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Arthritic guinea pig

Hoppo79

Hoppo79

New Born Pup
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Hi. Need advice over dosing for pain relief due to arthritis.
A few months ago my pig had a UTI and prolapsed her uterus. She has a minor op to push the uterus back in - all successful. Her pain relief was dog loxicom 1.5mg - 0.1ml once a day. I had some left over.
3 months later my pig is showing signs of arthritis. Hobbling etc. Still eating and drinking fine. So I gave her some of the dog loxicom I had left over to see if it helped. I dosed 0.2ml in the morning and 0.1ml at night. This seemed to do the trick eventually. But I failed to give probiotics after dosing and her poo has become mushy.
I ran out of this dog loxicom so went to the vet today to get a prescription for the arthritis. The vet gave me cat loxicom 0.5mg and said to give 0.26ml once a day. My pig weighs 1.2kg. I questioned the dose as I thought cat loxicom was weaker than the dog one and she said it was the same as the dog one and the dose was right.
My question is - is this dose of cat loxicom correct?! I don’t think it’ll touch the pain. Also would failing to give a probiotic after the loxicom cause mushy poo? I discussed giving my pig fibreplex and diluted pro c powder during the day too to help bulk her poo out.
Any advice would be really great! My vet isn’t an exotics vet. The nearest one is an hours drive!
 
Hello and Welcome to the forum
One of our wonderful health team will be along to help you with the question over Loxicom, I’ve only ever been given dog Loxicom for my old dental piggie Ted, this was 0.3 ml morning and night, so I’ve no experience of Cat Loxicom apart from I think it costs more and doesn’t last in the bottle as long?
 
Bill & Ted said:
Hello and Welcome to the forum
One of our wonderful health team will be along to help you with the question over Loxicom, I’ve only ever been given dog Loxicom for my old dental piggie Ted, this was 0.3 ml morning and night, so I’ve no experience of Cat Loxicom apart from I think it costs more and doesn’t last in the bottle as long?
Click to expand...
Thank you for replying. Yes it will cost more because in theory I SHOULD be using a lot more. But this vet was adamant the dose was correct. ?
 
Yes you are right, the cat version is weaker than the dog version, and guinea pigs can have their pain meds twice a day (they metabolise them within about 12 hours). I would split and give the dose twice a day but if the dose is too low for the pain piggy is experiencing then obviously it’s not going to do much to help
It may be worth you getting a second opinion from a cavy savvy vet if possible.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Yes you are right, the cat version is weaker than the dog version, and guinea pigs can have their pain meds twice a day (they metabolise them within about 12 hours). I would split and give the dose twice a day but if the dose is too low for the pain piggy is experiencing then obviously it’s not going to do much to help
It may be worth you getting a second opinion from a cavy savvy vet if possible.
Click to expand...
Hi thank you for replying. I think 0.26ml once a day isn’t going to touch any pain mild or not with a guinea pig and definitely not going to last them 24hrs. I think I’ll give her the same dose again tonight so she’ll be getting 0.26ml twice a day. So just over 0.5ml a day. Thank you for your advice. Any ideas if the soft poos are through the loxicom too? And will fibreplex help?
 
Soft poops aren’t a side effect I’ve ever come across as a result of pain meds.

For a piggy with soft poop, the advice is to stop giving vegetables, give a probiotic (so yes the fibreplex or pro c) and let things settle. once poops firm back up (could take a couple of days), then reintroduce veg slowly. If things don’t improve then speak to a vet.
 
Hi!

The soft poos are more likely a result of the arthritic pain radiating from in the lower spine into the adjacent gut (keep in mind that it is all very tightly packed in there. Metacam doesn't cause digestive problems.

Dog metacam is three times stronger than cat metacam. I would recommend to see another vet. Guinea pigs have a much faster metabolism than other common pets and also tolerate metacam a lot better.
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I don't know much about medicines but I have had an arthritic pig before now, who was treated with acupuncture by our vet. I've had many elderly pets acupunctured by this vet, with excellent results. This was the first piggy that the vet had done so we were both intrigued to see if it would work on him, it did seem to work really well. The effects of it seem to last a good long time also.
Here is Panda during the treatment, he was ever so relaxed and seemed to enjoy it :)
 

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Sue and Smartie said:
I don't know much about medicines but I have had an arthritic pig before now, who was treated with acupuncture by our vet. I've had many elderly pets acupunctured by this vet, with excellent results. This was the first piggy that the vet had done so we were both intrigued to see if it would work on him, it did seem to work really well. The effects of it seem to last a good long time also.
Here is Panda during the treatment, he was ever so relaxed and seemed to enjoy it :)
Click to expand...
Aww glad that worked for you. Not sure what to do at the moment really. Have increased her cat loxicom dosage slightly. But will see how fibreplex helps with the poo situation too. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.
 
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