Owner worries medicine caused dog’s kidney failure
Dear Dr. John, I write with a heavy heart, having put my 13-year-old Yorkie to sleep just two days ago. He had not been doing well, but blood tests as recently as two weeks ago showed everything to be normal. My dog had been acting as if he were in pain, so he was given a medication called meloxicam. He seemed to do well for a short time, and then a few days ago, became very ill. I took him to my vet, and this time the blood work showed that he was in kidney failure. He also was starting to look yellow-tinged. Given the poor outlook and the fact that my funds are pretty limited, I elected to put him to sleep.
What do you think caused him to get so sick? Is there any chance that the medication caused the problem? How often do medications make things worse? I know there are always risks with taking any medication, but perhaps you can help me understand what happened. — G.Y. Dear G.Y., I am sorry to hear about your loss. I am sure that the veterinarians who attended to your old dog did the right things by him. Clearly, they were following good protocol in doing blood work, which came back as normal, before they gave him the meloxicam, a well-known and reputable NSAID.
There is no way to ascertain whether the dog failed because of this specific medication or another factor, and I have no way of knowing what caused him to become acutely ill.
The potential signs of meloxicam toxicity include those about which you write, such as lethargy and jaundice. Other signs can include vomiting, diarrhea, decreased appetite and dark stool due to the development of stomach ulcers. Given what developed, a drug reaction to the meloxicam is a distinct possibility. These same signs can develop after the use of this class of drugs in both animals and people, but the medications are usually safe.
My guess is that as a geriatric patient, your dog may have been at higher risk of problems. There are many other possibilities that may have led to his demise.
Only by a thorough post-mortem examination might one be able to identify any specific cause of his illness and changes in kidney function. There are always risks with taking any type of medications, regardless of how safe they are, and one needs to be aware of that. My thoughts are with you at this difficult time.