Any experiences with PLT?

Just wondered if anyone has any experience with giving their dog PLT - the old fashioned combo NSAID/Steroid tablet?

We are at the end of the line with our dog. Can't take NSAIDs as they affect his liver too much - and our vet describes liver disease as feeling like the worst hangover ever so we can't risk it. He's had 2 courses of Cartrophen injections but they do nothing.

He's on regular Tramadol, but either the pain's got worse or he's developed a tolerance to it so needs higher and higher doses for the same pain relief - a common issue and apparently it's not well known for long lasting arthritis joint relief anyway.

He's been on all sorts of supplements for years but with severe spinal spondylosis and arthritis everywhere, we're beyond nutraceuticals so I'm not looking for natural supplement advice.

He goes to hydrotheraphy once a week and we've recently tried a course of acupuncture, but he's not responding enough to give him enough quality of life.

The vet we see for acupuncture is different from our regular vet and floated the idea of PLT as there didn't seem to be anything to lose.

Any thoughts or opinions.

 

Could be a coincidence but.........

My old girl had severe spondylosus and the metacam was no longer giving her any benefit but we persevered. Any around the same time, I put both dogs onto raw for other reasons and the change in my old girl was remarkable! She was back to good quality of life and was even able to negotiate the stairs again and this was without ant drugs as they just weren't working. Maybe worth a try!

 

Thanks for the suggestion but I think we've probably tried 99% of anything anyone could suggest, so just really interested in experiences with PLT?

He has the world's most sensitive stomach on top of everything else so can only eat Royal Canin Sensitivity Control with the very occasional bit of tinned Chappie - we've tried all the good quality wet and dry foods, and we also gave raw a really good go as I was convinced, mainly from reading up on here, that raw would fix all our problems. Unfortunately he can't tolerate it - no matter how slowly it was introduced and whatever protein source, it just shoots straight through him.

 

I've used PLT successfully with a couple of mine over the years. One of mine, 11 1/2 year old Ridgeback is on it at the moment, 2 twice daily. She has a bit of arthritis in her feet and was getting a strange swelling on her thigh but the PLT tablets seem to have this under control. We haven't had any side effects.
HTH

As an aside - have you tried a Bioflow collar? A friend used one on her dog that had terrible lameness focussed around her pasterns. I would have been thinking of having her PTS as it was so bad. The Bioflow collar had an amazing effect - she started to run and jump again, maybe worth a try?

 

Yep - he's wearing a bioflow collar. Made not the slightest bit of difference. Thanks for the suggestion though - and the feedback on PLT.

Told you we'd tried 99% of anything ever mentioned on here

 

My last collie was on PLT for 7 years as she had a serious flare up of liver trouble aged 10 which we got her over with IV fluids and diet change, she lived another 7 years having PLT twice daily and had a normal active life on them. I thinking living until 17 wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for those little white pills! X

 

Now that's just the encouraging sort of reply I'd hoped for - you know when you pin all your hopes on a miraculous cure...

And very interesting that you've had no issues despite have liver problems in the past.

I have spent most of the day hunting around the internet and can't actually find any 'PLT killed my pet' type posts which I also find encouraging. You've only got to key in 'Rimadyl/Metacam/Previcox' etc to find scores of bad experiences, but PLT seems to be all good. Makes no sense to me as it's a combination of steroid and non-steroid, but if it works with no immediately life threatening side-effects, I don't really care what's in it!

 

Our old Collie was on low dose Prednisolone for several years with no ill affect.

 

My Collie was on PLT for 2 years and he did great on it really saw a big difference in him on it