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*Warning*- I Have Been Thinking Again..........

Jack's-Jane

Wise Old Thumper
When humans are prescribed opiate analgesia they are usually advised to reduce the dose gradually and not just suddenly stop taking the medication. This is because nasty and severe withdrawl symptoms are common with opiates.

So, could the same apply to Bunnies who have been prescribed opiates ?
 
Sounds plausible...I guess it may be less of an issue as opiate painkillers aren't usually used for anything more than very short-term issues in bunnies?
 
It's probably not been studied enough for any firm conclusions on whether it has similar addictive/withdrawl effects on bunnies :?
 
It's probably not been studied enough for any firm conclusions on whether it has similar addictive/withdrawl effects on bunnies :?

But I bet vivisection was used to get some of the newer opiate type drugs licensed for humans.

That's for another thread though !!
 
Sounds plausible...I guess it may be less of an issue as opiate painkillers aren't usually used for anything more than very short-term issues in bunnies?

Thats what I was thinking, normally buns are only on it for a very short period, sometimes only a one off injection so withdrawal shouldn't be a problem. :)
 
I'm going to echo Santa on this one.

It is possible as most of the studies looking into opiate addiction etc.. (unfortunately) use laboratory animals as models which produce significant results, as such the same rules should essentially apply to rabbits too.

.....but many of the studies look at long term use/abuse of the drug/s to quantify the effect in humans and looking at the results in some of them... nothing seems to show in the early stages and in smaller doses so I would say that for Bunnies and short term use shouldn't be a problem. But of course nothing is solid, that's just what I managed to lift.

(I love RU, can pretend I am still at uni and go researching :lol:)
 
I have wondered this too because quite a few dogs are on tramadol for athritic pain, I suppose the difference there is they will be on it for life. Our vets tend to prescribe it as a last attempt to control the pain when routine meds have stopped working, so addiction isn't an issue.
 
What is short term in regards to an opiate?

Noisette was on temgesic for 2 weeks once :shock: It was the vet who told me to keep her on it, but I took her off the course early becuase she was constantly drowsy and did nothing but sleep... didn't help when she had statis.
 
We don't tend to prescribe the opiates that have significant addictive qualities, or are likely to trigger the withdrawal side effects. I may use the 'heavier' opioids as a one-off at the time of surgery for maximal analgesia then move to a synthetic partial agonist for post-op pain relief to avoid sedative and other effects but still give good analgesia. Bunnies have slightly different ratios of the opioid receptors to humans so effects do vary from the typical human response.
 
Thanks for your imput folks :)

Blimey, its only the 2nd January and I have already been 'thinking'......... :shock:

That's probably it for 2010 though !! :D
 
Depends how long they've taken them for, you have to take strong opiates for a while before theres a risk you become 'addicted' we usually advise weaning them down for effective pain control if you start to experience pain its quicker to slightly increase the dose again rather than to stop them, most painkillers are far more effective given regulary rather than one off doses. Its a difercult thing to judge in animals but certainly dont think they'd become addicted to them.
 
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