Dog seriously ill after Loxicom, not sure what we should be doing next

[Lanawashington]

Sorry this might be long but there's been a lot going on.

He had sedation and x-rays on Weds last week and was prescribed Loxicom for joint pain. Thurs morning he started with diarrhea but he seemed fine in himself, and the vets did say it could be a side effect. Thurs night he had diarrhea 3 times during the night, but was still eating and drinking and was his usual happy self. Friday morning he had his breakfast and had some water with it, but didn't drink anything else during the day. Fri night he refused his tea. Rang the vets and they said to stop the Loxicom and take him over in the morning so they could check him over.

He went to the toilet 8 times during Fri night and had diarrhea every time. Sat morning there was a large amount of bright red blood in his poo. Took him to his vet appt, they checked him over thoroughly, his temp was fine, gums fine, eyes bright etc. They gave us Promax paste, Oralade as he hadn't drunk any water since Fri morning, and some probiotic food to see if we could get him to eat. He had about 100ml of the Oralade and half a tin of the food but wouldn't take anymore. Carried on pooing blood during the day, but this time it was all blood and no poo at all. He'd also become very lethargic and his gums had started to go pale. Rang the vets back Sat evening, they said take him straight back. They kept him in and put him on a drip as he was very dehydrated.

He came home yesterday evening and seemed a lot brighter, they'd got him drinking water and he'd had some food. Bloods were done, no sign of any infection or blockage, so they've put it down to the Loxicom. He ate some food last night and had a drink, but last night he went out 6 times again during the night. Since 6am this morning, he's now can't make it longer than an hour without needing to go, and there's still blood. He hasn't drunk any water since he got home last night about 7.30pm.

We're not really sure what to ask them to do next, or whether this is normal and we need to just let it run its course. I'm concerned he'll need to go back in for fluids again if we can't get any in him.

If he’s not getting better then you need to keep getting back to the vet about it.

He needs to go back to the vet. Poor thing.

Have called the vets again this morning and they're going to see him again at 12, I'm just not really sure what I should be asking them to do. I've never seen him so unwell before

You need to take him back today urgently.

Old dog had loxicom no problem for arthritis.

New dog made really unwell. They changed it to gabapentin which was fine (but this was acute use for a broken tail)

I hope he perks up soon.

Ask them to check if he has a stomach ulcer. This happened to my boy and they think the loxicom caused a stomach ulcer which had ruptured and caused septic peritonitis. They did a CT scan to locate this and operated straight away. I wish you and your boy all the luck in the world fixing this.

Should add the vet we saw said he'd seen this happen a few times in labradors (not sure of your boy's breed).

If your vet could do with talking this through with other professionals, the vet that picked this up for us was Moorview Specialist Referrals in Cramlington.

@cherrypiepie yes a few dogs I know have been fine on it and I know of a few who've had problems too

@Thisisus4 that's what I was wondering as I've been reading about reactions to Loxicom. I didn't want the vet to think I'm saying they don't know what they're doing, but it would be helpful if there are things I can suggest to them. He's actually a Lab x so that might make sense

My lab was ill like that on metacalm. She tolerates Previcox so that's what the vet prescribes if she needs pain relief.

My dog was very ill on it.

The vet changed drugs and also gave us something to help protect the gut afterwards but I cant remember what that was.

This article explains Meloxicam (Loxicom) poisoning/toxicity and might help you with what to ask the vet for.

At the very least, with gastro intestinal bleeding, I would have though something like Omeprazole would have been given to protect and heal the gut. I would also want to make sure they have thoroughly checked his kidneys.

Don’t worry about asking lots of questions and/or asking if they have thought of things, I have been that pet parent many a time, sometimes it was helpful, others they were able to explain that it had been done or why they hadn’t done it. I have had a vet seriously overdose one of my dogs with some pretty nasty medication, so now I would rather the vet thought I was a pain in their rear than they missed something I had thought of but been too worried to ask for fear of offending them.

Meloxicam/Loxicom

My greyhound Badger has had a similar reaction twice now. He had bloody diarrhoea for nearly a week after only one dose of loxicom. My other greyhounds have had no problem with it. There's now a note on his file that he can't have it.

Thank you everyone. He has been back to the vets. They kept him in again, scanned him, checked his kidneys etc and looked for stomach ulcers. Nothing obvious was found, so they've given him treatment to settle his guts and to reduce the inflammation in his colon. He's home now and much brighter - he's eating and drinking as normal now. He's still not 100% but he's much better than he was