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Twice daily Metacam - Opinions please

Kermit

Wise Old Thumper
Inca's leg is getting pretty bad recently. She has arthritis and her leg turns under her. Recently her leg is almost out the other end at times.

Anyways, she gets acupuncture, glucosamine and once daily Metacam. I have read about people giving buns their Metacam twice daily, does anyone do this and do you find it helps more? Is it basically cutting the existing dose right in half and giving twice a day?

Obviously I will speak to the vet, but I would like to go armed with recommendations.
 
I give it twice daily and find it works better for bunnies with bone pain. I haven't tried it for other conditions but for the three I have on long term Metacam, when I was giving it once a day they got a real 'low' when it wore off but I couldn't give it anymore, so yes, I literally split it and gave it every 12 hours. I am currenltly giving it 12 hourly to Sky, for his arthritis, Wish, for her tooth root issues, and to Flame for his problematical back end (currently undiagnosed but the suspicion is a malformation that can't support his bodyweight now he is a healthy and expected weight.
 
We always give it twice a day :wave:

There is now a specialist exotic vet who is apparently recommending 3 times a day :?
 
We give our old bunny Grace Metacam twice a day as she has arthritis in both of her front legs she seems to be a bit better for it.
 
Mimzy has a hip spur and an arthritic condition called spondylosis and was on 0.2 ml metacam once a day. He was miserable, so I asked my vet if we could split the dose. Occasionally he'll also get bumped up to one or both doses measured at 0.15 ml if he appears especially uncomfortable. (The days when our weather pressure changes or the humidity rises he has more pain.)
Definitely ask your vet if the dose can be split. It made all the difference for Mimzy.
 
We give Muesli metacam twice a day, along with glucosamine once a day, for his left leg. It does seem to have helped a bit.
 
Mimzy has a hip spur and an arthritic condition called spondylosis and was on 0.2 ml metacam once a day. He was miserable, so I asked my vet if we could split the dose. Occasionally he'll also get bumped up to one or both doses measured at 0.15 ml if he appears especially uncomfortable. (The days when our weather pressure changes or the humidity rises he has more pain.)
Definitely ask your vet if the dose can be split. It made all the difference for Mimzy.

Crikey that is a microscopic dose :?

What stength is the Meloxicam you have over there ?

I use the Dog Metacam (active ingredient Meloxicam) which is 1.5mg meloxicam/ml

Most Rabbit Savvy Vets here in the UK use a dose range of 0.3-0.6mg/kg/24hours. So using the Dog Metacam that equates to 0.2-0.4ml/kg/24hrs.

Maybe you could query this with your Vet and perhaps print off this link to show him/her

http://www.hopkinsguides.com/hopkin..._rabbits_after_single_and_repeat_oral_dosing_
 
That is a small dose MimzMum.

My Inca gets 0.7ml a day, she is 2.3kg in weight.

Thanks for all your replies guys, definately seems like the way forward is trying the twice daily. Most other buns on the twice daily have similar conditions to Inca.

She did seem a bit more mobile this morning as she had her acupuncture last night.

Second question......how do I transition to the twice daily? Would I just give her 0.35ml tonight then tomorrow morning the same, or would I have to wean her onto it somehow?

I have left a message for the vet to call me, but as I said before all of your experience is good to know prior.

Thanks again x
 
That is a small dose MimzMum.

My Inca gets 0.7ml a day, she is 2.3kg in weight.

Thanks for all your replies guys, definately seems like the way forward is trying the twice daily. Most other buns on the twice daily have similar conditions to Inca.

She did seem a bit more mobile this morning as she had her acupuncture last night.

Second question......how do I transition to the twice daily? Would I just give her 0.35ml tonight then tomorrow morning the same, or would I have to wean her onto it somehow?

I have left a message for the vet to call me, but as I said before all of your experience is good to know prior.

Thanks again x

Ginger has twice daily also, her dose changes to her need however. Most of the time she has 0.4ml at 6am and 0.4ml at 6pm, but in times of struggling and concern, we're allowed to go up to 0.9ml which for her weight is very high, but she always handles it very well.

We changed it straight away, no 'weaning' so to speak.
 
Ginger has twice daily also, her dose changes to her need however. Most of the time she has 0.4ml at 6am and 0.4ml at 6pm, but in times of struggling and concern, we're allowed to go up to 0.9ml which for her weight is very high, but she always handles it very well.

We changed it straight away, no 'weaning' so to speak.

Thanks :)

Deffo gonna do this (after telling, oops I mean asking (hehe), my vet). She is a wee soul when she is getting about and her leg goes right under her, so anything is worth a try. I think she should cope well with it, she has been having daily Metacam for nearly a year now so she will be used to it in her system anyways.
 
I would definitely recommend changing to twice a day. I used to do once daily and found Darcy would get more stiff later on. Now it balances him just right so far.

I would monitor how she goes as the amount of metacam may need increasing. Rabbits can cope with higher doses of metacam very well - much better than cats and dogs. Arthritis is extremely painful condition.

Darcy suffers from Spondylosis in his spine and osteo-arthritis in his hips. He also suffers from seizures. He is a big old frenchie and is on 1ml twice a day. But if he is having a bad day that can be increased. Vet approved already.
 
I give it twice daily and find it works better for bunnies with bone pain. I haven't tried it for other conditions but for the three I have on long term Metacam, when I was giving it once a day they got a real 'low' when it wore off but I couldn't give it anymore, so yes, I literally split it and gave it every 12 hours. I am currenltly giving it 12 hourly to Sky, for his arthritis, Wish, for her tooth root issues, and to Flame for his problematical back end (currently undiagnosed but the suspicion is a malformation that can't support his bodyweight now he is a healthy and expected weight.

This. For Nino it made a dramatic difference in controlling his arthritis x
 
Thanks again, I am definately going to go for this twice daily, every post on here has just confirmed what I was thinking.

Waiting on the vet phoning back to confirm all is ok.
 
I do twice daily for my buns in most pain.

Just changed straight over, as in instead of giving the full dose when it was normally due, I gave half and the half 12 hours later.

I have a bun struggling with pain from an eye ulcer, and I had wondered if he would do better with 8 hourly doses. Interesting to see a vet thinking along the same lines.
 
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