Loxicom for guinea pigs

[KHBz]

We had to take Bianca to the vets yesterday evening, concerned about her eye. The vet eventually identified that there was an ulcer and has prescribed her antibiotics (twice a day in the eye) and Loxicom (0.25 ml once a day). When Ophelia had hay poke a couple of years ago, she was prescribed Metacam (also 0.25ml once a day), antibiotics and some corneal repair. I had taken in what we had had for Ophelia, asked for Metacam, and didn't realise that he had prescribed Loxicom (of which he gave her one dose.) Having read on this forum of many general vets' mistakes (and this is a different vet), I want to check that Loxicom, at a 0.25ml dose once a day, is suitable for guinea pigs. Bianca's ulcer would seem to have been caused by a scratch, and so has perhaps caused less pain, as there was no hay wedged into her cornea as there was with Ophelia.

 

[Wiebke]

We had to take Bianca to the vets yesterday evening, concerned about her eye. The vet eventually identified that there was an ulcer and has prescribed her antibiotics (twice a day in the eye) and Loxicom (0.25 ml once a day). When Ophelia had hay poke a couple of years ago, she was prescribed Metacam (also 0.25ml once a day), antibiotics and some corneal repair. I had taken in what we had had for Ophelia, asked for Metacam, and didn't realise that he had prescribed Loxicom (of which he gave her one dose.) Having read on this forum of many general vets' mistakes (and this is a different vet), I want to check that Loxicom, at a 0.25ml dose once a day, is suitable for guinea pigs. Bianca's ulcer would seem to have been caused by a scratch, and so has perhaps caused less pain, as there was no hay wedged into her cornea as there was with Ophelia.

Hi

Loxicom is an another brand name for meloxicam, which is generally best known as metacam but is being sold under a variety of brand names. So there is nothing wrong with the product. Welcome to the world of cheaper generic brands!

Can you please check whether you have cat metacam (0.5 mg) or dog strength (1.5 mg). We cannot comment on the dosage without knowing that.

 

[KHBz]

Hi

Loxicom is an another brand name for meloxicam, which is generally best known as metacam but is being sold under a variety of brand names. So there is nothing wrong with the product. Welcome to the world of cheaper generic brands!

Can you please check whether you have cat metacam (0.5 mg) or dog strength (1.5 mg). We cannot comment on the dosage without knowing that.

Thank you very much for such a swift reply. It is for dogs - it reads ‘0.03 x loxicom oral suspens (dogs)’. He has decanted the tiniest amount into a small pill bottle and I thought that was shockingly expensive at £15+ for barely anything !

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you very much for such a swift reply. It is for dogs - it reads ‘0.03 x loxicom oral suspens (dogs)’. He has decanted the tiniest amount into a small pill bottle and I thought that was shockingly expensive at £15+ for barely anything !

That is the smallest dosage possible but it is only needed for the first 2-3 days; by then, the worst of the discomfort will hopefully be over. Meloxicam is unfortunately not cheap.

All the best! The eye will heal without the metacam as I know from piggies of mine in the olden days.

 

[KHBz]

That is the smallest dosage possible but it is only needed for the first 2-3 days; by then, the worst of the discomfort will hopefully be over. Meloxicam is unfortunately not cheap.

All the best! The eye will heal without the metacam as I know from piggies of mine in the olden days.

Thank you so much for your replies. I'm glad that she'll be ok without having much painkiller.

We're getting histrionics when we pick her up; she then sits very still whilst we both apply the antibiotic ointment and gently nudge beneath the eye so that it spreads over the surface; and then the histrionics resume in full force! Perhaps she knows that this is to help, given that she quietens and stays still to let us do it.

 

[KHBz]

Hello @Wiebke, Bianca's eye has got worse and so the vet has fitted her in this evening. Is it reasonable, do you think, for me to ask for more painkiller, as you have said that that is the smallest dose possible? No worries if you don't see this in time.

 

[KHBz]

Just an update and a question. The vet had a good look at Bianca's eye and ascertained that the ulcer hadn't become deeper. He thinks that it looks so much worse because of 'vigorous healing' and that the amount of painkiller is sufficient. However, today Bianca seems to be in considerably more discomfort, sitting in her hutch with her eye partially closed and not running around after the forage trail as she usually would. Can I take it upon myself to give her an extra dose of 0.25ml of loxicom or should I leave well alone? I can't ring the vet as they are closed now. He will be seeing her again on Monday.

