Is ace still bad? Interesting conversation with the Vet.

[Poohsmom]

Our vet won't use it on our boxers ,either. I made sure "No Ace" was put on all 4 of the kids files. In fact,when Pooh had her dental work done last year,I went as far as to take a food marker and wrote NO ACE on her front legs. That way there would be no mistake come IV time~!


Sue and the kids,
Pooh,Bownser,Dozer & Cissy
Buddy & Dusty,romping at the bridge

 

[Mushy]

I once had the unfortunate experience of witnessing a Boxer coming out of anesthesia after having been given Ace. He was just having a teeth cleaning. The vet was very new and young and did not know anything about not giving Ace to boxers. The poor baby sat in his kennel for two hours with head tremors. At one point I thought he was having a seizure. After about two hours, the tremors started to calm, but he still had traces of the tremors. The vet did not want to tell the owner what happened, so he told the owners he wanted to just keep the dog for observation for a few more hours and kept the dog until the tremors went away. FYI, I worked at this vets office for a very short time and discovered he was by far, the worst vet I have ever known. And the entire office was run by young, really dumb kids. But that's all beside the point.

Rather than take any chances, I always request no ACE be given to Mush under any circumstances and my vet is more than happy to comply.

 

[hhrvt]

Funny we were just dicussing this on a veterinary technician (including anesthesia specialist techs) board a couple of weeks ago. Concensus basically is there is a higher risk of severe reactions with certain UK lines of boxers. The risk in other boxers is considered slight. (I'd pull out my Plumb's drug book to see what it says, but its at work)

But like everyone else has said, if you're not comfortable with the risk, don't take it, a good vet will listen

 

[JulieM]

Tula went in to be spayed today and I showed the vets the warnings from Wendy Wallner and the quote from the 1993 edition of "Handbook of Veterinary Drugs" about ace & boxers.It took them by suprise so they pulled out the 95 edition and couldnt find a warning reguarding Boxers.

And yet my 1998 edition of the book says this about acepromazine, under the "Adverse and Common Side Effects" heading:

"Prolonged effects of the drug (even at low doses) may be seen in older animals. Giant breeds, as well as greyhounds, appear quite sensitive to the clinical effects of the drug, yet terrier breeds appear more resistant. Conversely, boxer dogs are predisposed to the hypotensive and bradycardiac effects of the drug."

Alan, Dana G., John K. Pringle, Dale A. Smith with Kirby Pasloske and Kendra Day. Handbook of Veterinary Drugs. 2nd ed. Philadelpphia: Lippencott-Raven, 1998. p. 64.

 

[Vezinas_Dad]

....Concensus basically is there is a higher risk of severe reactions with certain UK lines of boxers. The risk in other boxers is considered slight.....

My dog just got spayed yesterday, when I spoke to the vet I requested that she not use ACE. She doesn't believe that there is a problem with ACE in North America, that the problem was traced back to a line of boxers in the UK. Regardless, she honored my request to not use the drug. She did state that she would prefer to give boxers ACE because it tends to keep them calmer after the surgery (ie; the boxer bounce), I guess it takes longer to metabolize. We just picked up the dog a couple hours ago and she shows no signs whatsoever of having surgery, at least energy wise. The challenge for us now is to try to keep her calm!! Good Luck!!

 

[SC's Mom]

I LOVE the idea of taking a food marker and writing NO ACE on the dog's leg to avoid any issue. I'm going to keep that in mind in case C ever needs to go under for any reason. Thanks for yet more great BW ideas!

 

[koaboy04]

I LOVE the idea of taking a food marker and writing NO ACE on the dog's leg to avoid any issue. I'm going to keep that in mind in case C ever needs to go under for any reason. Thanks for yet more great BW ideas![/QUOTE

That is a good idea! When Koa had his last series of shots I made sure they put on his file that I wanted NO ACE. The tech was confused at first but when I repeated myself & my reasons with a hint of attitude she got the picture it was not up for discussion. I will be taking him in soon to be neutered so I will make sure again they don't use it.

 

[Kmorton122]

Why Take A Chance?

Hello,

Regarding the inquiry about ACE...My Zoey was spayed just this week. When I took her to the vet for a pre-op exam, I told the vet my concerns about it, and that I would prefer it to not be used during any surgeries with my boxers. He advised me that there are other drugs they can and will use on my dogs. They put bright neon stickers stating do not use ACE on all my dogs files. So, I say, even if its not as dangerous as it once was-Why take the chance, when there are other alternatives.