VERY importand message I was sent through my rescue group, please read:
Subj: Toxic to dogs: Alleve

I have learned the hard way: Alleve is highly toxic to dogs. It is, in
fact, the worst over-the-counter pain med (in term of it's toxicity) for
dogs. Human drugs should never be given to dogs. I just learned the hard
way.

My 14 year old chocolate lab, who suffers from horrible arthritis, is on
Deramax, an anti-inflammatory pain killer that my vet provides. I ran out
of it about 2 weeks ago. With the on-set of the new school year setting (I
teach school and my daughter started kindergarten) I did not get more pain
meds for my dog, Dessa. I gave her an Alleve, with some peanut butter....I
might have even given her two during these past two weeks. I was going to
get her the Deramax yesterday.

Yesterday morning I woke to find Dessa very sick. I called emergency and
had my vet paged. Dess would not eat the prior night, then was up most of
the night panting. Yesterday morning she would not get up. So I lifted
her, and carried her, to take her to get some water. She lost control of
her bladder all over me and the floors. I then found diarrhea around the
house. After spending literally hours with the vet yesterday, Dessa was
admitted to Danbury Emergency Animal Hospital for the weekend.

They believe the Alleve has started a bleeding ulcer in her stomach. She
has internal bleeding. Her kidneys were on the verge of failing. She is on
an i.v. and is being given meds for the stomach to help stop the bleeding.
Still, her red blood cell count dropped last night. It went from 36-26-21.
This morning, it is now stable at 21. She is holding her own.

The only other thing that could cause this is a mast cell tumor/ cancer.
She had this type of cancer about 4 years ago. The vet on call this
morning says that they can't rule cancer out, but knowing I gave her the
Alleve, this is pretty much the result they see from toxic poisons. I feel
terrible, but I am trying to be strong.

Keep this old dog in your prayers and thoughts....
my 5 year old said a prayer for her, out of the blue, last night before
bed (so maybe that is what stabilized Dess during the course of the night?
I like to think so).

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Adopt Fruit Loops! Visit: http://fruitloopstheboston.blogspot.com/ for more info...

I'll reply to the post here too. Check your labels. Alleve is a brand name for naproxen sodium, as is naprosyn. look for the generic name naproxyn sodium on the list of ingredients on the label as a lot of pharmacies have their own store brands with similar names. Most all of them are blue tablets, but the ones that I take as a higher dose prescription are white extended release caplets.
Thanks for getting the word out!!

__________________
Karen, mom to Turbeaux & Libby

Naproxen makes me bad sick...I cant imagine how that poor dog felt.