I have a 15.5 yr old chow/Belgian shepherd with lumbosacral disease, some arthritis, perhaps a disc issue, and a small degree of dementia. Her ability to walk and squat to pee or poop (I help her with both to reduce accidents) has worsened dramatically over the last 4 months.
She’d been on metacam for about a year without gastric issues (good digestion was always a strong point) but since efficacy was diminished and for kidney safety switched to Galliprant. The effects were marginal- no better or worse than metacam- so we moved to Prednisone.
The steroid dramatically improved ability to stand up and walk, made her drink/pee a lot (expected side effect), but created anxiety and much more dementia. As we reduced dosage the benefits decreased, so we weaned off and returned to Gslliprant 2 weeks ago.
THIS TIME, the med came labeled ‘give on empty stomach,’ which I did, and I’ve noticed GI symptoms unlike previous time, when I gave with s meal. Soft stool, some diarrhea. So for the last three days (after giving with a meal) I have seen the first perfectly formed stool of the last 2 weeks.
I spoke to the doctors at Galliprant and they say the med is “more bio-available” given on an empty stomach, but EFFICACY IS ABOUT THE SAME , when given WITH or WITHOUT FOOD.
