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Metachlopramide

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JayneG

JayneG

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My cousin took their pig to the vet as she was hunched up in the corner not eating. The vet gave her a metachlopramide injection as he was concerned as she hadn't eaten for 24 hours and couldn't hear much movement in her tummy. The poor thing died later in the day. Anyway my cousin now says that her husband gave the pig some metachlopramide orally about 2-3 hours before she took her piggy to the vet and is now wondering if this could have harmed her with her having the iv dose as well. I really don't know about this but just said probably not as Hermione must have been ill. She was about 4. Any thoughts on this? Her husband feels really bad as he didn't mention it before he went off to work and then my cousin decided she needed to see a vet pronto. Could it have caused a problem does anyone think?
 
It sounds like a very sad lack of communication, however, I'm wondering how the husband decided to give metachlopramide to the pig? Did he know what was wrong? I expect it could be damaging if given for the wrong condition.
 
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I doubt very much that it was the metaclopromide, although it would depend on doses given. This is kind of backed up by the fact she had metaclopromide 2-3 hours prior to the vet visit and there were still no gut sounds.

It was more likely the gut stasis, or whatever underlying disease or illness that led to the gut stasis that was the reason for her death. 24h is a long time for a pig to go without food. 6 hours and alarm bells should be ringing.
 
Her hubby grew up with guinea pigs and seems fairly knowledgable but not a vet obviously. I don't know if I have the full story yet, but if anything, hopefully this won't happen again. It was only a small amount he gave her by all accounts but in such small animals, that is still a lot.
 
Thanks Amanda. By all accounts Hermione had been losing weight and going off her food. Vet hadn't given a diagnosis yet but obviously her gut had slowed down for some reason. They had been syringe feeding her because Esther would not eat. Very sad. I've just lost a boy myself so feeling extra sad for them.
 
Aww. Whatever the problem, it is so sad to loose a loved piggy. :( So sorry for them and you. :rose
 
I'm really sorry you lost your precious Hermione


It's unlikely it was the metclopromoide, assuming normal vets practise is followed. However because ANOther person medicated before consulting a vets we would need to know the following before commenting:

a) Time of first dose. Route (Oral or subQ or other). Concentration of medication (mg/ml) Weight of piggie (g) Amount given (ml)
b) Time of second dose. Route (Oral or subQ or other). Concentration of medication (mg/ml) Weight of piggie (g) Amount given (ml)

Gut stimulants are effective - but ONLY if combined with regular (2hrly) syringe feeding to keep food going in the "top" end.......

HTH
x
 
Thanks Pebble. Hermione was my cousins, but I recently lost my Toffee who you so kindly helped me so much with when he was ill last year.

i spoke to the hubby last night. Hermione had been given the drug before Christmas as well and they had some left. He said because she started having the same symptoms again, he thought it would be ok to give her some. So he says he gave her 0.1 mls as that was the dosage he'd given before twice daily and was on the bottle, via oral syringe at about 7am. She was approx .9 of a kilo but had dropped from 1.1 since Dec.

The vet gave an iv dose of metachlopramide at around 9.30 am same day which "looked" to be around 0.3 mls my cousin says. The vet did weigh her and noted the weight loss from last time.

I'm no expert by any means but if it wasn't that, it would be nice to put their minds at rest.
 
If it's any consolation I doubt it was the Emeprid (Metachlopramide). Although my piggy Petal weighs in at around 1.4 kg she has been on a dose of 0.7ml three times a day for the last few days because she suffered gut stasis after a GA recently. I also had to give her Zantac & syringe feed her around the clock, every 2-3 hours. It could be that she suffered a gut torsion or something very serious & that wouldn't have made a difference to the outcome, sadly. I am sorry :(
 
The drug itself has a very high lethal dose, (more than 160mg/kg and up to 1200mg/kg depending upon species ) meaning it is well tolerated.

Injectable and oral preparations are of differing strengths. Assuming the oral was 1mg/ml and the injectable was 5mg/ml, Hermione received a maximum of 1.5mg over a period of more than 6 hours...The small animal formulary recommends up to 1mg/kg every 6 hours so a total of 4mg in any 24hour period. Put that into context with the lethal dose that is almost 100x the actual amount Hermione was given


I think you can reassure your friends that the extra dose had no harmful affect on Hermione nor contributed to her passing.

x
 
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