tramadol is a painkiller that is sometimes used in dogs it might be used
for short-term pain relief after surgery or it could be used for long-term to
treat something like arthritis does tramadol actually work though and is it
safe Hi I'm Dr Alex Avery from ourpetshealth.com helping you and your
pet to live a healthier happier life let me know your experiences with tramadol
in the comments down below and remember to subscribe for more videos just like
this one tramadol is an opioid painkiller
commonly used in humans that is also often given off licence to our pets in
people it can be very effective but as we know from other drugs the effects of
a drug in one species doesn't mean that the same is true in another species so
classic opioids are morphine and methadone we know work very well in dogs
so why would tramadol be any different well
tramadol needs to be broken down by the body into different chemicals and it
is these metabolites that are actually responsible for the analgesic or pain
killing action of tramadol it is a specific chemical known as that m1
metabolite that works on the opioid pain killing receptors in the body which then
results in the pain-killing effects seen now the problem is that dogs seem to
produce very little of this m1 metabolite compounding this it only
lasts in the body for a very short time tramadol does have other effects on the
body it actually increases the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine in the body
which can have the effect of sedation or intestinal upset serotonin is also
commonly known as the feel-good or happy chemical and it is possible then that
this makes our pets feel happier in themselves the other side effects we
rarely see but they can include agitation anxiety tremors dizziness as
well as inappetence or constipation generally though any side effects are
very rare and really minor so the big question then is does tramadol work to
reduce the pain my pet is in well for some time now the use of tramadol has
had its champions and it's also had those who have questions
how much good it actually does so personally speaking I have found that in
some dogs tramadol seemed to work well and improve their welfare and make them more
comfortable after taking tramadol other patients though they didn't seem to get
much or any benefit at all out of it more often than not I would also use
tramadol as an additional pain killing strategy using it at the same time as
another pain killing medication rather than using it on its own the key with
any pets in pain is to continually though reassess their comfort levels so
if something doesn't seem to be working changes can then be made to make sure
that they are really as comfortable as possible and on the most appropriate
treatment strategy why might tramadol not work well as I've already mentioned
dogs break down tramadol differently to people and tramadol itself doesn't
actually have any pain killing activity and instead it's the certain breakdown
chemical that reduces pain if only a small amount of this is produced and
it's only around for a short time the result is that theoretically it's
questionable as to how much good tramadol actually does and a great
recent study looked at this very question in lame arthritic dogs it
compared how much force was being put through each dog's legs after being
given either a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug and I've done a
video about these specific drugs which you can see up here or link down below
they were also then another group was given tramadol and another group was
given a placebo so when you have a painful leg you try and put much less
weight through it and so less force goes through it and what this study found was
that there was a great improvement in leg use with those dogs given
nonsteroidals but there was no improvement and no difference with both
the tramadol and the placebo group so if this is the case for every dog then why
might we see an improvement in some dogs being given tramadol well it could be
due to two things and the first is that the other effects that tramadol has on
increasing the serotonin levels that I've already discussed so that might
cause sedation and it might improve the feelings of happiness and so pets may
actually look better even when they are actually in the same amount of pain the
second possible cause of this improvement is actually the placebo
effect now this is definitely an issue with both owners and veterinarians
we are also invested in the health and the well-being of our dogs
and cats that we want the treatment that we give to be working and so this can
mean that we see improvement even when it's not actually present
I've actually got a separate video coming up to discuss this topic in a few
weeks so make sure you look out for that so for me my nagging doubts about how
well tramadol in dog actually works as well as the fact that there are alternatives
out there ever meant that it's not a drugs that I actually really reach for
in my patients anymore if you want to learn about some alternative medications
as well as other strategies to help you your painful pet as comfortable as
possible and I'll have a whole playlist on this topic that is linked here
and down below keeping our pets as comfortable and pain-free as possible
it's something that I feel very strongly about and I hope this video helps your
pets to be as pain-free as possible if you have any questions as always then
please leave me a comment down below I'd love to read them also remember to
subscribe to make sure you don't miss out on more videos just like this one
all about helping you and your pet to live a healthier happier life and until
next time i'm dr. alex from our pets health because they're family