 

[Black piggies]

Aw poor Bianca. Is your vet cavy savvy, there's no hay stuck in the eye? Hopefully the vet will see improvement on Monday. I don't think anyone on this forum could say to go against your vets advice, but personally knowing what's a safe dose for weight, I give it when I think it's needed. In the last year I've had piggies with cancer, bladder stones, abscess, all very painful. I tend to give twice daily pain relief to palliative cancer piggies for example, whether vet has said to or not, but which I know are palliative based on vet advice. Hope her eye gets better soon. It's horrible to see them with a sore eye.

 

[KHBz]

Aw poor Bianca. Is your vet cavy savvy, there's no hay stuck in the eye? Hopefully the vet will see improvement on Monday. I don't think anyone on this forum could say to go against your vets advice, but personally knowing what's a safe dose for weight, I give it when I think it's needed. In the last year I've had piggies with cancer, bladder stones, abscess, all very painful. I tend to give twice daily pain relief to palliative cancer piggies for example, whether vet has said to or not, but which I know are palliative based on vet advice. Hope her eye gets better soon. It's horrible to see them with a sore eye.

Thank you very much for your kind reply. I kept an eye on her and by the end of the day her behaviour was more as it should be so I left well alone with regards to the amount of painkiller. The vet is a general one which is why I worried about the meds. I’m pretty sure there is no hay stuck, though, as he had a more thorough examination when I took her back on Friday. Poor Bianca. It’s still looking bad and she’s still keeping her eye half shut. They are getting plenty of treats in compensation for all the handling, though. (Ophelia is just as traumatised by this as Bianca, since she thinks it’s her turn next and hides, petrified!) We go to the vet again on Monday.

 

[Black piggies]

Aw poor thing. Its good she's doing her thing normally and she'll be seen again tomorrow. Hope for improvement

 

[KHBz]

We have just got back from the vets (again) and although Bianca is back to her rumble-strutting, chasing-her-sister self, the eye still has a way to go. We will have to go back yet again on Wednesday.

There was a thread pretty much exactly two years ago in which someone asked how much they should have to expect to pay for hay poke. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to put the poster off taking the piggy to the vet as Ophelia had just had a bad hay-poke injury which had cost almost £200. This was so much more than the figures that were being quoted to the poster and so I concluded that we had been unlucky in the severity of hers. (This was in our first 3 weeks of ever having guinea-pigs. The eye Ophelia injured does now look slightly different from her other one.) But Bianca's ulcer will also have cost almost £200, if we are indeed discharged on Wednesday, and yet hers is less severe (still nasty though) and we caught it really early, before it had become visible. Our vet isn't even a particularly expensive one, hasn't charged for one of the consultations, and is topping up the pain-killer for free.

Oh, what silly piggies with big bulging eyes and a joy of diving into hay. Quite a design fault.

 

[Engel]

While I've not had any piggy eye issues, my one dog has a lot of issues. It's normally 3 days before we notice a difference with her.

 

[KHBz]

While I've not had any piggy eye issues, my one dog has a lot of issues. It's normally 3 days before we notice a difference with her.

I’m sorry to hear that your dog has a lot of issues. Are you saying that it is 3 days before you see any improvement after treatment has begun? This has been 9 days since the first vet visit and he was surprised that it hasn’t healed more by now.

 

[Engel]

I’m sorry to hear that your dog has a lot of issues. Are you saying that it is 3 days before you see any improvement after treatment has begun? This has been 9 days since the first vet visit and he was surprised that it hasn’t healed more by now.

Yes 3 days after treatment had begun.
By day 7 treatment is finished so, as it hasn't healed, id ask for another vets opinion (even if it's another vet in the same practice). If it's not healing is be asking why. There may be hay or something still stuck in there.

 

[KHBz]

Yes 3 days after treatment had begun.
By day 7 treatment is finished so, as it hasn't healed, id ask for another vets opinion (even if it's another vet in the same practice). If it's not healing is be asking why. There may be hay or something still stuck in there.

I have confidence in the vet we’re seeing and there’s no hay lingering there. It looks like it was a nasty ulcer and so is just going to take a little longer. Her body is doing everything it should be doing in the healing process and she *is* better in herself. So, for a little while longer, she will have to put up with us catching her twice a day and subjecting her to this, and we will have to put up with her screeching her head off, in protest, even as she is clambering into the cavy cosy to be picked up for her meds!

 

[KHBz]

Yesterday the vet both discharged Bianca and didn’t charge me for that consultation. Such relief on both counts! There is a speck of ulcer still showing up under the light with the dye and so we will continue with the antibiotics for another few days. She is definitely back to her full-on rumble strutting mode with her first popcorn in 2 weeks! (I’m hoping that that emoji conveys Bianca’s assertions of dominance, punctuated, as so often happens, with little popcorn bounces.)