Muscle rigidity

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VeDDRA Code: 1628

183 adverse event reports referencing this reaction

183
Total Reports
35
Deaths
1910.0%
Death Rate

Species Most Affected

Dog 156
Cat 18
Horse 7
Cattle 2

Breeds Most Affected

Chihuahua 16
Retriever - Labrador 13
Crossbred Canine/dog 12
Shih Tzu 12
Domestic Shorthair 9
Dog (unknown) 6
Maltese 5
Quarter Horse 4
Collie - Border 4
Retriever - Golden 4

Associated Drugs

Afoxolaner 25
Milbemycin Oxime + Spinosad 18
Ivermectin + Pyrantel As Pamoate Salt 18
Carprofen 15
Isoflurane 12
Fluralaner Chew Tablets 11
Alfaxalone 9
Propofol 8
Gabapentin 8
Lotilaner 7
Spinosad 6
Oclacitinib Maleate 6
Midazolam 6
Fluralaner 13.64% 12-Week Chew 6
Pyrantel Pamoate;Sarolaner 6
Bedinvetmab 6
Imidacloprid + Moxidectin 5
Hydromorphone 5
Dexmedetomidine Hydrochloride 5
Ketamine Hydrochloride 4

Data Summary

Metric Value
Total reports referencing reaction 183
Reports with fatal outcome 35
Case-fatality rate (reported events) 1910.0%
Species observed 4
Breeds observed 20
Drugs associated with reaction 20

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reporting (CVM AER); reaction term coded under VeDDRA 1628.

Muscle rigidity Reaction Insights

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database currently lists 183 adverse event reports that reference Muscle rigidity as a reaction term, including 35 reports with a death outcome — a 1910.0% case-fatality figure calculated across only those events where this reaction was coded. The reaction is indexed in the openFDA system under VeDDRA code 1628, the standardized veterinary dictionary used to normalize clinical signs across submitters. Because reports are voluntary and often describe multiple concurrent signs per animal, the volume here reflects reporting intensity rather than true incidence in the broader pet population.

Muscle rigidity appears most frequently in reports for Dog (156 reports), Cat (18 reports), Horse (7 reports) — with Dog dominating at 156 entries. Within those species, the breeds most often named alongside this reaction are Chihuahua (16), Retriever - Labrador (13), Crossbred Canine/dog (12). These distributions are influenced both by underlying breed popularity and by how veterinarians and owners code a given clinical sign, so they should be interpreted as a reporting fingerprint rather than a pure susceptibility ranking.

The drugs most commonly co-reported with Muscle rigidity are Afoxolaner (25 reports), Milbemycin Oxime + Spinosad (18 reports), Ivermectin + Pyrantel As Pamoate Salt (18 reports), Carprofen (15 reports), with Afoxolaner appearing alongside this reaction in 25 submissions. Co-reporting does not establish that any specific product caused the reaction — FDA CVM data captures temporal association only. The value of these aggregates is in flagging which therapeutic classes appear repeatedly alongside a given clinical sign, so owners and veterinarians can ask targeted questions about medications currently in use.

Source: FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine — Adverse Event Reports Data reflects voluntary submissions and may not represent actual incidence rates

Related

Data sourced from official AKC, AVMA, ACVO, and breed-club veterinary references. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBreed Editorial