[Gpdd] [CARE] Pain and Rimadyl

[Ann Evans]

Dear Carole and the GPDD Family,

Carole made a very important point regarding Rimadyl and my post about 
pain and the use of Rimadyl in cavies. The points being that one should 
always no the possible side effects of any drug. Also, that each cavy is 
an individual and any medication choices and dosages must be tailored to 
that patient. In fact I had mentioned to Deb the slave to Emma, Winnie & 
Lily that I should of included more information in my post about 
Rimadyl. Since I am a pharmaceutical scientist and a long term student 
of Vedra Stanley-Spatcher of the Cambridge Cavy Trust and Guinea Pig 
Hospital, I tend to write very short and to the point emails. Vedra 
writes her emails in the same manner. I should NOT assume that everyone 
is going to know or educate themselves about drugs prescribed to cavies. 
  I have told many cavy slaves that almost all of the drugs that are 
used in cavies were not developed for them. Therefore, when a vet 
prescribes a drug for your cavy that was developed for cats and dogs 
this is called off label prescribing and is totally legal. When you read 
a veterinary formulary about the use of Rimadyl in cavies the dosages 
that are reported were arrived at through the personal experimentation 
of veterinarians. In most cases no clinical trials were done for the use 
of that drug for the treatment of cavies. Therefore, from one formulary 
to another you will see different dosages reported for the use of 
Rimadyl or any other drug, since different data sets or experiences from 
different vets are being used to set the dosage range and route of 
administration. When I post about the use of a drug in cavies, I am 
using the data set that Vedra has established.

I am not an expert. I try to learn something new every day. Many members 
of the GPDD have educated me about cavy health care. I feel that one of 
the strengths of the GPDD is that everyone has the chance to post their 
experiences and share their knowledge with this international community 
of Cavy Lovers. I appreciate that Carole shared with us her personal and 
painful story about the loss of her cavy from kidney failure.

Sincerely,

Ann and the Rescued Piggys of Piggyville, Tampa Florida USA.