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Getting my bunny to take metacam.

S

Stevie b

Warren Scout
Having a hard time with Mike at the mo...he has a really bad (massive) infection in the soft tissue of his front leg and is on antibiotics.

The vet has given me Metacam for pain relief for him, told me to put four drops on his food a day. I just put some on a little bit of fruit for him and he ignored it, so i put the fruit in his food bowl with his pellets, and he ate the pellets round the edge of the fruit and left it! It's like he knows....:evil:

Any hints and tips on giving metacam would be great! thankyou! x
 
oooh poor thing that sounds painful :( try a drop on a tiny cube of bread maybe? When Maa had to have lots of meds I just mushed up a couple teaspoons of her pellets with a splash of boiling kettle water, let it soak and fluff up and cool, then mashed the meds in with that - but it helped that she is a greedy girl - I can't see her leaving a piece of fruit :rolleyes:
 
well i have just been to see him and low and behold he has munched it down.
Nobun can resist a nice juicy bit of fruit!

I thinks he was just in a bunny grump at me for giving him an injection and syringe feeding him some too :( Poor little chap.
 
Stevie b said:
well i have just been to see him and low and behold he has munched it down.
Nobun can resist a nice juicy bit of fruit!

I thinks he was just in a bunny grump at me for giving him an injection and syringe feeding him some too :( Poor little chap.
Click to expand...

gud 2 hear that ur bunnie has taken it,,my bunnie is on it at the mo 4 an abcess but luckely she takes it from the syringe..if u have any more trouble my vet does a liqiud food that u can mix with the metecam..
 
My bunny used to be a nightmare at taking medicine. The vet always used to say that you just stick the syringe in the side of his mouth and squirt but he would just refuse to swallow and it would all trickle out LOL!!!

Anyway, the way we got round this was to peel the leaves off sprouts and sandwich drops of medicine in between 2 leaves. It worked a treat (although it would take me ages to peel all the leaves off!).
 
Have to say I have reached the stage where I dont pussy foot around with them anymore, it goes straight from the syringe into the mouth, end of.

I make exceptions for very nervy rabbits but Im a dab hand at it all now :oops:
 
I have to agree with Sooz. Just go for it straight away with the bun on your knee and your arm wrapped around him so he can't move then poke the syringe in the side of the mouth till he opens up. Sounds a bit harsh but quicker. After syringing feeding so many times it becomes a fine art. Willow now takes his daily metcam from a syringe without any fuss. He even keeps licking the end even when there's none left. :D

But if he will take it on food then that's better.:)
 
I give Fudge his metacam from a syringe he takes it really well, in fact if I forget he sits in the kitchen waiting for it :shock: 4 drops a day doesn't sound much though, Fudge is on quite a bit more :?
 
i know it isn't that much, i think it is just precautionary cuz he doesn't seem to be in that much pain from his leg, but obv you can never really tell with buns as they are so skillful in hiding it!

Also he is only a tiny fella so i think that might be something to do with it!

Thanks for all the advice everyone! x
 
Sooz22 said:
Have to say I have reached the stage where I dont pussy foot around with them anymore, it goes straight from the syringe into the mouth, end of.

I make exceptions for very nervy rabbits but Im a dab hand at it all now :oops:
Click to expand...

Can you come and give Piper hers tonight?!?! I think she got more on her face last night than in her mouth, at least she cleaned it off tho so hopefully it eventually went down!

Might try it on a piece of apple tonight less traumatic for all of us!
 
touie said:
so do you think Fudge is being overdosed then, the vet told me to give him the dose of a 6kg cat daily! He is 3.3kg?
Click to expand...

It depends which Metacam you have. The one for dogs is stronger than the cat one. I have the one for dogs and Willow is at his max dosage for his weight. He's just of 2kg and has 4 drops daily.
 
touie said:
so do you think Fudge is being overdosed then, the vet told me to give him the dose of a 6kg cat daily! He is 3.3kg?
Click to expand...

It depends on what he is being treated for, the level of discomfort he shows and how long he is on the meloxicam for. There isn't a one dose suits all prescription for Metacam.

The recommended safe doses for meloxicam have just been increased for certain conditions but the most I have ever had one of my rabbits on is 12 drops daily for a broken leg (but that was just to take the edge off) and severe bloat.
 
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