Unsure about Metacam Dosage?

[Em]

My 1.5 year old lion-lop had surgery yesterday to remove an abscess that had developed just behind his shoulder. Everything went great, and he is quickly bouncing back to being himself. Because of the fact that he had surgery, and also because they had to cut into muscle to remove all of the infection, he was prescribed metacam for pain relief. They gave him the metacam for dogs up to 14kg, I believe – the concentration is 1.5mg/ml and he is prescribed a 4ml dosage.

I’ve had metacam prescriptions for both my boys before after their neuter ops, however that was a long time ago and I can’t remember exactly how much this boy was prescribed – but I do remember my frenchies prescription was around 5ml, and he is a significantly much larger rabbit, hence my concern with giving my much smaller bun such a high dose.

Usually I would run these concerns by my vet but I live away from home for uni so couldn’t be there and had to rely on a family member to pick him up. So coming here is my next best option, as he needs to start his metatcam tonight and I’m in desperate need of some reassurance/advice. Does 4mls sound too much for a 2.9kg rabbit?

[longhairmike]

4ml or 0.4ml? usually around 0.5ml is standard. but for surgery it may need to be a lot higher.
during clover’s last year of horrible arthritis, she was getting 0.5 of 4.2mg/ml strength (almost 3x as strong) a day

[Em]

I clarified with the family member who picked him up who said that the vet definitely said 4ml, which is why I’m so hesitant to give it to him – but I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be that high given the nature of his surgery.

[Asriel and Bombur]

Does the bottle say how much? Usually prescription bottles will always say how much and how much to give. If not it could be worth it to call the vet and double check

[Em]

The bottle doesn’t specify the amount, and seems to be a pretty generic label. All it says is this: “medicine: 1 x metacam dog oral. Directions: dose to 14kg once daily with or after food” – its a very generic label, including warnings like to contact the clinic if vomiting occurs and to contact the clinic immediately – so I know for sure that it’s not specified towards him at all.

He seems in high spirits, so would you suggest that it’s better to be safe than sorry and just skip dosing him until I can ring the clinic in the morning? Or should I just give him 0.4ml for tonight instead?

[Bam]

My 2 kilo bun got a dose of Metacam for a 10 kilo dog. Rabbits metabolize metacam (meloxicam) much quicker and more effectively than dogs and cats do. Thus rabbits need a higher dose.

The therapeutic window, meaning the dosage range which is considered effective and safe is rather wide with metacam. For a rabbit, Medirabbit says 0,3-0.6 mg/kg body weight up to1,5 mg/kg for severe pain. Actions lasts 12-24 hours.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

The dose you’ve been prescribed is 1,5 mg x 4 = 6 mg

It does seem high to me. It’s 2.1 mg per kilo for a 2.9 kg bun. 

ETA: Just checked my old notes: One of my buns was prescribed 0.8 ml of 1.5 mg/ml strenght Metacam once per 24 hours. He was 2.5 kg. That means 0.5 mg per kilo bun. He had moderate pain. 

ETA again: This complicates things further, but I just checked with a lionhead owner (our esteemed member Q8). Her lionhead bun of 5 lb (2.3 kg) had 2 ml metacam per 12 hours after his neuter. So your bun’s dosage doesnt seem off the chart compared to that, if it’s to be given once per 24 hours. 

I think I’d stick with a lower dose until I can get in touch with the prescribing vet. If you give him 2 ml you can top it up after 12 hours if what your vet prescribed really was 4 mg per 24 hours. That way you’d stay on a safe dose of about 1 mg/kilo until you can get hold of vet. It would still not be a low dose (pain management is extremely important in rabbits).

[Em]

Ah thank you so much, Bam. I must save that link for my future anxious self haha. So 4ml was the correct dose to give him at 0.6mg/kg. I need to stop doubting vet prescriptions. Thanks again!

ETA; Oh I didnt see you added more to your post since I last refreshed the tab.

