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An alternative to Metacam for pain relief

VivienOblivion

VivienOblivion

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Hi everyone!

My guinea pig Bebita is almost 7 years old, and she has hyperthyroidism and arthritis, amongst some other things.

She also has a very sensitive stomach and is prone to gut issues and infections.

At the moment, she is in need of some pain relief for her arthritis, which is most likely getting worse due to her age and the drop in temperature. I am looking for an alternative to Metacam that would be less harsh on the stomach. Metacam is not suitable for her ongoing gut issues. She reacted quite badly to that when I gave it to her recently.

My vet suggested giving infant paracetamol (100g, 2 times a day). Does anyone have any other ideas? Thank you in advance 🙏
 
CBD oil is very good for pain, just make sure you look up the correct dosage. They give this a lot on the YT LA Guinea Pig Rescue channel and have good results with it, and it's perfectly safe if given correctly.
 
Infant paracetamol is fine to use.

Has the vet not given you any other advice as to which painkiller could work for her?

As a UK based forum we can only endorse vet prescribed medication and we do not endorse the use of CBD.
 
I have a couple currently on infant paracetamol and it does work very well, I would also ask about gabapentin as this is also well tolerated. Offering a glucosamine supplement may also ease some discomfort, some use cystease capsules, or the liquid joint support from johnsons, my vet recently recommended Arthri-aid which I haven't tried before and am waiting to be delivered, but I have a lot of older and arthritic piggies so I'm hoping that offers more relief than the other 2 that I've used previously.

Unfortunately while well tolerated, metacam can occasionally cause GI issues. I had a piggy who developed blood in her poops and had to have injectable metacam while things settled down, it may be worth asking your vet if injectable pain relief is an option in irder to bypass the GI tract altogether, they may even offer to teach you so you can do them at home. My vet taught me how to give cartrophen injections which made life so much easier.
 
Eriathwen said:
I have a couple currently on infant paracetamol and it does work very well, I would also ask about gabapentin as this is also well tolerated. Offering a glucosamine supplement may also ease some discomfort, some use cystease capsules, or the liquid joint support from johnsons, my vet recently recommended Arthri-aid which I haven't tried before and am waiting to be delivered, but I have a lot of older and arthritic piggies so I'm hoping that offers more relief than the other 2 that I've used previously.

Unfortunately while well tolerated, metacam can occasionally cause GI issues. I had a piggy who developed blood in her poops and had to have injectable metacam while things settled down, it may be worth asking your vet if injectable pain relief is an option in irder to bypass the GI tract altogether, they may even offer to teach you so you can do them at home. My vet taught me how to give cartrophen injections which made life so much easier.
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How much paracetamol has your vet advised ? My vet said 1ml in 24ml of water
 
Roselina said:
How much paracetamol has your vet advised ? My vet said 1ml in 24ml of water
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I was advised to get the 120mg/5ml liquid and give 0.49ml based on my piggies weights, but I think that's quite a high dose if memory serves.. ive not heard of diluting it with water to be honest, but I assume it depends which concentration you get
 
Yes I’ve got the 120mg/5ml - because he’s having a lot of meds and syringe food I’d prefer to give him by syringe so I know what he’s having
I contacted a vet nurse I know and she asked her colleague and he said if it’s 120mg/5ml then 2-2.5ml 2x daily
 
Sir George has had it before (on vets advice) he had 0.2 - 0.4, his average weight is 1280g. I gave it undiluted and he loved it.
 
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