Arthritis advice please - anyone used Galliprant or Librela?

[Freysimo]

Our 12 year old rescue lurcher has arthritis, and is noticeably uncomfortable on walks. A course of Loxicam didn't help (she's had this in the past and it was really helpful), even with paracetamol added in on vet advice.

Vet has now suggested Galliprant, which I planned to start Monday after three days off Loxicam. I've just read the leaflet and my heart sank. She has to have a tablet an hour before she eats, which is going to be tough, and a common side effect is vomiting apparently.

As she's an elderly dog, I just wonder if I should get her on a Librela injection once a month rather than mess about with tablets.

Has anyone any experience of either Galliprant or Librela please? The Galliprant is free for first month, but cost isn't a consideration. I think Librela is around £100 pm.

My lab has been on Librela for about 18 months, since he was diagnosed with arthritis. It has made a big difference to his happiness and comfort, but does nothing to slow the progression of the arthritis.
We take him for regular physio / hydrotherapy and try to curtail his wilder moments and, at 12.5 he is doing better than I had expected. I have never met an owner happy with gabapentin , but have heard good reports of galliprant.

DDog has now had two doses of Galliprant and is doing well. I can't really believe it's worked so quickly but she's definitely livelier. Smelly farts but hopefully this will settle, if not small price to pay!

Vet said if I want to keep her on it after month's free trial, she'll give me prescription and I can buy on line.

Thanks for everyone's input, Mumsnet is much better than a dog forum gir this sort of thing.

My dog has been using Galiprant for almost 2 years now and it has been an absolute blessing for her. She used to limp from the bone on bone in both front knees. After starting on the pills and also a once monthly injection of Cartrophen she no longer limps or shows pain when she walks. Only draw back is now her blood work is showing some trouble beginning with her kidneys. Vet has advised stopping Galiprant and going on a new once monthly injection of Librela. It doesn’t effect the kidneys. We will be weaning her off the pill and going with the new injection. Too bad, because for her Galiprant worked wonders and did not both her stomach or bowel movements. Hope this info helps.

My 12-year-old chihuahua was on Galliprant for arthritis. I never got any instructions vis a vis food. Just gave at some odd time each morning and he was fine.

My 12+ year old-lab mix has lived a full life with an injured leg since puppyhood. When she started slowing down a couple of years ago, we started with Gallabrant. It has been very effective, although I was unaware that I should be giving it on an empty stomach. I just give it during the afternoon. It's still working very well.

My dog Kayla was getting both Galliprant meds as well as a once monthly shot of Cartrophen, which worked amazingly well, but due to some signs of kidney problems we were advised to replace the Galliprant with a monthly shot of Librela. We did that and find she is doing even better than she was before. The Librella is working wonders for her and is much easier on the kidneys. Thumbs way up for the Librella/Cartrophen treatment. She is almost like a new dog.

Ddog is now on Librela with excellent results. She could sniff out Galliprant and it became impossible to get it down her, no matter how it was 'wrapped'.

My Rottweiler takes Galliprant and I just put it in her food in the morning. She takes 100 mg tablet once per day. In the beginning this made a huge difference. That was summer of 2022 and she has been up and down in the last months. Sometimes she can walk three miles in two walks and now she is limping in the left hind leg. She has had TPLO knee surgery in both knees so this does not help. We are getting ready to start her on Librela when we see our vet Tuesday. I am just really going to say, this sucks seeing her like this. She is 9.

Turmeric does wonders for arthritis.

My 15 year old spaniel is on Galliprant, he has it about 40 mins before dinner , they are meat scented/flavoured so he thinks it’s a treat! The biggest problem is that he knows dinner comes after and pesters a bit which he never used to do .
He is also on gabapentin which he has in his food. He cannot tolerate metacam which caused him to have reflux but we have had no problems at all with Galliprant.

Our little 13yr old terrier has Galliprant tablet in her morning meal - no need to dose an hour before. She's been on it for nearly a year - noticeably more mobile - daycare team really noticed the difference.
She isn't keen on the vet pulling her around every 3 months and taking bloods though - this is far more distressing to her than anything else.
We've asked for 6 month reviews now, because she shows no sign of distress on the meds, and I'm not happy inflicting painful procedures on her without a very necessary reason