Metacam doseage

My rabbit is going in for tooth extraction this week. My vet has been prescribing 0.5ml of cat metacam once a day, I've been advised by some people that he should be on dog metacam, I wondered if anyone could advise the doseage for my 1.65kg rabbit?

Henry_Dixie said:

My rabbit is going in for tooth extraction this week. My vet has been prescribing 0.5ml of cat metacam once a day, I've been advised by some people that he should be on dog metacam, I wondered if anyone could advise the doseage for my 1.65kg rabbit?

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Cat Metacam is a 'weaker' concentration of active ingredient (Meloxicam) than the Dog Metacam.

Cat Metacam contains 0.5mg/ml, Dog Metacam contains 1.5mg/ml

The dose range for Meloxicam is 0.3-0.6mg/kg/24hrs. With the CAT Metacam this equates to 0.6ml-1.2ml/kg/24hrs. For the DOG Metacam it equates to 0.2ml-0.4ml/kg/24hrs

You do need to consult the Vet treating your Rabbit to obtain the correct dose to give in your Rabbit's specific situation

That sounds very low, I would recheck that. The maximum Doughnut has been on is 0.5ml 3 times a day of the dog one and she is 1.2kg, just a guideline but that is from a specialist.

Yes that is a very low dose, ask your vet to look up the most up to date doses in either the Vet Formulary of The Text Book of Rabbit Medicine, or similar. The dose rate for dog metacam Jane has put are the correct dose ranges and can be once or twice a day. But you MUST consult with your vet in case he or she has a valid reason for such a low dose.

He told me dog metacam was to strong for rabbits, I don't think he's very rabbit savvy so I wanted some information I could put to him to show him.

He has treated my rats in the past with antibiotics that he hasn't used and aren't licensed for them so I just need to show him some valid evidence.

Is there a rabbit drugs guideline website?

he used to under medicate my rats with baytril when I first started using him until I showed the current guild lines. My rabbit stopped eating after his last op and it nearly killed him so it is vital for me to give a good dosage of pain relief.

Whereabouts do you live? Are there any other vets you can get to? It sounds great that he does listen to you if you give him new evidence, but I don't think I'd be allowing a non-bunny savvy vet to do a dental with extraction on any bunny of mine, especially if bunny isn't going to get suitable pain relief afterwards!

It sounds as if your vet is still working on *very* old dosages, when they used to recommend around 0.1mg/kg (this is not the same as the amount in ml you give, but can be worked out from it). In recent years though they have discovered that rabbits metabolise many drugs including painkillers much more quickly than other bunnies and hence the dosage recommendations have been upped significantly.

The best, most up to date source of info you will find is probably molly Varga's textbook of rabbit medicine (it is an update on the original Frances harcourt-brown book of the same name). You might be able to find the relevant page on an online preview, it basically says that studies have shown that a dose of 0.5mg/kg has been shown to be necessary to provide decent post-op pain relief, with a normal dose range of 0.3-0.6mg/kg up to twice a day.

If you've been getting 0.5ml of cat metacam once a day for a 1.65kg bunny, that works out at a really tiny dose which is probably doing nothing at all, a bit like if you had half a paracetamol for a headache.

Good luck with your little one x x

Henry_Dixie said:

He told me dog metacam was to strong for rabbits, I don't think he's very rabbit savvy so I wanted some information I could put to him to show him.

He has treated my rats in the past with antibiotics that he hasn't used and aren't licensed for them so I just need to show him some valid evidence.

Is there a rabbit drugs guideline website?

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Meloxicam is the generic name for Metacam

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00Chem/ChComplex/Meloxicam.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16521861

Henry_Dixie said:

he used to under medicate my rats with baytril when I first started using him until I showed the current guild lines. My rabbit stopped eating after his last op and it nearly killed him so it is vital for me to give a good dosage of pain relief.

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Hang on .. is this the same vet who will extract your rabbit's teeth? :shock:

I second the advice of finding a different vet. If he doesn't even know about what pain relief your rabbit should be getting I most certainly would not be allowing him to do any kind of surgery on your bun. I would be seriously worried that he doesn't know about anaesthetic dosage or even the best way to anaesthetise a rabbit.