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Originally Posted by DETRoadster
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Originally Posted by kscarrol
^ Good point! Jake gets 25 mg every 12 hours though we should probably drop the dosage a bit and give once every 8 hours... Might give that a shot.
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Originally Posted by RickFLM4
Good suggestion. He gets 25 mg every 12 hours now. My wife and I have been discussing trying some adjustments and plan to discuss with our vet. He is also not eating well and I know Tramadol can cause an upset stomach. Our vet suggested 1/2 Pepcid pill, which we have been doing. If we cut back on Tramadol, perhaps he will eat better without even needing the Pepcid. I hate giving him all these pills but also hate the idea of not doing all we can to help him.
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Good luck, Guys! Again, please do consult your vet as I am certainly not one and your dogs' cases are different than mine. I do know when I was on Tramadol it tore my stomach up. I was only on it for a week and I hated it so I just stopped taking it. What followed was 2 days of what felt like the flu, combined with depression. I remember laying in bed with 3 blankets pulled up to my neck, in multiple layers of sweat pants/thermals, shivering like I had hypothermia yet my head was on fire and sweating. That stuff is no joke and I'll never take it again. So if you do decide to alter the dosage, do talk to your vet and taper down slow if they have been on it for a while. Not sure if dogs go through the same withdrawals that people do. |
Little update to share...
We spoke to our primary vet and he suggested we stop the Tramadol altogether when we described what was going on. So we did. For one day. But it was obvious he was in pain and even more shaky. So we tried giving him 1/4 pills and they were predictably better than nothing but not as effective as 1/2 pill.
Fast-forward a few weeks and he continued to deteriorate. More staring at the wall and getting stuck In corners. More walking around aimlessly, usually in a circle around something - coffee table, kitchen, etc. Some "spectacular" accidents in the house such that he now wears wraps to at least protect against #1 accidents. Sleeps during day but awake and pacing at night. It has been really tough to watch and deal with - between Angus and a puppy, as well as a master bath remodel in process, and I'm not sure when either my wife or I last had a good night's sleep. We were starting to think we were very close to the end of his road (and unfortunately may still not be too far from it).
Anyway, we took him back to the dog neurologist. When we described his advancing symptoms, she said it sounds like nocturnal dementia, also known as canine cognitive dysfunction (in addition to his arthritis). It is somewhat similar to Alzheimer's in humans, but there is a pill for it (same pill as used to treat Parkinson's for humans). Apparently it helps symptoms in (but doesn't cure) about 50-75% of dogs with this disorder. I never knew this was a condition for dogs, but apparently it pretty common. (We already did other tests to rule out other physical conditions.)
Throughout the deterioration, he has remained pretty much the same personality overall. He doesn't seem unhappy or anxious all the time, which can happen with this condition. So we are going to try the pill and see how he does. Hopefully it helps and we can spend a number of months with him. However, this is tough. We don't want him to suffer because we can't let go, but don't want to give up on him too soon. Very conflicting emotions.