Meg was on tramadol and rimadyl for the first five or so days but GI issues caused us to drop the rimadyl. Around day 6 or 7 we dropped down to a 20mg tramadol tablet every 10-12 hours instead of every 6-8 hours, unless it was obvious she was in a bit of pain. At day 10 she started having it only at night, rather than morning and night, which was primarily to help her sleep or if she woke up in pain, and her last dosage of tramadol was day 12.

She was so much back to her normal self and not showing pain so much that I forgot to give it to her for a night or two, and once I realised I'd forgotten, it seemed very evident that for the last few days the tramadol was just sedating her and making her act funny.

Basically, its trial and error, you can try easing off after the first week but I've seen that it's too early for a lot of dogs, some dogs stay on the pain meds until day 20 or even later. You know your dog better than anyone, if he seems ok and pain free with the current dosages, slowly lower them or stretch out the time between dosages and if he copes continue lowering and strenching the time out for the next week.

*oh, I hit post too early! I'm super thrilled that Axle and yourself are doing great, I hope his sparkle is coming back!!