Arthritic Dogs Do Well Using Rimadyl Until They Die

(Below is a summary of the March 13, 2000 article in THE WALL STREET JOURNAL by Staff Reporter Chris Adams)

Rimadyl was originally approved for human use, but has since been marketed for your pet. Yes, Rimadyl is now made for Fido, but what cost will you and your pet have to pay?

Montana, an arthritic six-year-old Siberian Husky, was having stiffness in his two back legs. His vet put him on Rimadyl. For the first little while, the drug seemed to be working. Soon Montana stopped eating and became completely limp. For the first little bit, the drug appeared to work. But then Montana lost his appetite. He went limp, started wobbling and eating leaves. Then Montana began vomiting and having seizures. His owner decided to put him to sleep. After demanding an autopsy, Montana showed signs of liver damage that is commonly caused by bad drug reactions.

Rimadyl is among the largest sellers in the growing pet industry. More than 4 million canines have taken Rimadyl, leading to tens of millions of dollars for its manufacturer, Pfizer. Dog owners were upset when they realized that none of the risks were mentioned to them. Montana’s owner told Pfizer her situation and was then offered $440 to help with medical expenses and as a good gesture. The offer was refused in order to keep the death of Montana blamed on Pfizer.

The FDA got many reports similar to Montana’s and requested Pfizer mention “death” as a possible side effect of Rimadyl’s use in their letters to veterinarians, on television advertising and on labels. After almost being forced out of the market, Pfizer used “death” as told with the exception of television ads. It was too much to deal with and Pfizer dropped all audio commercials.

After its release, Rimadyl has gotten about 1,000 reports of dogs being put down or dying from their drug. More than 7,000 canines had horrible reactions to Rimadyl. Vets are now required to take all the necessary precautions and advise pet owners the possible side effects of the drug. One vet called the medication effective with problems in the side effect category. Problems?

Complaints began to come in within months of Rimadyl’s huge launch. It appeared that Labrador Retrievers were common targets for the drug. The product was initially tested on young Beagles. Soon Pfizer spent a small amount of money to test an even smaller group of Labradors. The FDA got a mere 3,000 bad reaction letters regarding animal drugs in 1996. During Rimadyl’s first full year, 1998, the FDA received over 3,000 letters about Pfizer’s product alone. Although Pfizer knew the effects of its drug, it chose money over the future of its patients.

Pfizer finally followed the instructions of the FDA, but it was already too late. Vets were redeeming points for rewards like Zip drives and Palm Pilots from selling the deadly drug. Pfizer gave incentives for vets to kill their patients

Maggie, a mixed Chow, took Rimadyl only four weeks. Donna, her owner, got the pills in a bag with no instructions or information from her vet. In four weeks, Maggie began to vomit violently and vanished. She was found in a ditch but it was too late to save her, Maggie died. Donna demanded to know what happened to Maggie. The results revealed liver toxicity was the killer. Donna began to take letters to local vets in order to tell her story about how Rimadyl killed Maggie.

Pfizer is well aware of what Rimadyl does to most dogs, but it continues to sell the product. They also offer monetary damages to owners to help pay final expenses, still. Money may help pay for expenses, but it will NOT bring back mans best friend. Instead of risking your pet’s life with Rimadyl, try glucosamine to relieve your pet’s osteoarthritis.

Storm had severe arthritis. After we had problems with other medications, we discovered liquid glucosamine. It helped his later years be more pain free and best of all, there were no side effects!