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Tramadol dosage

Santa

Santa

Wise Old Thumper
:wave: Don't worry, none of mine need it at the moment...I'm gathering some information for my vet :lol: There seems to be some variation in what people use, so I'm interested to see what the range is and how effective the upper/lower limits of the range/frequency are. Those of you who have used tramadol with your bunnies, what dosage have you been prescribed please and at what frequency? Also, how easy do you find it to give and how do you give it - I understand the 5mg tablets have been discontinued which now means trying to get an accurate dose by cutting larger ones? Or is there another way? Does anyone have the updated FHB book and if so, does that suggest a dose??

Happy to receive answers either here or by pm if you prefer. Thanks in advance for any help!
 
Last edited:
Santa said:
:wave: Don't worry, none of mine need it at the moment...I'm gathering some information for my vet :lol: There seems to be some variation in what people use, so I'm interested to see what the range is and how effective the upper/lower limits of the range/frequency are. Those of you who have used tramadol with your bunnies, what dosage have you been prescribed please and at what frequency? Also, how easy do you find it to give and how do you give it - I understand the 5mg tablets have been discontinued which now means trying to get an accurate dose by cutting larger ones? Or is there another way? Does anyone have the updated FHB book and if so, does that suggest a dose??

Happy to receive answers either here or by pm if you prefer. Thanks in advance for any help!
Click to expand...

I am not much help, but I use this a lot- especially in bunnies with respiratory issues who may or do need steroids, and also for an extreme acute pain.

I give it using this, which are oral drops. For Sky, a 1.7kg rabbit he was getting 0.06 mls (diluted with at least 0.5mls of water) twice a day. For Angel, a 1.2kg rabbit, he is getting 0.03mls (diluted in about 0.8mls of water- that's more than is needed in terms of dilution). works a treat. I get the solution through my vets, who get it from a human pharmacy.

I've always found that a higher dosing twice a day is more effective than a lower dosing three times a day.

I've never seen an adverse reaction. It seems to be very well tolerated, to be honest.
 
We have used tramadol twice. Both times dose was one 25mg tablet twice daily. Rabbits weighed around 1.7kg

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2
 
Nena is currently on 0.6ml of liquid tramadol twice a day due to her wound from jaw abscess surgery. She's tolerating it perfectly well - she's completely fine in herself. I mix it with about a tablespoon of Ella's kitchen carrot baby food mixed with recovery food and she eats it right up. She'll be coming off this dose in a day or two, it's just for the initial few days.

I'm not sure if it's mixed with something as it's just in a little pot for me. Nena weighs 2.4kg ish, although I haven't weighed her since her operation.
 
Julie's dose is 0.5 ML every 12 hours when she takes it. It is a liquid which the vet office or the local pharmacy compounds. Sol 25mg/ml
She hates the taste no mater what the flavoring is.
 
Thanks everyone - there seems to be an awful lot of variation in dosage, someone not on here uses about 2.5 mg/kg (which is consistent with what Medirabbit says) but there are others on here which are several times more than that! I wonder if it's one of those things like metacam where the recommended dose has been creeping up over time. Really interesting in any case, and I didn't know there was a liquid form available either!
 
Santa said:
Thanks everyone - there seems to be an awful lot of variation in dosage, someone not on here uses about 2.5 mg/kg (which is consistent with what Medirabbit says) but there are others on here which are several times more than that! I wonder if it's one of those things like metacam where the recommended dose has been creeping up over time. Really interesting in any case, and I didn't know there was a liquid form available either!
Click to expand...

A couple of quotes from Marie

marie_kubiak said:
Tramadol is available in the UK and we use it in rabbits. In my experience it is not as reliable as other opioids and needs much higher doses than published in general literature.
The choice depends greatly on the cause of the pain. Local anaesthetics can be very effective, but obviously only for problems in a focal area. Otherwise non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (Metacam, Rimadyl) and opioids (buprenorphine [vetergesic], tramadol) are the most common drugs used for dosing at home. In a hospital situation there is a much wider range of medications that can be used.
Click to expand...

marie_kubiak said:
I use tramadol quite frequently in rabbits, guinea pigs and chinchillas with pain that is not controlled by non-steroidals like metacam, or where NSAIDs can't be used due to other health issues. It works well to control soft tissue pain, less well for bony pain and rarely causes sedation and I've had no adverse reactions. Doses required for pain relief in bunnies are much higher than in cats and dogs.
Gabapentin I use only for nerve-damage related pain so far less frequently but has seemed to give some relief in a number of these cases.
Marie
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Jane, that's really helpful and interesting :D particularly interesting too to see the observation that it works better for soft tissue pain than bony pain.
 
I use a dose of 2.5 - 5mg per kg. It is well tolerated and seems effective. I use the 50mg capsules which I open up to get the powder and dissolve that in 5mls of water and so give up to 0.5ml per kg.
 
Sorry to bump this but I was having a chat about tramadol dosages yesterday with my vet as she has a brand new book and wanted to use it :)

Her book states 3-10mg per kg for rabbits she said to start in the middle of that range. So for Otis that would be around 1.5 25mg tablets I think. He weighs 5.5kg
 
Hugo's There said:
Sorry to bump this but I was having a chat about tramadol dosages yesterday with my vet as she has a brand new book and wanted to use it :)

Her book states 3-10mg per kg for rabbits she said to start in the middle of that range. So for Otis that would be around 1.5 25mg tablets I think. He weighs 5.5kg
Click to expand...

My Vet received the new book last week too :D Two of my Rabbits are currently on a 5mg/kg bd dose. Both 5mg and 10mg tabs are now available which obviates the need to have to cut up the 25mg tabs using a razor blade !
 
I've just picked up some new tablets as I have had mine a while and the label says one 25mg tablet three times a day.
 
Daisy was on 15mg twice a day, we started on tablets and then switched to the liquid, dose given by Marie Kubiak, she was approx. 1.8kg but then went down dramatically :cry: RIP my beautiful ...
 
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