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Please Note - Medical Advice
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metacam use in rabbits ?
- Thread starter gina paul
- Start date
BevBunny
Mama Doe
Hi Gina, Fern was given metacam after all of her teeth ops and Charlie for his bladder stones - he always used to start on 10 drops a day and get down to the lowest effective dose which was 2 drops a day, so Cheeky is on a fairly low dose. Fern could never eat after her dentals without metacam.
Hows he doing?
Hows he doing?
sophiemarmion
Alpha Buck
it is a painkiller used for rabbits after an op. our vet normally advises us to give our bunnies 6 drops. our boy santa who wasnt very well was on 12 drops!
sophie
sophie
I don,t want to get too optimistic here but its looking good .bunnyhuggger
Warren Veteran
We were advised by our vet to give two drops per kilo of bun when required, although more vets are now becoming comfortable with dosage. Our own vet's bun gets 6 to 8 drops a day for her sore bits but she also gets 2ml of Zantac to help protect her stomache. I also know that the exotics specialist at the vet hospital in Edinburgh prescribed 1.0ml of metacam for one particular bunny, also given along with Zantac, to no ill effect. Maggie was also a wee gem when it came to taking her metacam and zantac, she just sooked it from the syringe. Most of our buns have either taken it easily by having it dripped into the side bit of a piece of ryvita or dripped onto a bit of science select pellet.
sophiemarmion
Alpha Buck
sorry just read my post and realised i only said he was on 1 drop when he was on 12! i have edited it!
sophie
sophie
bunnytales
Mama Doe
Metacam was prescribed for Buffy recently when she had a Statis problem and I was advised to give her 3 drops per day which she had in some baby food. I think Metacam is widely used a pain relief for bunnies and glad to say she didn't have any side effects.
I think its great now that Vets recognise the need for pain relief and seem more willing to prescribe.
I think its great now that Vets recognise the need for pain relief and seem more willing to prescribe.
sgprescue
Mama Doe
Metacam is a very good anti-inflamatory/pain relief. It is important you make sure you get the dosage right as so many vets "underdose". A couple of years ago they changed the design of the bottle so that small animals could be dosed more accuratly. I have a fax from Boehringer, the manufacturer with more information. Details below
"Although Metacam is not currently licensed for use in rabbits and small furries, it is now commonly used. From preclinical safety data, rabbits and rats can tolerate quite high doses of Metacam. From anecdotal reports the following regine has been determined.
Loading dose:- 0.2mg/kg given as a single dose. This may be administered by s/c injection or using the oral suspension
Further treatment of acute conditions:- 0.2ml/kg once daily with food until a good analgesic effect is attained then reduce to the lowest effective dose.
If dilution of Metacam is required for 'lightweight' patient - use drops of tap water from an insulin syringe to produce the required dilution. Metacam should be diluted immediatly before use.
Long term use:- We have reports of rabbits and rats being treated continuously for months without adverse effects. In these cases, it is prudent to gradually reduce the dose further as permitted by clinical response.
Dropper design:
Please note that we have improved the design of the dropper on the 10ml, 32ml and 100ml bottles to increase the accuracy of dosing of small animals. Each drop now contains 0.05mg per drop. The old dropper dispensed 0.1mg per drop.
In other words the correct dose is 4 drops per kg for all small animals.
Cheryl
"Although Metacam is not currently licensed for use in rabbits and small furries, it is now commonly used. From preclinical safety data, rabbits and rats can tolerate quite high doses of Metacam. From anecdotal reports the following regine has been determined.
Loading dose:- 0.2mg/kg given as a single dose. This may be administered by s/c injection or using the oral suspension
Further treatment of acute conditions:- 0.2ml/kg once daily with food until a good analgesic effect is attained then reduce to the lowest effective dose.
If dilution of Metacam is required for 'lightweight' patient - use drops of tap water from an insulin syringe to produce the required dilution. Metacam should be diluted immediatly before use.
Long term use:- We have reports of rabbits and rats being treated continuously for months without adverse effects. In these cases, it is prudent to gradually reduce the dose further as permitted by clinical response.
