No Other Painreliever For A Week After Asprin?

[Guest Hoolyghans]

Abba did something to her leg during backyard shennanigans. Limping & big bruise inside thigh

Initially thought pulled muscle, gave asprin twice yesterday. Seemed worse today, very uncomfortable even laying down so off to vet to be on safe side

regular vet on vacay. Doogie houser vet scolds me for asprin use, says very dangerous and now she can't have *any* other pain med for a week. Really???

Waiting for xray results so thought I'd ask you guys

We're talking actual asprin, 325mg given w food (abba's 65 lb)

[CaliforniaGreys]

Usually, it's 3 days off asprin before an NSAID can be given. If I am not going to use an NSAID I will use Ascriptin

[RobinM]

Yup 3 days.

[Rickiesmom]

Someone should confirm this, but I believe you could use an opioid such as Tramadol without conflict with the NSAID (i.e., no need to wait) - they are sometimes given together. Tramadol doesn't have the anti-inflamatory properties, but will help with the pain.

 

Dosage depends somewhat on the pain severity but as an example, Jaynie pulled a ligament in the outer toe of one of her hind feet - it's painful - and she's on 100mg of tramadol every 12h.

 

ETA: Jaynie weighs 63 pounds.

Edited April 2, 2011 by Rickiesmom

[CaliforniaGreys]

Someone should confirm this, but I believe you could use an opioid such as Tramadol without conflict with the NSAID - they are sometimes given together. Tramadol doesn't have the anti-inflamatory properties, but will help with the pain.

 

Dosage depends somewhat on the pain severity but as an example, Jaynie pulled a ligament in the outer toe of one of her hind feet - it's painful - and she's on 100mg of tramadol every 12h.

 

True Mary, but we should never mix an asprin with an NSAID or a steroid

Edited April 2, 2011 by CaliforniaGreys

[ZoomDoggy]

Yes, aspirin requires a washout period before NSAIDs or steroids can be used. Ran into this just recently myself with Alimony's neck injury. I've heard anywhere from three to seven days. Tramadol may be prescribed as a painkiller in the meantime.

 

The aspirin dosage you gave sounds high to me. Usually people give baby aspirin to dogs. But I'm certainly no vet.

Edited April 2, 2011 by ZoomDoggy

[PatricksMom]

My vet used to allow tramadol + asprin, before I started using Meloxicam + Tramadol. You don't want to mix asprin with NSAIDs, as others have said. I hope from what you've said your vet isn't angry at you and taking it out on your dog--in my experience some vets recommend 325 mg of buffered asprin for occasional use, so while you might want to do something different in the future I don't think what you gave her was dangerous.

[Batmom]

For future reference: You really don't want to aspirin of any type unless the dog is in severe pain and there's no possibility of getting to a vet soon. Aspirin is perhaps the most likely NSAID to cause gastric bleeding.

 

You could give Tramadol during the wait period, tho.

[Newgreymom]

Dr. Couto said it was OK to give an NSAID with the 1/4 of 81mg of aspirin the greyhounds that have had strokes are on. Not sure if this applies to this particular dog, but think it's good info to share...

[ZoomDoggy]

For future reference: You really don't want to aspirin of any type unless the dog is in severe pain and there's no possibility of getting to a vet soon. Aspirin is perhaps the most likely NSAID to cause gastric bleeding.

 

You could give Tramadol during the wait period, tho.

 

That was the case with Alimony. I was on a road trip with her and she'd injured her neck. We had a three day drive to get back home, and she was screaming in pain. Awful. So in desperation, I gave her baby aspirin (81 mg, twice daily).

 

In retrospect, I wish I hadn't, because of the washout period. Hindsight.

 

Thankfully, she did recover quickly after we got home.

 

At any rate, I hope the OP's pup gets relief quickly.

Edited April 2, 2011 by ZoomDoggy

[JJNg]

As others have mentioned, tramadol is safe to give during the "washout period" between NSAIDs. While some vets may be ok with starting another NSAID after 3 days, I prefer to wait 5-7 days if possible. The same rules apply if switching from aspirin to a steroid. The reason for this is that if there's any aspirin left in their system, the combo of aspirin with another NSAID (or steroid) can exponentially increase the risk of GI ulcers. Any combo can increase this risk, but aspirin is the worse, which is why the washout period after aspirin is typically longer than the period recommended for switching between other NSAIDs.

 

There have been cases of dogs developing perforated ulcers and dying of peritonitis within a short period of time, which is why vets are so careful about NSAIDs and steroids. With the potential for life-threatening consequences, I prefer to err on the safe side with this.

 

Low dose aspirin to prevent blood clots is different - you're talking 20 mg vs 325 mg for a greyhound-sized dog.

[Guest Hoolyghans]

Thanks everyone!

As they say, learn something new every day.

 

 

I'm going to start a new thread because now we have bigger issues than her leg pain. I did want to say though that I would never do any home treatment long term w/out express vet ok. In this situation I thought we were dealing with a minor pulled muscle (she's a diva and a drama queen prone to over reaction) and felt 2 doses of what I had always heard was a safe for short term OTC treatment was a reasonable course of action. When that didn't work, off to the vet we went.

 

Looking around, many many sites say that 5mg to 10mg per pound of dog is the safe dose. At 65 lbs, a 325 mg pill was at the low side of the dosage.

[Guest avadogner]

When Augie had his" soft tissue injury" me being an ex ER RN, I initially gave him a one time dose of aspirin and applied cool compresses. Four hours later at the er vet (at 1:00. A.M.) we were read the riot act about it. I felt so bad that I didn't check GT first. We were then hit with a ($50) additional charge form injection formula zantac. The bill was ($400) and the totally missed the hugely infected septic joint he has. This months vet bills are at $1300 and we still have followup appts. It makes me so aggravated that I even suggested tapping the joint and the ER Vet told me to stick with human kids not pets! And what do ya know, it was septic and my boy waited several days for it to get better before we second onioned it all. I went in for my 7th surgery 4 days after his accident. The amazing ladies at McGregor took such good care of him and ran him back and forth from the vet for us!