Meloxicam for pain relief?

[Gr8t!]

What is considered the safe dosage of meloxicam for rabbits? The reason I ask is that my 70 lb dog is getting .5ml of a 6mg/ml concentration and my 4 lb rabbit was prescribed .4ml of the same concentration! Something doesn’t seem right here, and my vet is closed for the weekend. So at this point I don’t know whether I should wait through the weekend, but my little guy is in quite a bit of pain right now and there are no other vets that do rabbits in reasonable proximity. No vet will give advice over the phone, understandably. Has anyone else used meloxicam of this concentration for their rabbit? I found this site with calculator but I’m not understanding how to calculate a ml dosage result for a 6mg/ml concentrate.

http://vgr1.com/metacam/

Thank you for your help. My little guy really needs some help right now!

[jerseygirl]

It’s a high but safe dose. He’d be receiving 1.3mg/kg (0.6mg/lb). Rabbits metabolise meloxicam much faster then dogs which is why they can tolerate (and need) higher doses.
Normal range for rabbits is 0.3-0.6mg/kg (more like maintenance dose) but they can have up to 1.5mg. The higher dose like that is usually for shorter period of time.

Poor bunneh. What’s he been treated for?

Did your vet send you home with the 6mg/ml strength bottle or had you let them know you had dog strength already at home? I wasn’t aware it came in that strength. I was only familiar in using the 1.5mg/ml dog meloxicam for rabbits.

Is the dose you bun was prescribed daily or once every 12 hrs?

[jerseygirl]

p.s. That calculator is very nifty!
I worked out dosage myself first but then ran it through calculator. It was good to get confirmation I’d done it correctly. I always second guess myself!
Plus I love that it gives results in kg and pounds!

ETA: I used the 2nd calculator that gives you the mg/kg using the dosage (0.4ml) your vet has prescribed. To use the first calculator would be confusing as you’d need to select mg/kg (or mg/lb) for your rabbits condition and history. Anywhere in the range of 0.3mg/kg to 1.5mg/kg. So plenty of variation there! This would have been chosen at your vets discretion.
So it’s easier to compute the amounts you have been given and check its within normal range for rabbits.

[jerseygirl]

I’m overthinking, as usual…

Did you rabbit get a dose while at the vet?
If he’s in a lot of pain, get him nicely warmed up then give the meds.

[Gr8t!]

Daily. He’s at the tail end of treatment for a urinary tract infection and an eye growth. I think he also suffered another ministroke last weekend – he’s 14 and hasn’t bounced back from this one like the others.

[Gr8t!]

A dose was not give at the vet.

[skysblue]

my rabbit is 3.11 lbs. my vet gave meloxicam 1.5mg/ml – once daily 0.55mL for 5 days… 

maybe it needs higher concentration for greater pain?

[jerseygirl]

14 wow! I hope you can get him feeling comfortable. {{{Vibes}}} for your Bun.

If you still feel uncertain about the dose, maybe give half the amount but give 12 hourly until you are able to get onto the clinic? 12hr doses are more effective anyway because of how fast rabbits metabolise meloxicam.

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