Poor Butch

Last week, while I was out traveling, Landon had to take Butch with him to his gigs. While out there, Butch sprained the tendon that goes in front of his knee. It I guess keeps going in and out of the position which it is supposed to stay in, and looks to be painful. Landon took him to the Vet on Monday to have it looked at, and he gave him a steroid shot in his leg, as well as gave us some pills to help the pain, and swelling. I had been giving him these pills since Monday, and thought to myself only yesterday, I wonder what is in these pills. So I look them up on line. They are Rimadyl. Apperantly they have had mixed reviews. It said when they were doing the clinical trials that 39% of the dogs had reaction that caused medical care or death. Yet they still approved it.
I know that there are people out there that don’t understand how I feel about my dog, but I love him like he is my child, and to be having him take a medication that 39% of dogs either had to go to the vet because of liver and or kidney failure or died was very upsetting.
With those of you with children, think about finding out these odds on a medication that you were giving to your child. You would freak out!
Now. What is the difference between pills for animals and pills for humans? A 39% bad reaction rate was low enough to pass this drug. Here is what they have to say in an Update about the drug.

“Of all the ADE reports CVM received in 1998, thirty-nine percent (39%) or 3626 involved Rimadyl®. The number of ADE reports received by CVM for Rimadyl® is considerably more than that received for other animal drugs. For any one ADE report, there is no absolute certainty that the suspected drug caused the effect. The adverse effects in these reports are consistent with those expected for NSAIDs. They typically involve the gastrointestinal system, renal/urinary system, hematopoietic (blood) system, neurological system, and the liver. Approximately 13% of the 1998 Rimadyl® ADE reports for dogs involved death of the dog, either on their own or by means of euthanasia.”
Here is the link:
http://www.srdogs.com/Pages/rimadylfr.html


13% died. Nice. Anyways, I have not seen any adverse reaction to the drug yet, and I do not know what to do. It is helping his pain, and it is Saturday. All the vets are closed. Do I keep giving it to him, or do I stop, and let him suffer? I think I would rather him suffer than die. But so far he has been fine. Ah dilemmas