Dog metacam struggles.

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Hey guys, I know it’s been a while so I hope everyone is well and keeping safe! X

I was just wondering how on Earth to get dog metacam now that cat has been licensed. My vets are being ridiculous about it and refuse to prescribe it and insist it’s cat or nothing. She said she would get struck off or something but I doubt it as we’ve always had off license meds, in fact they just sold me some co-trimixazole.

I’ve been using this for years and don’t want to pay twice the price for an inferior medicine that will be harder to administer... I can’t really shop around other vets with covid-19 going about so I feel stuck. They probably wouldn’t even know where to start or bother with a piggy.

Someone has recommended baby calpol in place of this (suggested by Cambridge cavy trust) but I didn’t know if it were safe. Apparently lots of people are using it but I wanted to get some info before I used it.

Thanks guys

 

[piggieminder]

Lovely to see you here again, sorry it's under these circumstances. It's a pain with this cat metacam business, I had problems last year with a general vet who wouldn't let me have the dog version. I changed to an exotic vet who agreed with me that the recommended dose of cat metacam was no use at all to guinea pigs and always prescribes high doses of dog, so no your vet won't get struck off!
I hope your piggie gets well soon.

 

[Lady Kelly]

Have a look at why cat metacam is licensed. It's literally for post surgery so if it's any other pain then cat metacam isn't licensed so they vet is misunderstanding. My vets is the same though

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Lovely to see you here again, sorry it's under these circumstances. It's a pain with this cat metacam business, I had problems last year with a general vet who wouldn't let me have the dog version. I changed to an exotic vet who agreed with me that the recommended dose of cat metacam was no use at all to guinea pigs and always prescribes high doses of dog, so no your vet won't get struck off!
I hope your piggie gets well soon.

Thanks, great to see you again too! Hope you’re keeping well

Yea it’s so infuriating isn’t it? I don’t know why they’re being so difficult all of a sudden. The trouble is that good/exotic vets are pretty few and far between where I live, this was the best of a bad bunch as they’d generally listen to me and work with me. This particular vet thinks she knows everything and won’t see reason unfortunately. The usual vet I like to see isn’t available atm sadly, she’s much more knowledgable and amenable which is why I favour her.

Have a look at why cat metacam is licensed. It's literally for post surgery so if it's any other pain then cat metacam isn't licensed so they vet is misunderstanding. My vets is the same though

Hey Lady Kelly! Thanks

Oh really? I’ll have to have a look. I argued it today to no avail. How do you get round it? Honestly you’d think they’d do their research as it is their profession. Half my experience at the vets is debating opinions on medicine effectiveness it’s exhausting! At least they have stopped trying to force baytril on me

 

[Eriathwen]

I'm so lucky with my vet, and rather unlucky to have painful long term conditions to deal with...but my vet still prescribes dog for me. I believe I read somewhere that it is up to the vets discretion what they prescribe. My vet is lovely but I don't think he would risk his career, practice and his staff for my smelly, scruffy Leonard as much as the staff love the little terror.
Leonard also gets infant paracetamol (calpol) and it works very well, I had used it prior to finding a good vet in a bit of desperation and it does work well but I would choose metacam over it if I had to. Not sure if I would choose cat metacam over it though

 

[Lady Kelly]

Thanks, great to see you again too! Hope you’re keeping well

Yea it’s so infuriating isn’t it? I don’t know why they’re being so difficult all of a sudden. The trouble is that good/exotic vets are pretty few and far between where I live, this was the best of a bad bunch as they’d generally listen to me and work with me. This particular vet thinks she knows everything and won’t see reason unfortunately. The usual vet I like to see isn’t available atm sadly, she’s much more knowledgable and amenable which is why I favour her.


Hey Lady Kelly! Thanks

Oh really? I’ll have to have a look. I argued it today to no avail. How do you get round it? Honestly you’d think they’d do their research as it is their profession. Half my experience at the vets is debating opinions on medicine effectiveness it’s exhausting! At least they have stopped trying to force baytril on me

I've not got round it with my vets unfortunately. The last time I needed to get metacam for a piggy I had to go to the specialist who does prescribe dog metacam. My own vets still won't prescribe two doses of cat metacam a day so I'm naughty and will give it twice a day without telling them if I feel it's needed to keep the piggy comfortable

 

[VickiA]

Hello there

Here is a thread where we discussed this and I quoted from the literature. Vet confusion. (metacam)
I’ll see if I can find the actual information about licensing for you

 

[VickiA]

Metacam is the first and only NSAID to be indicated for pain management in guinea pigs

https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/european-metacam-indication-expanded-guinea-pigs

 

[Claire W]

I feel your pain as my vets will now only prescribe cat metacam too but I do dose higher than what the vet prescribes. Naughty I know

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

I'm so lucky with my vet, and rather unlucky to have painful long term conditions to deal with...but my vet still prescribes dog for me. I believe I read somewhere that it is up to the vets discretion what they prescribe. My vet is lovely but I don't think he would risk his career, practice and his staff for my smelly, scruffy Leonard as much as the staff love the little terror.
Leonard also gets infant paracetamol (calpol) and it works very well, I had used it prior to finding a good vet in a bit of desperation and it does work well but I would choose metacam over it if I had to. Not sure if I would choose cat metacam over it though

Aw bless, sounds like you have a great vets! I think I may have to try infant calpol if I can’t get metacam, I’d rather have the real thing though. Love to sir Leonard!

