Discussion : Splitting Medication Doses

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I have been to several vets with my Guinea Pigs so, the advice I am quoting has come from more than one vet.


The medications I am particularly talking about are Metacam and Baytril.


I find the vet often prescribes these medications as a daily dosage. I once had a prescription of .8 mls Baytril daily .

I have instinctively split this dose -either giving .4 mls twice a day - or even .2 mls four times a day.


I once asked a vet why the prescription was for a once daily dose and the answer was to make sure my guinea pig got "as much as possible " ( I think the vet was implying they can spit out most of their medicine ).

When Max was poorly, I took him back for a check up - I explained I had been splitting his daily prescription of Baytril and Metacam into twice daily doses . I was told I shouldn't be doing this - as his medication would never get up to the therapeutic range.


I would be grateful for people's views on this ....
 
I have always split Metacam as it is out of their system so quickly due to the fast metabolism.
 
helen105281 said:
I have always split Metacam as it is out of their system so quickly due to the fast metabolism.
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I would have though this too Helen. I can only repeat what the vet told me , which was, by splitting the prescribed dose, Max was never getting a therapeutic level of the medication.
 
I am not convinced I suppose different vets have different opinions. Can see their logic on the antibiotics. I think Tim's was once a day but for pain killers I think it is needed throughout the day. Will be interested in what @Abi_nurse thinks.
 
With metacalm , yes. To have pain relief covering a wider time frame. With antibiotics- no. The dose your vet recommends is the dose he thinks your pig needs- this is what should be given. If it is thought he needs it twice a day, it will be the same dose for twice a day.

i.e if my pigs are prescribed septrin for mild infection (mallows nasal issues) the dose is 0.5ml once daily. For more severe infections, like crunchies bladder, the dose is still 0.5ml but twice daily.

I understand that pigs have a higher rate of metabolism so things are split to mantain this, but there is a fine line between levels of a medication dropping in the system over 24hrs and giving "frequent doses of nothing."
 
No vets have told us to split the metacam! They always say 0.4 once a day but after speaking with Helen I started to give 0.2 ml twice a day.
 
I'm glad I started this thread. To me, a smaller dose more frequently makes sense - but am happy to accept the advice of experts.
 
we have always been given metacam twice daily and were told that it is best because the metabolism is so fast that it would be out of their system in 12hrs but could be even less which is why even higher doses are split across three times a day for continued effect.

we have usually been given antibiotics as once each day but it might depend on which are used. :)

things like motility drugs etc tend to be 2-3x aswell.
 
PiggyOwner said:
I would have though this too Helen. I can only repeat what the vet told me , which was, by splitting the prescribed dose, Max was never getting a therapeutic level of the medication.
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ours say this is true to an extent and that is why they (and other more specialist vets) typically use doses that are higher than other vets. i was told that for certain conditions, 0.5ml twice daily would be little more than a therapeutic dose. if this was once a day and you then split it, then you can imagine it would hardly do much at all in that case.

eta: so what @Adelle said is what our vets say - that you would need to give the same recommended dose twice. this would then mean they are still on that first dose because that first one would cover 12hrs and the next same dose would cover the next 12hrs etc :)

eta: as an example, mollie is on 0.5ml twice a day for her bladder issues. after her spay when she was struggling and needed more support, this dose was increased to 3x a day for a short time :)
 
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It all depends on the drug being used. A drug has a 'half life' in the body. Some drugs have a long half life, lasting several days in the system. Others only last a few hours. For antibiotics it is important to reach the therapeutic level to avoid developing antibiotic resistance. Baytril has a long half life and should be given once daily, septrin needs to be given twice daily. Metacam can be given twice daily, l tend to do this if piggies are in a lot of pain, but l don't halve the dose l give 0.4 ml/kg dog metacam twice daily (as advised by my vet). You risk under treating if you lower the dose.
 
I agree with the above. It comes down to the drugs therapeutic half life. Both metacam and baytril can be given twice daily but also double dose once a day. It is dependant on your vet which way around they choose to dose. Sadly there are is not any validated evidence which frequency if best in Guinea pigs. However due to their relative size and metabolic speed I would be more inclined to dose twice daily. I would always go in what your vet has advised.

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