"Honey"
From: Craig H. (Australia)
Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2009 4:46 PM

Hi Mel,

Unfortunately we are one of the dog owners who have come across your website only after my dog died after taking Previcox. We were the owners/parents of an almost 14 year old Beagle named Honey. 

A few years ago she had bad arthritis in her legs so we took her to our local vet who gave her some Metacam and a course of 4 Cartrophen injections.  This worked well but they said she will no doubt need to come back at some time in the future for the same treatment once her legs get weak again.

Her legs became weak again recently and we took her back to the vet.  She had a check up first and this revealed that she need dental work. On 7th Oct 2009, she had the dental operation (clean and polish and 4 extractions).  She had her first shot of Cartrophen and a shot of Metacam.

I picked her up later in the afternoon.  Although still groggy she looked quite well.  The vet gave me 2 lots of drugs to start giving her the following day.  One was 28 tablets of Rilexene and a clear plastic sachet with 20 tablets inside. The vet had put her own label on it - Previcox - 20 tablets 227 mg - take one daily with food. My dog weighed 25.4 Kg.  She said to me -
"We will use Previcox instead of Metacam, it's a bit harder on the stomach but it lasts longer". This was the only information or warning I was supplied about the Previcox. I was not supplied with an information sheet.

After taking it from Thursday 8th Oct  night to Monday 12th Oct  night along with the two anti-biotic drugs daily, she died in front of me on Tuesday afternoon, the 13th October  2009

I have to admit she did show signs of side-effects. She was pacing around on Sunday, hot ears, vomit found on the carpet on Monday morning. We didn't think too much of this because the only thing the Vet told us about this drug was that it is quite hard to the stomach, but lasts longer than Metacam, so we thought vomiting must be an expected side effect.

After giving her the last one on Monday night, shortly after, she became very quiet, started shivering and shaking. She went to bed and on Tuesday morning, was very lethargic and vomited again. This time it was blood.

We rang the vet and they said there was nothing they could do, just don't give her any more Previcox. They said it would wear off.  She died later in front of me. 

My wife and I tried to resuscitate her but to no avail.  The vet said it must have been a twisted intestine.  We didn't believe her and started to do our own research and found so many stories online similar to ours.  I wish we had seen them earlier.

We are in the process of making a formal complaint regarding the lack of information the vet provided in relation to this drug and also apparently instructing me to give what seems like an excessive amount of Previcox to Honey.

The recommended dosage Merial say is 5mg/ per Kg of body weight.  Honey should have only been taking 1/2 of the 227 mg tablet. We have since discovered that other vets even say that the pet should start on a lower than recommended dosage to monitor for side effects first. 

After researching this drug after Honey died, we can't believe that they are firstly allowed to sell this drug, and secondly if they are selling it, that they don't have to provide an information sheet with it.

We tried to access a Case No. from Previcox but it seems that the Merial Australian Website doesn't even acknowledge that they are the owners of this drug?

Here are some pictures of Honey. We feel so guily that we accidentally poisoned her by our own hand.  She must have been in so much pain  during her  last few days.

Keep up the good work.  You are doing such a good job.

Craig H.