What I did was: Assume she dosed him at 0.6mg/kg, so; (0.6mg/kg)(10ml)/(1.5mg/ml) = 4ml – which is the dose the vet prescribed. 

Oh, and my lovely Gatsby is 2.9kg! 

[Bam]

Now look what highly esteemed member Q8 found, a metacam calculator for rabbits!

http://vgr1.com/metacam/calc1/detailcalc.php

Except calculator says this is for 24 hours and Q8’s vet said per 12 hours due to rabbits’ super fast metabolic rate. 

[Em]

I’ll check out the calculator, thanks!

[Em]

I fixed my calculations too, my bad – sleep deprived college student, bear with me. I had my numbers in the wrong order (I used to share some classes with vet nurses at uni, but that was over two years ago so techniques I picked up are very rusty). I *should* have wrote: (0.6mg/kg)(10ml)/(1.5mg/kg) = 4kg. So his dosage was right, and I doubted my vet for no reason. Better to be safe than sorry though, right? Cheers everyone for your input regardless, I appreciate the help!

[Bam]

I’m very sorry for being confusing, but dosages are important. Thank you for bringing this up! Many good healing-vibes for your bun! We’d be very grateful for updates.

[jerseygirl]

I just wanted to add another link to the meloxicam calculator page as it has 2 versions. One to calculate mls one to calculate mg/kg. http://vgr1.com/metacam/
Just a note: Anyone using this, just be certain to change the weight field to lbs or kg, depending on what you use where you live. Also be sure to put in the right concentration of meloxicam (ie. 0.5mg/kg cat strength, 1.5mg/kg dog strength)

One of the really unfortunate this with meloxicam brands is you are often given a dosing syring with kg or lb increments on the syringe. ie. for weight of a cat or doge. Where as if a vet gives you a ml or cc dosage for your rabbit, it’s not to be confused with the gradients on the animal weight syringe – they need give a ml syringe. Some will indicate where the equivalent is on the original syringe…ie. 4kg dog dose or 10kg dog dose, for example.

I hope I dont cause further confusion here but Im getting quite a high dose for Gatsby.

like, 2.07mg/kg. If he was being prescribed in the higher, short term dosage or 1.5mg/kg, this would equate to 2.9mls. 4mls would be 1.5mg/kg for a 4kg animal. Having said that, I have read of rabbits being on high dose exceeding 1.5mg/kg over a 24hr period.

How is he doing today? By the sounds of it, he had good pain management after the surgery.

[jerseygirl]

Arrrghh!! Lol. Talk about confusing! I just inserted the image you’d attached in your post. That’s the printed label for Gatsby? If that came with the animal weight syringe, was the family member shown the 4 on the syringe? 

[Q8bunny]

I just use my magic wand…

[Em]

Okay, so I’m home for the weekend – and I see that it was an entire misunderstanding on the family members behalf. The syringe is a kg syringe, and they were shown 4*kg* not 4*mls*. It’s a 1ml syringe – so the 4kg mark is around 0.4ml. Much apologies on my behalf for spreading confusion elsewhere! I actually laughed when I seen the syringe in person, because it is very obviously *not* 4 mls haha. Anyway; thanks again, folks – Gatsby is doing awesome, almost a little too well – he couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it.

[Bam]

Em, thank you so much for the update! What a relief! This makes a lot more sense, it’s just so confusing that the syringe is graded for kilo dogs when it’s not a dog you’re medicating. Great to hear Gatsby is doing so well!

[jerseygirl]

Glad to hear he is doing so well.

My apologies for being so pedantic in my earlier post. I emphasised on some things mainly for if people find this post via a search in the future. Metacam dosing is something I’ve searched on forums myself in the past and posted for advice when I felt my rabbit was being under dosed post-surgery.

[sky bunny and the fufees]

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

This shows the proper amount,I just did a vet for our bunny yesterday and our bunny weighs 3.2lbs and was prescribed 0.6cc which is 0.6ml and the metacam we have is 0.5mg per ML so this is the very low side i think its around 2.6mg our bunny is taking,So we are on the very low spectrum.

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