Dropper design:
Please note that we have improved the design of the dropper on the 10ml, 32ml and 100ml bottles to increase the accuracy of dosing of small animals. Each drop now contains 0.05mg per drop. The old dropper dispensed 0.1mg per drop.
In other words the correct dose is 4 drops per kg for all small animals.
Cheryl
Caz
Mama Doe
That's interesting as the stock I have says two drops per kilo so it must be some of the older stuff.
Zeus and Violet have been on it long term before with no noticeable side effects.
Violet had it for her back trouble and it helped her through the pain which was causing her to soil herself through incorrect posture when weeing and now she doesn't need it and is fine although at the time we thought she was going to need it for the rest of her life.
Zeus has been on it for a long time now and it is the best thing for his teeth problems. The first vet that prescribed it gave it at too small a dosage but Mr C said just dose as you would for dogs (which was 2 drops per kg). When Zeus was on that and penicillin combined his eye/teeth problem went away. When he was just on penicillin it came back and that was when Zeus lost all that weight.
Currently Zeus is just on metacam while I build him back up and his eye has stopped weeping as badly and he is a whole different bunny (so active again)! Because it is anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller it helps reduce the swelling around the infection in Zeus teeth, which I think is allowing his tear ducts to drain properly.
It is the easiest thing to give - he gets his drops on a piece of dried bread and wolfs it down, it smells so perfumey but he loves it!
Caz
Zeus and Violet have been on it long term before with no noticeable side effects.
Violet had it for her back trouble and it helped her through the pain which was causing her to soil herself through incorrect posture when weeing and now she doesn't need it and is fine although at the time we thought she was going to need it for the rest of her life.
Zeus has been on it for a long time now and it is the best thing for his teeth problems. The first vet that prescribed it gave it at too small a dosage but Mr C said just dose as you would for dogs (which was 2 drops per kg). When Zeus was on that and penicillin combined his eye/teeth problem went away. When he was just on penicillin it came back and that was when Zeus lost all that weight.
Currently Zeus is just on metacam while I build him back up and his eye has stopped weeping as badly and he is a whole different bunny (so active again)! Because it is anti-inflammatory as well as a painkiller it helps reduce the swelling around the infection in Zeus teeth, which I think is allowing his tear ducts to drain properly.
It is the easiest thing to give - he gets his drops on a piece of dried bread and wolfs it down, it smells so perfumey but he loves it!
Caz
Caz
Mama Doe
Just opened my new bottle and read the packaging insert. It says initial dose 2mg/kg followed by 1mg/kg as a holding dose so that would be 4 drops/kg on the first day and two drops/kg thereafter (which is what I am doing).
I wonder why the person told Cheryl it was 2mg/kg when the insert says 1mg/kg.
Caz
I wonder why the person told Cheryl it was 2mg/kg when the insert says 1mg/kg.
Caz
sgprescue
Mama Doe
Its not unusual to have a higher dose for small animals than for dogs. The correct dosage for other medications such as baytril, Metacam, engemycin etc are higher than for a dog. One very good example is for a guinea pig with a bad urinary infection, for pain relief it would need 1/2 of a 20mg rimadyl tablet twice a day, if you had a dog with the same problem it would need a whole tablet once a day.....the same dose.
Cheryl
Cheryl
Caz
Mama Doe
I wonder if dogs are more sensitive to medication than small animals? I guess that may be why vets know if a medication is safe in dogs it is probably safe for trying with rabbits etc.
It is such a shame most pharmaceutical companies think that all the money is in developing medications for dogs and cats or commercial farm animals otherwise we would have more medications specifically for rabbits or GPs. It is also supposed to be very expensive to run safety tests in all animals so they run it in the target animals (usually cats and dogs) then it is up to the vets whether to chance it in other animals.
Caz
It is such a shame most pharmaceutical companies think that all the money is in developing medications for dogs and cats or commercial farm animals otherwise we would have more medications specifically for rabbits or GPs. It is also supposed to be very expensive to run safety tests in all animals so they run it in the target animals (usually cats and dogs) then it is up to the vets whether to chance it in other animals.
Caz
