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When to medicate arthritis

AbiS

AbiS

Adult Guinea Pig
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Barney recently had an X-ray when the vet was in the process of diagnosing a UTI. The X-ray showed that he probably has arthritis in his back leg. The vet said I should start to give him metacam if I thought his leg was bothering him. Given that piggies are so good at hiding their illnesses how am I meant to know if it is bothering him?
 
AbiS said:
Barney recently had an X-ray when the vet was in the process of diagnosing a UTI. The X-ray showed that he probably has arthritis in his back leg. The vet said I should start to give him metacam if I thought his leg was bothering him. Given that piggies are so good at hiding their illnesses how am I meant to know if it is bothering him?
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Start medicating if your piggy is starting signs of limping or if it self-barbering (not just cleaning) a certain spot that is painful or starting to bother it. You start with a regular low dosage and then build up over the years as necessary.

You can also consider giving joint care glucosamine; it is a food supplement and not a medication and is therefore not prescribed by vets. You can try the joint support one from Oxbow if you wish to.
 
I medicated mine when they started to lose weight. I had two seven/eight year olds who were losing weight and looking a little stiff. I monitored their weight and gave them metacam when they started losing.

One was on it for 12-18 months, and I don't really know how much of a difference it made, but his weight stabilised, he loved the taste of it (we went through a lot of chewed syringes that he was reluctant to give back :)):)) ) and he didn't seem to be in pain. I'd stop for a while and then start again if he lost weight or moved less easily.

The other one was more mobile for much longer and although a very skinny elderly eight year old abby underneath all of his crazy fur at the end, I only gave him metacam when he started to walk stiffly and bunny hop around the cage.
 
To answer your post; if you can afford it try it out and see if he seems brighter in himself. My vet basically said that it can't hurt, so see whether it helps and if it does keep it up. If you are going to use it in the medium to long term, get the largest bottles, they save quite a bit!
 
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