I've had Bella on Librela for six months and we have not seen any adverse side effects. HOWEVER, I have not seen the kind of improvements that others have. Now that could be because livestock guardian dogs aren't the most energetic dogs on the planet, and she turns 11 in March.
I had a long chat with a veterinarian friend about it yesterday. She said if we haven't seen any side effects by now, we probably won't. At the same time, she said, if we are concerned (and my husband freaked out after he read the FDA report), we could skip a month and see what happens.
I don't like playing games with my baby girl's life so we are going to skip her January shot.
Thanks for sharing your experience. The problem is, no one can give you a firm answer to the question you raised. I was only one injection in and decided to stop. Is Bella a working dog?
I can tell you that she has been on Librela -- and she started Adequan at the same time -- she has grown several lipomas. Who's to say they aren't related? My friend wouldn't correlate the two and certainly lipomas come with age. But to have so many come in in the same time period as her new drug protocol has me asking a lot more questions.
Bella is not a working dog. Unless you count alerting me to the UPS driver, other dogs walking past the house and leaves wafting in the wind five blocks away.
That's a great question, Lori. Based on what I've read, it takes 38 days for Librela to be 75% out of the dog's system. (57 days for 88%, 76 days for 96%). It appears that most of the adverse reactions are happening within the first 1-3 weeks following an injection. What I can't find is whether or not dogs who have seemingly tolerated Librela injections well are free of the risk of adverse events.
I am always partial to treatments that work "with the body" instead of against it. For Jasmine, we used stem cells with great results. For Cookie we used PRP (the difference in the choice were mostly logistics).
For Cookie, the PRP was more than impressive for her elbows that were in terrible shape. We originally saw a specialist thinking they'd want to do arthroscopy. But he himself felt that there would be little benefit to that and mentioned PRP. Because we already did that for Cookie's knees few years prior, I was happy with the suggestion. He recommended treatment with a "booster." He administered the first one and gave us a "doggy bag" with already processed PRP so our local veterinarian could do the booster.
Cookie's elbows were giving her terrible time then. After the treatment(s), her elbows never bothered her again.
Note: Vetstem now offers some already ready-to-go PRP product which might ease the logistics as well; I don't have experience with that one but was willing to consider it.
I think you are wise to hold off. That warning really upset me because I put my sheltie in it about 5 months before I had to let him go. He did not display any of these symptoms but he did start experiencing bone breaks that seemed suspicious. For the short time he was on it, he was doing all the things he had done when he was younger. I cannot claim it was Librela that shortened his life, but I have wondered ever since.
My 10 year old maltipoo has been getting monthly Librela injections for about 8 months now with no side effects. I was able to take him off daily Rimadyl after 2 shots. He is also being treated for significant heart murmur and pulmonary hypertension. He had just gotten his injection when the news from the FDA came out. I do plan on discussing continued Librela treatment with his vet at the next appointment.
I've had Bella on Librela for six months and we have not seen any adverse side effects. HOWEVER, I have not seen the kind of improvements that others have. Now that could be because livestock guardian dogs aren't the most energetic dogs on the planet, and she turns 11 in March.
I had a long chat with a veterinarian friend about it yesterday. She said if we haven't seen any side effects by now, we probably won't. At the same time, she said, if we are concerned (and my husband freaked out after he read the FDA report), we could skip a month and see what happens.
I don't like playing games with my baby girl's life so we are going to skip her January shot.
Thanks for sharing your experience. The problem is, no one can give you a firm answer to the question you raised. I was only one injection in and decided to stop. Is Bella a working dog?
I can tell you that she has been on Librela -- and she started Adequan at the same time -- she has grown several lipomas. Who's to say they aren't related? My friend wouldn't correlate the two and certainly lipomas come with age. But to have so many come in in the same time period as her new drug protocol has me asking a lot more questions.
Bella is not a working dog. Unless you count alerting me to the UPS driver, other dogs walking past the house and leaves wafting in the wind five blocks away.
Louie has been getting Librela shots for much of this year. They do seem to help him - not as much limping or leg shaking.
Do you know if Librela “accumulates” in the body, therefore increasing any risks over time? Do you think the risks increase with the age of the dog?
That's a great question, Lori. Based on what I've read, it takes 38 days for Librela to be 75% out of the dog's system. (57 days for 88%, 76 days for 96%). It appears that most of the adverse reactions are happening within the first 1-3 weeks following an injection. What I can't find is whether or not dogs who have seemingly tolerated Librela injections well are free of the risk of adverse events.
I am glad you made the decision to not do the second shot.
Thanks Jonelle.
Hugs to Quinn.
I am always partial to treatments that work "with the body" instead of against it. For Jasmine, we used stem cells with great results. For Cookie we used PRP (the difference in the choice were mostly logistics).
For Cookie, the PRP was more than impressive for her elbows that were in terrible shape. We originally saw a specialist thinking they'd want to do arthroscopy. But he himself felt that there would be little benefit to that and mentioned PRP. Because we already did that for Cookie's knees few years prior, I was happy with the suggestion. He recommended treatment with a "booster." He administered the first one and gave us a "doggy bag" with already processed PRP so our local veterinarian could do the booster.
Cookie's elbows were giving her terrible time then. After the treatment(s), her elbows never bothered her again.
Note: Vetstem now offers some already ready-to-go PRP product which might ease the logistics as well; I don't have experience with that one but was willing to consider it.
Thanks for providing this information Jana.
I think you are wise to hold off. That warning really upset me because I put my sheltie in it about 5 months before I had to let him go. He did not display any of these symptoms but he did start experiencing bone breaks that seemed suspicious. For the short time he was on it, he was doing all the things he had done when he was younger. I cannot claim it was Librela that shortened his life, but I have wondered ever since.
Thanks Mel. Sorry to hear about your sheltie.
Thank you
My 10 year old maltipoo has been getting monthly Librela injections for about 8 months now with no side effects. I was able to take him off daily Rimadyl after 2 shots. He is also being treated for significant heart murmur and pulmonary hypertension. He had just gotten his injection when the news from the FDA came out. I do plan on discussing continued Librela treatment with his vet at the next appointment.
Thanks for sharing your experience Patty.