Anyone have any alternatives to Rimadyl (for dogs)?

[Taverner]

One of my dogs, Sitka de la Samoyed, has had bad hip dysplasia for a while. Usually it only affected her during cold weather, but its really acting up now - to the point where walks just aren't fun anymore for her. She limps along, trying to keep up with her companion, and I - but to no avail. We tried all the holistic medicines (Glucosamine, Chronditin, etc) but they only releived the pain a little bit.

So we tried rimadyl - which worked great! She was prancing around like the old Sitka. But the rimadyl ran out, and it was $70 for two weeks. The vet would not give us a perscription we could use on a website, so that was out.

So does anyone have any other suggestions?

[trof]

1. Petmeds claim they can get the Rx.

All we need is your veterinarian's name and phone number and your pet information. We will obtain your pet's prescription for you. As a licensed pharmacy, it is our obligation to obtain a prescription from your veterinarian before filling orders for prescription medicines. If you have more than one pet, enter each pet's information separately for each Rx item. We will ask for the necessary information during your check out. If you have a written prescription, please mail it to us or have your veterinarian fax it to us.


1800Petmeds Pharmacy Faxline : 800-600-8285 (Toll Free)
1800PetMeds Pharmacy Phoneline : 888-738-6331 (Toll Free)
1800Petmeds Pharmacy Mailing Address : 1441 SW 29th Avenue
Pompano Beach, FL 33069
E-mail : [e-mail]

[mitchtv]

2. I used to alternate aspirin one day

Rimadyl the next. The aspirin seemed to work just as well on my wolf hybrid- I didn't like to use asp. every day,either. My vet recommended mega doses of Vit C along with the glucosamine/ rimadyl- it worked well

[livetohike]

3. Try synflex

<The vet would not give us a perscription we could use on a website, so that was out.>

What is it with these vets?? Ask the vet if he/she would match the lowest price you find on the internet. I switched vets because of this issue.

My brother is using Synflex and he says it works great. It is glucosamine/chondroitin I think, but his 3 year old Viszla is responding well to it. Same problem -hip dysplasia.

[Old and In the Way]

4. I just donated about 50 tablets of Rimadyl back to our local

vet to give gratias to anyone who has a dog that needs it. My 14 year old pup gave up the ghost 2 weeks ago...very, sad thing to deal with.

[RhodaGrits]

5. In most states, it is illegal for a veterinarian to refuse to

write a prescription. Tell your veterinarian that the cost is the issue here and that you would like an alternative to Rimadyl prescribed or to please write a prescription and/or explain why they are not providing one to you upon request.

If you don't get the Rx or a reasonable explanation and an alternative... try another veterinarian. Some veterinarians are reluctant to write Rx's to internet pharmacies because of some substandard drugs and malpractice by a few companies.

There are other less expensive NSAID medications but most have more side effects and all require monitoring by your vet.

Uncoated buffered aspirin given with food will work in many patients BUT I have had 2 dogs develop life-threatening bleeding stomach ulcers (1 came very close to bleeding to death) who were getting chronic aspirin and *knock wood*, I've not yet had a serious reaction with the other newer NSAIDs. NEVER give a dog ibuprofen and tylenol can be a problem too. You need to find a vet you can work with.

Also, there have been a couple good studies that showed that the efficacy of glucosamine/chondroitin sulfate type supplements was directly related to the cost of the product -i.e. the more expensive products had more active working ingredient and gave much better results than the cheap knock-offs. This is one place where it pays to get the good stuff.