Novox vs Rimadyl

[mahhi22]

My 9yo GSD was started on Rimadyl about 2 months ago for arthritis. He was on this for about 6 weeks and did ok. I switched to generic Novox since it was a bit cheaper. After the first day of Novox he developed explosive, runny diarrhea. Thinking the fillers/binders in Novox caused his GI upset I started feeding him yogurt and rice. His stools firmed up and he did ok for several days so I stopped the yogurt and rice. Within several days of stopping this his poop started getting soft but nothing like before. I started up the rice and yogurt again. His poop didn’t firm up. It became runnier and runnier until he was pooping brownish/red colored water!!!, he didn’t want to eat (not even ice cream!), and he was puking - the signs of toxicity! The vet started him on several meds to calm and soothe his GI tract and control the bleeding. Currently he’s not on any NSAID’s until his belly calms down and his poop returns to normal. Once this happens she says I can try restarting the Rimadyl and see how he does. So far I’ve been attributing his problems to the Novox. But what if it wasn’t Novox and it was just a coincidence that his symptoms started when I made the switch. What if he’s actually reacting to carprofen and it doesn’t matter which type is used, whether it’s brand name Rimadyl or generic Novox? The vet that saw Dakota said she didn’t have first hand experience with dogs reacting to Novox and not Rimadyl but a different vet said she had. Dakota now hasn’t had any NSAID for a couple of days and he seems stiffer w/o it. The idea of restarting him on any NSAID scares me but I know he needs it. The vet told me there are other NSAIDs we could try with him but they all run a similar risk.

I’m curious if anyone else had a similar experience and is willing to share what they’ve learned. Thanks.

[DukeJazz]

Our Sasha was on NSAIDs for a long time due to progressive arthritis. We tried the alternatives (Prevacox, Metacam etc.) and they seemed to make the GI problems worse,
tho others have indicated they are better tollerated.

Like anything, I suspect it varies from dog to dog & some have problems with all of them.
The only thing you can do is to try 30 days or so of each & see which works best for your guy. We found that Rimidyl was fairly cheap if you buy on-line a full bottle at a time.
Best price we found was here (you will need to get a Rx from the Vet that matches the bottle # pills & mg):
http://www.kvvet.com/KVVet/product_famil...omplete%20A%2DZ

We found this OTC med helped calm Sasha's GI:
http://www.vetdepot.com/GastriCalm-6...e-Tablets.html

When she did start to get soft poops, we used this. Trick was to start the 3 day round ASAP when we noticed she was getting "loose":
http://www.vetdepot.com/Pro-Pectalin...Cats-30cc.html

Also, never administer NSAIDs on an empty stomach (for obvious reasons).