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Metacam Dosage

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Furuba12

Furuba12

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One of my guinea pigs has abnormally large conjunctivas, they do bulge but stay where they should and cause no problems, however over the weekend one on his upper right eye swelled so it had "popped out". This happened last year and is no cause for concern as it was not infected and does go down.

However when I came home last night it had "popped" (obviously nudged it, he never scratches) and it was bleeding so off to the vet. We were told it was not infected but it needs to pop back in order to keep clean so he was given Metacam and I am seriously confused about the dosage!

Stig weighs 1.6kg and was prescribed 1.5mg Metacam for dogs and we were told to give him 3kg (the syringe goes in kg and we have a small one so only goes up to 10) however I have NO idea what this is in ml or anything! I am so utterly confused as the last thing I want to do is overdose him. He has had 2 so far (one last night and one this morning) and has eaten and drank fine....

I really need this medication to work because if it does not go down he will have to have it cut off which means going under which I honestly do not want....

Thanks!
 
The 3 kg mark on a dog metacam syringe is roughly the same volume as 0.15 ml dog metacam, which is an appropriate dosage for a guinea pig.
 
Thank you for your rapid response!I knew it did not look like much but as it was for dogs I thought I would check I was doing the right thing but now I know what I am actually doing. Just hope metacam works, honestly do not want him to go under :(
 
Wishing your poorly boy all the best! Guinea pigs have a very quick metabolism, which is why vets have to double the dose compared to cats and dogs.
 
My girl is currently on 1ml (a syringe full) twice daily after her spay haha, good job she loves the taste! 0.15ml is appropriate for otherwise cases though :)
 
LeahsPiggies said:
My girl is currently on 1ml (a syringe full) twice daily after her spay haha, good job she loves the taste! 0.15ml is appropriate for otherwise cases though :)
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The dosage very much depends on whether vets prescribe dog or lower strength cat metacam and can lead to confusion.
 
Wiebke said:
The dosage very much depends on whether vets prescribe dog or lower strength cat metacam and can lead to confusion.
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It's the 1.5kg dog strength I believe. She has been in a bit of pain though, so I'm glad she isn't on a lower dose.
 
Yes, the vet did explain although it says dogs it is fine for guinea pigs but I just couldn't work out the measurements and she did not explain why he had 3kg.
Stig's not used so much for pain relief as his eye is certainly not causing discomfort but just to get the swelling down. He has to have it for 2 days and if it is still there he has to go back for a review but if it goes down to keep going for 5 days. The vet was lovely but she says she has never seen this in a guinea pig

I am not sure if Stig likes the taste, he tends to move away but once he has it he sits there making a lip smacking noise
 
I have a 1.4kg piggy & she has had a quite high dose after ops or whilst having a bladder crisis. At the moment she is on 0.2 ml twice a day but only for a few days then she stays on 0.1ml permanently to help with inflammation. This is the lowest she has, so you would be fine with the dosage Wiebke suggests :)
 
Thank you everyone :-)
I just couldn't work out the dosage but now I feel more relaxed, I know Stig is quite big (we got comments from other customers at the vets...one thought he was a cat...) and he is on it for a very short period of time (hopefully!) we are going to keep going and then if it is still there on Thursday perhaps reconsider our position and maybe go for the op... Just got to keep optimistic!
 
Good luck! I'm glad I opted for surgery with Pebbles (well we didn't have much choice) - but I know it's not something you take lightly.
 
I just know how risky it is, we are told Stig is very healthy but he is obviously a little chunky and he is still a small animal
 
Just a little update, Stig's eye had not gone down by the weekend (although it had gone down a lot) and it was agreed to keep him going until Thursday (tomorrow) however his eye is still not better and he has been booked to have the operation and I am pooping myself! I have never had a guinea pig have an operation :-( I know it is the right thing to do because his eye in its current state is prone to infections which is probably worse than the operation itself...
 
Sorry Stig is still having problems. Fingers crossed for him. Please keep us updated on how he gets on and off course if you have any questions, we are all here for you.

Expect him to be very groggy and shakey after the GA when you get him home, make sure he has somewhere to go and lie down like his house and that you have some veg and something wet like cucumber on hand to put in with him while he is recovering, we always make sure our post op piggies are separate while they are still shaky then pop them home with their friends once they are more with it.

Love to Stig
 
The annoying thing is it does not bother him whatsoever but at the same time it is not healthy for him.

I do have a little box to pop him in with a clean blanket. He goes in tomorrow morning so would I expect to have him back in the afternoon? I will make sure to pick up some watery veg for him, we have celery but that is too crunchy if he is going to be groggy. How long will he be "out of it"?

I am just nervous because I now anesthetic for guinea pigs is quite risky, I am just lucky it is a small operation.
 
I would expect you'll collect him tea time and he will probably be shakey just depends on how he copes with the GA. I would advise getting some cucumber in. We have had GA's on various piggies over 4 times and all recovered okay, try not to worry he is otherwise healthy and strong.
 
Just an update and I suppose a good one!

Took Stig to the vet and she was impressed by how much the swelling had gone down. She then decided not to go through with the operation as the eye is in good shape and does not bother him and it is not "unusual" as he has something similar on his other eye, just not visible. She felt if they operated the "bulge" was just going to grow back again and again and may become more troublesome.

The downside is he is basically going have funny eyes the rest of his little piggy life, the good news for him is he will have to keep going back to metacam every time it inflames, and he LOVES metacam.

So I suppose there is some good news in there and the vet had done a little research :)
 
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