain alone and always under the supervision of a vet who can give you the correct dose and instructions.
I hope you both feel better soon!
P.S. I’ve even known of people who were instructed by the pharmacist at the drug store to give their animals OTC human meds, sometimes with tragic results. As awesome as pharmacists are at advising us about human stuff, they are not trained in veterinary pharmacology during school and may not even realize just how differently these drugs act in different species.
I feel awful for not realizing it before - he hadn’t favored it at all (and still hasn’t except for those two times jumping on the bed) but I noticed he’d chewed the hair off on that lega few hours ago. I didn’t make the connection because he’s a stress chewer.
There are very few OTC medicines suitable for dogs. There is nothing wrong with aspirin for short term use. The dose is 5 mg per pound of body weight every 12 hours. Use buffered if you can find it. Avoid even short term use of Tynenol and other newer stuff.
It almost sounds more like an itch. You could try Benidryl. Up to a mg per pound.
Maybe what he needs is Bachs Rescue Remedy.
All of those are widely used by well informed dog owners.
It is really best to take the dog to the vet and find out what is really wrong and get the safest and most effective remedy, canine specific or not. My sister was upset to find my dog taking the same Reboxen as she did
Okay, the vet thinks it’s a sprain or strain. The x-rays came up clean, his hips are great, so she’s sending him home to a week of rest and some anti-inflammatories. Poor guy.
Just FYI, last time my dog had a sprain she basically gave up on jumping up on to things. It really freaked her out. This is a problem since I drive an SUV and she rides in it every day. She also would have none of me picking her up - she’d run away.
I looked around a lot and bought a couple of shitty ramps until I came upon the PetStep ramp. We use it only in the car, but you could use it in the bed or on the couch or even on short stairs.
It’s the only ramp we’ve tried that is “grippy” enough both on the surface and underneath (where it sits on the ground and the car) and also strong enough for my dog.
She uses it every day now, even though it’s been over a year since her injury. I figure she’s 9 now (I know your dog is much younger) she will appreciate it. She even “asks” for the ramp sometimes if she’s too tired to jump out of the car.
IIRC your dog is a pretty big boy. I highly recommend this ramp for big dogs with sprains. He’ll need it when he’s older so it’s a great investment.
He’s 8, actually. We got him when he was 6 and it weighs on me that we won’t have him forever.
A ramp wouldn’t help with the backyard (it’s a full flight of wooden steps) but would help him onto the bed, where I don’t like him to be too often but saves my door from him eating it in a thunderstorm. He seems to be okay jumping onto the couch, but that’s much lower. A ramp might not be a bad idea, for the future (I’m not sure I could pick him up!)
It’s unlikely to kill the dog - although it is not unheard of for even single doses of NSAID’s to cause severe adverse events, and aspirin is worse than NSAID’s approved specifically for dogs - and is occasionally recommended by vets for certain situations. However, as stated above, there are safer options AND use of aspirin interferes with the use of those drugs if the dog needs more than a couple days of treatment, so use of this drug before consulting with a vet is unwise. BTW, “widely used by informed dog owners” does not mean in accordance with current veterinary medical knowledge, and the vets I’ve talked to would rather that owners did not give ANY OTC drugs without at least talking to the vet first.
Missed the edit window - meant to say that the recommendation of using dog-approved drugs and waiting at least a week after giving aspirin before giving other NSAID’s comes from a veterinary pharmacologist and other specialists, so it’s not coming from nowhere. I just can’t find a cite that is publicly available right now.
