Long-term meloxicam dosages

Sorry, I know this has been asked on here MANY times before but there are just so many metacam related threads to trawl through!

I have two questions really - correct dosage - my vet practice, and my vet, as great as he is, seem to have differing opinions on dosages. Whenever Nino has his acute bloat I just do the standard 0.6mg/kg which works out at 0.6ml for Nino. One of the vets we have seen at times of emergency has attended some exotic lectures and has allowed me to go up to 1.0ml for very acute pain, mainly because he doesn't tolerate the opiates very well at all so only has those at a low dose to compliment when needed.

My reg vet has no problem with my dosing at this rate, but I think he prefers the 2x the dog dose - which in the kg syringe for Nino is around 3.5kg of meloxicam.
So my question, and i've asked this before sorry but is there an actual clinical dosaging guideline for vets currently available? I have been with my reg vet when he has looked it up before and the guidelines he had on his computer were something like 0.3-0.6mg/kg and so he said he prefers to use a middle range - but to do 2x the dog dose on the syringe is easier. I've just drawn that up for Nino and it is really only half what I usually give him :? Am very confused :?

Also, for long-term use for suspected arthritic pain - would those of you who have arthritic bunnies say your vets prefer to use a higher dose initially then tail off to the lowest dose necessary for therapeutic effect, or start at a low dose and increase if needed?

Sorry for all the questions I think I need to bug my vet again! :lol:

Just thinking about it.... maybe this lower dose which equates to around half the reg. dose is a good starting point to eliminate arthritic/spondylosis pain or chronic pain from somewhere else we haven't yet found after all and would be safer long term at this stage... no doubt best to save the higher reg dose for acute pain only.

Not sure of the ml dose, i give Inca drops.

She was on 8 drops daily when she was really ill with EC, this has been reduced to 4 drops daily.....she needs it long term for a number of things she has wrong with her, including suspected spinal issues.

With her on the 4 drops daily she binky's about like a mad bunny!

Here is the current recommended dose according to the BSAVA Small Animal Formulary 6th edition:

"0.3 - 0.6 mg/kg subcutaneously or orally every 24 hours. "studies have shown that rabbits may require a dose exceeding 0.3 mg/kg every 24 hours to achieve optimal plasma levels of meloxicam over a 24-hour interval and doses of 1.5 mg/kg subcutaneously or orally are well tolerated for 5 days."

Of course, only a vet can tell you how much to give your rabbit and they may have very good reasons for prescribing doses that vary from those stated :wave:

lilbun said:

Here is the current recommended dose according to the BSAVA Small Animal Formulary 6th edition:

0.3 - 0.6 mg/kg subcutaneously or orally every 24 hours. "studies have shown that rabbits may require a dose exceeding 0.3 mg/kg every 24 hours to achieve optimal plasma levels of meloxicam over a 24-hour interval and doses of 1.5 mg/kg subcutaneously or orally are well tolerated for 5 days.

Of course, only a vet can tell you how much to give your rabbit and they may have very good reasons for prescribing doses that vary from those stated :wave:

Click to expand...

Thank you Lilbun that is exactly what my vet's online guidelines said! :thumb::wave:
In fact I think it was the BSAVA too. Perhaps I should trust my lovely vet a bit more.
That makes sense - low doses for pain management and higher doses for acute emergencies. I'm satisfied with it all now, thanks for that confirmation you're a star.

I hope Nino are Poppy are both ok xx