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good grief metacam od

ecudc

Warren Veteran
The bunnies have yet again got into serious trouble. Honey got on to the shelf where a thankfully fairly well used 35ml bottle of metacam. I think she must have knocked it to the floor & when I came back there was a chewed bottle of metacam on the floor...empty

I'm very much hoping that most of it soaked into the towel that it landed on which stinks to high heaven however I've no idea how much each bunny has had. There was about 15ml left in the bottle and together the buns weigh about 7 kg so thats double the usual dose (assuming it was spread out evenly) although I can't tell if one bun has had more than another & rosie and panda are both very small.

But even if they have there is very little that I can do except wait & keep an eye on them. Please keep your fingers crossed for me & the buns.
 
I have accidentally given freddy double his dose and he was fine, he knocked Tegan out of the way of her syringe after he had already had his and took hers before I had a chance to blink, little monkey :roll::lol:
 
:shock: I didn't know that bunnies liked metacam.:shock: I'm keeping everything crossed for your bunsters xx
 
yup its about the only med they seem to like. I usually pop the drop it just on the outside of their mouth & they lick it off! nom nom nom. They probably will be ok but honey is a bit prone to stasis so I'm just going to have to keep a very close eye on them. I'm guessing that they are most likely to present with stasis as it might cause ulcer or possibly symptoms of renal failure longer term. I wish I knew how much each one had got. If fatty pants rosie (1kg) scoffed 15ml plus :shock:
 
I'm pretty sure the effects of metacam are flushed from the body within 24 hours so they should be OK after that. If you have any zantac you could give them some if you are worried. I can't imagine it will have any effects on their kidneys provided their kidneys are functioning well at the moment :)
 
yes I have zantac and was pondering if to give it to them. Is metacam not like ibuprofen/other painkillers that can cause renal failure? If not then phew because they are upstairs scoffing dinner at the mo.
 
I was just reading that it exits throught the liver, and half the dose is gone in rabbits after 8 hours, but that was based on normal dosage rates. There was no specific info on overdose, which I guess is a good thing as it hopefully means there is no obvious side effects. I'll go back and look for the link :)

ETA http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/s/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

It says it comes out in poo, never really thought about that before :?
 
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I may be in a minority of one here but if I were in your situation I'd be contacting my Vet and asking if the Rabbits should have fluid therapy for the next 24 hours. I'd be more worried about kidney/Liver toxicity than GI ulceration. Especially if it was just one Bun who ingested the Metacam...........

Hope they will all be OK

XX
 
I was just reading that it exits throught the liver, and half the dose is gone in rabbits after 8 hours, but that was based on normal dosage rates. There was no specific info on overdose, which I guess is a good thing as it hopefully means there is no obvious side effects. I'll go back and look for the link :)


yes I couldn't see much except in cats & dogs & then it seemed more ulcerated stomch problems but I think that they have very similar stomachs than us where as buns are quite different.
 
vet has already been contacted & they said all we can do is wait and see though they thought that the levels seemed to be at about what was of high concern for one rabbit. As there was a high chance all 4 had had a go and some may have soaked into a towel they thought is should be ok.

I have fed them veggie tonight and pellets that have been soaked in a large amount of water (almost a liquid) to try and up their water intake.
 
Oh, I didn't see any reference to a Vet being contacted.
If that's the case I'll keep my nose out of it !! :D

No it didn't mention the vet, I just assumed, as ringing the emergency vet is the first thing I would do. I did that when a bun ate a quality street wrapper out of the bin one christmas in a complete panic and the nurse said I just had to wait so assumed it was as similar situation :)
 
yes I couldn't see much except in cats & dogs & then it seemed more ulcerated stomch problems but I think that they have very similar stomachs than us where as buns are quite different.

I think there is a lot of problems with cats and metacam.

My rabbit savvy vet told me last year of an experiment that was done on bunnies to test the side effects of metacam on bunnies. Basically they gave huge amounts to rabbits to see how much they could tolerate, they kept upping the dose but no side effects ever became apparent. That is where the research came from for the bigger doses that we give bunnies now compared with a few years ago. I think there was a lecture on it at the RWF conference a couple of years ago :)
 
we shall just have to hope that this is the case. meanwhile the metacam stink plus dulux paint fumes are giving me a headache. Only trouble is 3 months worth of sciatica and taking ibuprofen has given me NSAI Ibs/ulcer so I can't take any painkillers! they say that pets take after their owners & visa versa but this takes the biscuit.
 
the bunnes seem ok. scoffing their faces this morning so hopefully no tummy trouble to rear it's ugly head. I guess I'll have to keep and eye on them over the next month or so to make sure there was no real damage done.
 
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