Anyone's dog having monthly Librela injections for arthritis?

[DecisionTime123]

Good idea? Does your insurance cover it? DDog is nearly 10, had my suspicions for a while, now vet is saying likely arthritis hips and spine. He's a lot better on the rheumacam but the vet is saying Librela is less risky long term. Ideas & experiences please

(Oh and is that turmeric paste worthwhile for arthritis too?)

One of them is still on galliprant plus librella, the other had bad stomach/reaction to the various pain meds. Mine do have tumeric tablets and those seemed to help.

@Greenaeonium your greyhound x sounds similar to mine (although bigger). Mines 14, osteoarthritis, muscle wastage back legs wobbly, scuffing claws, IBS ... Bless them

He’s breaking my heart 💔🥺

I had a long discussion about this with the Vet, and after doing a lot of reading online, I decided to opt for Galliprant instead. My boy is 13 next month, and it's been life changing for him. One dose last 24 hours. His arthritis is worst in his hips and legs.

He was on Cartrophen before that, and that was also effective but it was a 4 x once weekly course of injections that lasted for around 6 months. It was very tying for those 4 weeks if you don't live close to your surgery however.

So my elderly dog was on metcam but after nearly a year had acute heammorhagic diarrhoea. One of the possible side effects of metcam is gastro issues so I haven’t continued with this. The vet had mentioned about Librela but I was unsure about it after reading up on it. Vet did say she’d be happy with me doing the injections so I think it was only going to be around £30 a month so wouldn’t have been worth claiming for. I’ve got her on Calpol now which is working well.

Please check this out. My Jack Russell went on Librella which cost £100 a month, though another local vet was charging £70. But cost is not important if it eases a
loved dog's pain and though it really stretched our budget, we managed it. However, our previously fastidious dog became incontinent and then started to fit and rapidly decline. The vet, of course, refused to make the link but if you research you'll see both these side effects mentioned frequently by other owners. I would never use Librella again.

This. Our dog had one injection and 5 hours later lost the use of one his back legs. He had to have a very expensive operation at the royal veterinary college to fix it. The surgeon said he would never recommend Librella to anyone as he’s seen so many dogs suffer from similar, but that he couldn’t say more whilst the investigation was ongoing. I don’t 💯 know that what caused our boys leg to go, but I wouldn’t risk it!

My old lab died 18 months ago, at that time, my independent vets practice advised trying librella ( he was 13 and riddled with arthritis).
He had 3, they did nothing for him and he was put to sleep when it was clear that pain relief wasn't giving him what he needed.
My younger one is now coming up to 13 and has gone from super active to plodding, and in obvious discomfort.
This time around, vet said we could give Librella a go if we wanted to, but she certainly wasn't recommending it - gave me chapter and verse on the negatives.
I suppose as time has gone on, there is now a much deeper understanding of the side effects.
Mine is an old girl, her pain is well controlled for now, but she will have no further treatments, had she been a lot younger, I may have considered giving it a go, so, in my opinion, if they're young, give it a go, if they're old, be more reserved.

I asked my vet about arthritis management for when the time comes, we’re a few years away from that stage but I expect it will happen to my dogs although I do try my best to prevent/ delay the (most likely) inevitable.
He said medication would be recommended on a case by case basis but there are different options available. Metacam would usually be the starting point. He said a few years ago he wouldn’t think twice about recommending Librella at the right stage for pain management. But as the injection has been in circulation for a while he has learned there can be issues in some cases. A minority but enough to make him keep this medication for trial at later stages of pain management, where a shorter period of time with good prognosis in pain management would outweigh longevity. So basically if the dog is old you try as much as you can to reduce pain and life expectancy is not long enough to worry about serious issues from this injection. Personally, he has never seen a problem but he knows issues have started to accumulate and be shared in his line of work. Therefore he advises caution.
Interestingly, he is a big advocate of hydrotherapy starting as early as possible.
And he doesn’t rate supplements on the basis that there is no conclusive evidence they work. We actually looked at a few supplements together and in one case he pointed out one of the ingredients is part of some treatment protocol but the dose in the supplement is minuscule.
He mentioned other medications but I can’t remember the names.
Anyway, I rely on diet, weight management, active life without big stress on joints as much as possible and hope for the best for the future. But I am concerned.
I think breeders, kennel club etc really ought to alter breeds a little bit to reduce the incidence of arthritis in certain breeds. Thinking more about health than looks but keep the temperament.

