Is this metacam dosage too high?

[MeggoWaffle]

I have finally taken Nona to the veterinary teaching hospital instead of my local rabbit-savvy vet to figure out her hind limb weakness.

Turns out the original ‘rabbit-savvy’ vet didn’t catch the spondylosis on the Xray she took in November. She had said the Xray was completely fine! So the new vet saw the spondylosis on the old Xray, and took new Xrays… still spondylosis but at least no arthritis in hips or knees! Blood tests also showed chronic inflammation. And we are doing a titer test for EC as well.

Anyway, she recommended Metacam and Tramadol for pain in the meantime. The Tramadol was something like $70 for just two weeks and I just couldn’t afford it after paying a $600 vet bill for the day. So we are just doing metacam for now.

Nona weighs 1.9 kg. The metacam is 1.5mg/mL concentration. She wants Nona to take .63mL twice a day. Does this seem high?

[Sarita]

For twice a day, it does but I’m not a vet. I had one of my vets tell me that rabbits can take a bit more metacam than dogs & cats – I guess they metabolize it differently.

I guess what I would suggest though is to just clarify this with the vet to make sure you understand the dosage.

[MeggoWaffle]

I’ve emailed them and won’t give the second dose until I hear back.

In the meantime, if anyone has experience with Tramadol (how their bunnies like it, how much you spend on it, side effects) feel free to chime in.

She also mentioned Gabapentin as another option. But like Tramadol this would cost around $120/month.

[Sarita]

I’ve done tramadol as well with one of my rabbits and honestly I didn’t see any affect on him at all – I did the metacam and tramadol. For my rabbit it did not seem to help him. But every rabbit is different and I know it is safe.

I also do buprenex (orally) for pain for my rabbits. Honestly I’m not sure if that works either but I use it as well along with metacam.

[MeggoWaffle]

I thought I’d share their response about metacam dosage in case others want to know about safe ranges for rabbits:

There is new literature available concerning the use of Meloxicam in rabbits. Previously, the dose used in rabbits was the reptile dose because not much was known about its use in rabbits. We now know that rabbits require a higher dose than most mammals because they do not absorb as much when it is given orally and rabbits have a faster metabolism when compared to other mammals. We are giving Nona 0.5mg/kg per dose and the published range is actually 0.3-1.5mg/kg.

Sarita with your tramadol was it pills or liquid? (My friend is a vet tech at our regular vet, and she says a bottle of 100 pills is only $25, so maybe the stuff at the vet teaching hospital is compounded and thus more expensive). Are they still on it or did you take them off? And if you took them off, was there any withdrawal?

[Sarita]

That’s interesting about the metacam – I figured my vet knew something I didn’t :~) I never really inquired why though so it’s good to know that.

I always do liquid – pills are just so hard to administer and my vet never gives me pills – if it is only in pill form she will compound it for me.

The rabbit that I used it on (Mango) has passed away. I think I just took him off it because it wasn’t working for him. He had very severe arthritis in his later years – he was diagnosed at the age of 4 with arthritis and lived to the age of 8. I tried many things with him including acupuncture for his arthritis.

[MeggoWaffle]

It might be in my head but I swear she is already improving. She isn’t really moving around more in her small area (had to restrict her so she stayed close to water and hay and so I wasn’t cleaning pee over the whole living room anymore) BUT I took her walking down the hallway using a scarf under her belly and she did better than usual. Maybe there is hope for rehabbing her muscles a bit.

 

Acupuncture is something I definitely want to try but I don’t think I can afford it. My friend has a connection with an acupuncture vet who will do it free because she needs practice on rabbits, but then I wonder if that’s safe…

[Sarita]

Acupuncture is safe. Neither of my vets had experience with rabbits who did my acupuncture for rabbits but wanted to learn. I say give it a try.

[TBpony414]

I was just discussing Metacam with my rabbit vet today since I’ve noticed my rabbit Willy has been a bit stiffer lately and having a harder time hopping on the couch as well as up/down stairs. My guy doesn’t respond much to lower doses of Metacam but when I increase it a bit (to a 5 lb rabbit dose instead of his actual 3 lb size dose) he does much better. Unfortunately, my bun has cowpile/megacolon disease so long term Metacam is not something we want to do as it can irritate the digestive tract. It can also be hard on their kidneys. But I notice a difference with just a day or two of dosing it so it’s not in your head! We decided to wean off the Metacam and start Willy on Adequan shots instead.

Regarding dose sizes for your bunny, I just did the conversions and for a 1.9kg/4 lb rabbit to be getting .6mL/0.6cc of Metacam twice a day is a little on the high side but still reasonable. Definitely check kidney values in 3-6 months just to be on the safe side. I hope you see improvement!

[Pawpassion42]

No that equals .2mg/kg which is the usual dose for bunnies but I believe you can go up to 0.4mg/kg. I’d have to double check Plumb’s.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Pawpassion42 on 1/06/2017 7:00 PM

No that equals .2mg/kg which is the usual dose for bunnies but I believe you can go up to 0.4mg/kg. I’d have to double check Plumb’s.

Thanks Pawpassion.

This thread is over 3 years old now, so I’ll be locking it to prevent further responses  to avoid confusion.

. 

[jerseygirl]

I just want to add a disclaimer, or sorts, since this sort of topic does come up a bit and I have made similar ones myself in the past.

For anyone reading, do take care regarding dosing. Rabbit medicine is forever changing so it’s best to start a new thread and seek current advice. AND always recheck with vet on doses if you’ve been advised elsewhere that a dose is not adequete or too high. There may be a reason the vet prescribed the amount for that specific rabbit, due to their medical history.

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