I've not got round it with my vets unfortunately. The last time I needed to get metacam for a piggy I had to go to the specialist who does prescribe dog metacam. My own vets still won't prescribe two doses of cat metacam a day so I'm naughty and will give it twice a day without telling them if I feel it's needed to keep the piggy comfortable

Oh yea I’ve altered vet doses a lot, the worst part is this cat metacam was dosed at 0.17ml ONCE A DAY I mean come on, that wouldn’t even do anything. Talk about useless. That being said with such poor vets around I’m becoming a pretty good pig vet myself with a lot of kit so I can do most of it myself

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Hello there

Here is a thread where we discussed this and I quoted from the literature. Vet confusion. (metacam)
I’ll see if I can find the actual information about licensing for you

Thank you so much, that’s really helpful. I’ll put this to them and see what they say. It’s so difficult to get them to change their minds which is heartbreaking as I had only just been able to convince them I knew what I was talking about. Back to square one I guess!

I feel your pain as my vets will now only prescribe cat metacam too but I do dose higher than what the vet prescribes. Naughty I know

Oh man that’s rubbish. Not naughty at all, I’ve had to do it in the past. Hell today they wanted to prescribe 0.17ml cat metacam which is basically not giving any at all anyway

 

[GPTV]

Metacam is the first and only NSAID to be indicated for pain management in guinea pigs

https://www.boehringer-ingelheim.com/press-release/european-metacam-indication-expanded-guinea-pigs

Wonder what the answer would be from the vet (when being awkward) if a Guinea pig owner said "well the cat version is only licensed on cats & guinea pigs,yes
... However on this occasion my Guinea pig is not soft tissue post op & we're (UK) not in Europe any more"

Metacam cat has only been added to the license in Europe according to the study info on VickiA 's contained link

Metacam® 0.5mg/ml Oral Suspension for Cats is now also approved in Europe for alleviation of mild to moderate post-operative pain associated with soft tissue surgery in guinea-pigs

OK so back pedal, please can i have the dog Metacam as requested?

 

[Emx93]

I have this problem! My vet said the same that she could loose her liscence and that was after explaining all the points on the forum (and she's an exotics vet), my piggies on it long term for arthritis and tumour pain, she's on cat metacam now but also tramadol

 

[Swissgreys]

Ironically this is when I always go to my non specialist vet.
She is not an expert ,and is always happy to be guided by me, so when she offered cat metacam and I asked for dog (and explained why) she immedietly saw the logic and was happy to give it to me.

My exotic specialist on the other hand (who is wonderful and super expereinced) will now only give cat metacam because it's licensed. But then openly admits it is a bit silly becasue 12 months ago she prescribed dog metacam.

 

[Betsy]

At my old vets the Vet I saw for Christian's back pain (after cat Metacam had been licenced) told me she had been on a course about Metacam and said that Guinea Pigs could tolerate a lot more than was originally thought and immediately gave me a prescription for 0.7ml twice a day of dog Metacam for long term use. I am now weaning Christian off it after nearly a year and have got him down to 0.55ml twice a day. My new vets are quite happy for him to have dog Metacam as that is what he was prescribed originally. The very lovely Jure (Yuri) gives me a prescrition for a 180ml bottle of dog Metacam which I get from Animed online.

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Looks like the struggles are real all round, it’s hard to know how to approach it. Especially ‘cause I can’t go down there face to face, I hate speaking on the phone!

At my old vets the Vet I saw for Christian's back pain (after cat Metacam had been licenced) told me she had been on a course about Metacam and said that Guinea Pigs could tolerate a lot more than was originally thought and immediately gave me a prescription for 0.7ml twice a day of dog Metacam for long term use. I am now weaning Christian off it after nearly a year and have got him down to 0.55ml twice a day. My new vets are quite happy for him to have dog Metacam as that is what he was prescribed originally. The very lovely Jure (Yuri) gives me a prescrition for a 180ml bottle of dog Metacam which I get from Animed online.

Oh how is Christian? I’ve been away a while but I’m so glad to hear he’s doing better, I remember how worrying it was! I’m jealous you can get such a big metacam!

 

[Betsy]

Christian is fine now thanks you wouldn't know he ever had a back problem now.