@sillyrubberduck her real name is much more mundane! But she’s an evil little beast (that I utterly adore), and Satan describes her very well! She even answers to it. But then we also have another dog in the family referred to as ‘Twatdog’ and my sister owns ‘Pissy Paws’ - probably says a lot about us as owners that we use their mean nicknames more than their proper names! 😂

@Branster sounds like you've lucked out with your vet

Thank you everyone, that's really quite comprehensive, I didnt realise so many people had replied. DDog is 9 he'll be 10 in October, I think we are still trying out the rheumacam to see what he can tolerate. Sometimes he's eating grass, sometimes very soft poo, then other days seems fine. Last night I missed the rhuemacam and he was up around 5am seemingly in pain. I got some turmeric paste; will stop that now as I need to find out if that was increasing poo if you see what I mean. Trial and error. I won't have the injections for him at this age, based on what I've read here.

Did the vet agree to Calpol @JulietteHasAGun or is this something you read about and decided to try?

Vet told me about it. Told me she wasn’t allowed to tell me and then told me what to avoid (sweetener).

Please do not give your dog Calpol or any other human medication without discussing it with your vet first. Paracetamol has a very small margin of error with dogs and dosing needs to be accurate for their weight and timed properly.

My old basset hound started librella when she was 12. Considering she was diagnosed with arthritis in one leg when she was about 5, had major spinal surgery when she was 9 which left her partially paralysed for a few months. Had three cancer removals she was a new dog on librella. I remember taking her for a walk and she was cantering along which she hadn’t really done for a few years. She had started stumbling and falling over and the librella gave her 2.5 extra years. She passed away last March aged 14.5 which is incredible for a dog of that breed. I did notice the efficacy wore off in the last year and we brought the date forward for repeat injections but it worked wonders for her.

I am now 10 days post librela and my dog is definitely more chipper. I do still have huge concerns about it and have spent a lot of time researching over the last week.
My dog has a very sensitive stomach and all of the medical alternatives seem to upset stomachs - for me that is more debilitating for my dog; he won’t pooh in the garden and gets very distressed if he needs to go 🥺😵‍💫
I do think my dog also has a neuro issues which is making him walk with a twisty foot and knuckling.

I have opted for Antinol for arthritis and Neurovet for nerve support. I e also heard good things about Dorwest MoveWellia

Have you tried giving your dog supplements for his tummy @Greenaeonium?
Mine has a sensitive tummy too and I find them useful. I use Hilton herbs and Dorwest and Aniforte. Not all the time, just as and when and give them at different times to when she takes painkillers. Just an idea.

My 14 year old greyhound had her first injection two weeks ago, I think she's improved slightly. We were only £65 for the injection but our vet is an independent not a chain.

I give him dorwest tree barks when he has a flare up and have used gastric forte and purina pro biotics.
He was raw fed for years when we lived in UK but it was difficult and expensive to do it when we moved. I fed a quality wet meat but he became intolerant to it so he’s now just on a quality grain free kibble with sweet potatoe and pumpkin in the morning and kefir in the afternoon 😵‍💫
Marking poo 💩 out of ten is part of our daily conversation 😵‍💫🤦🏼‍♀️

Marking poo 💩 out of ten is part of our daily conversation

Yep, me too 😂Although she's mostly 8 and 9 these days but was a bit soft this morning. It always makes my heart sink a little. Never thought I'd be so invested in dog poo but here we are 😀
Mine never got on with kefir because of the lactose but she gets probiotics.
A couple of things you may want to try are digestive enzymes (especially as he's kibble fed now). Bentonite clay which I find brilliant, especially if she's been eating grass. And, I forgot about it because I've run out but she hasn't needed it lately, is Stoolrite. It absorbs the excess water in the gut and leads to a nice, plump stool. I'll stop now. I think it best!
But just a couple of ideas in case they help.

Hello all just coming back to the thread to say only a few doses of Metacam in and he's developed bloody diahorrea so back to the vet to find an alternative. I am hoping the blood in the poo will resolve quickly and that's it not going to be a sign of severe damage. In any case, need a new pain killer. I also need to put hydrotherapy in place. But yeah, blood in poo now so metacam is out.

@redboxer321 - we all aim for a nice plump stool eh .. ;) !!

We can but try!😆😆😆

The Librela Facebook group has linked to a study just published, by Andrew Armitage, again showing the catastrophic effect of inhibiting NGF:

www.facebook.com/share/p/1CYokyCRL6/?