Getting to the Bottom of Things

Kansas, it turns out,  was experiencing one of the rarer "side effects" of the Rimadyl she was prescribed. Nevermind that the occasional dose of it hasn't affected her for the past year, this time it's making her aggressive. Uncharacteristically aggressive- and I was compounding the problem by giving her MORE OF IT, thinking that her behavior was a result of her being in pain. I wasn't thinking. Instead of "occasional" use, I'd been giving it to her daily for a week, and then for the next three days I was giving it to her twice a day! We haven't had any issues since we stopped giving it to her. Sunday was the last time she had any. Looking back, it's true she hadn't been stiff or bunny-hopping for several days. I wish I had been paying better attention. It seems that 2-3 days in a row is the max she can tolerate any of it, since last Tuesday was the first time she lashed out at any of the other pets, and I'd been giving it to her nightly since Friday at that point. Leo and Airlie are still very leery of her, but she seems to be back to her old self. I started supplementing her with 2mg of melatonin on Sunday, just to try it, since it's used to treat behavior, seizure and fear disorders in other dogs before more serious meds are employed. Plus I read that osteoarthritis can prevent dogs from getting a restful night's sleep, so maybe she really is in need of it to help her get more healint rest. It seems to be working, too.