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Help for Gus. Metacam dosage and advice

Buggster10 said:
Gosh that is very kind of you! I'd be so greatful!
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Spaniel said:
Also, I have a packet of the fine grind (arrived the day after he passed :() that you’re welcome to have if you’d like to try Gus with it?

I can post it if you’ve got an address you feel comfortable giving out, or I could send it to your local vet for you to collect?

Let me know if you’d like it.
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I'm so sorry to hear :(
 
Spaniel said:
Just checking in. Been thinking of you today.

When our last piggy was struggling to eat (he was weaker because of cancer) we offered a selection of foods in the cage - mushed recovery food, mushed pellets and cut some of his usual veg into small strips. That seemed to help alongside the syringe feeding. He would only eat very small pieces of very fine soft hay but not much. Same with grass. Syringe feeding was easier once we found one he loved - it was the oxbow critical care fine grind.

If you’re suspecting bloat though, take him to the vets to make sure because if it is, he’ll need more intensive care and the feeding routine may need to be adjusted because putting food in without meds to move it through, it just sits there causing discomfort, gas and pressure.
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Can I ask what hay you tried?
 
No problem.

The hay was the HayBox meadow hay. We just chopped it up into small pieces and he did eat some of the thinner strands.

The Happy Hay Co meadow is quite fine too.

Just chop up what you have. We basically just mushed food and chopped everything!
 
I agree - he needs to be seen by a vet and checked for bloat, if he does indeed have it, then given proper medications for bloat, including a better dose of pain relief. Bloat is painful. The guide I linked in explains bloat in more detail.
Vegetables should not be given if he has bloat.

Make sure you continue to weigh him every morning.
Youve got to keep going with the syringe feeding though because 20ml won’t be enough.
 
Do you think the cat metacam label may have been printed incorrectly? Because 1.3ml would make more sense and would be equivalent to the more standard 0.4ml dog metacam that a lot of vets give.

Could the vets be looking at the notes thinking he’s on 1.3ml (would also make asking you to split it make more sense) not knowing that your label says 0.13ml.

Maybe confirm that with the vets and update on any changes in his condition (poops slowing down, stopping, possible suspected bloated tummy)
 
Spaniel said:
Do you think the cat metacam label may have been printed incorrectly? Because 1.3ml would make more sense and would be equivalent to the more standard 0.4ml dog metacam that a lot of vets give.

Could the vets be looking at the notes thinking he’s on 1.3ml (would also make asking you to split it make more sense) not knowing that your label says 0.13ml.

Maybe confirm that with the vets and update on any changes in his condition (poops slowing down, stopping, possible suspected bloated tummy)
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Nope I checked. He's definitely to have a total of 0.26 ml all day and showed up to that point on syringe. Waiting for vet to ring me back about the bloat
 
Piggies&buns said:
I agree - he needs to be seen by a vet and checked for bloat, if he does indeed have it, then given proper medications for bloat, including a better dose of pain relief. Bloat is painful. The guide I linked in explains bloat in more detail.
Vegetables should not be given if he has bloat.

Make sure you continue to weigh him every morning.
Youve got to keep going with the syringe feeding though because 20ml won’t be enough.
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He's just been seen it is bloat. He has 0.5 ml emeprid Evey 6-12 hours. He has just pooped! And big wee!
 
I’m so glad he has pooped.
Did they do anything about upping his pain meds? Bloat is very painful and I doubt the 0.26 of cat metacam per day will help much

What was his weight this morning?
keep up with the regular syringe feeding and try to get 40ml minimum into him
 
I’m so sorry that he now has bloat :( it’s good he’s poo’d. As mentioned, bloat is very painful so please ask your vet to increase the metacam dosage if it hasn’t been done already. My Edward was emeprid when he wasn’t eating much
 
Buggster10 said:
Said not to increase metacam?
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Buggster10 said:
Said emergency if he no.longer poos or bloated more?
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Thats a shame. I don’t think the pain meds are high enough even though he is small. Dog metacam would be better than cat, but it doesn’t sound like your vet is taking guinea pigs higher tolerance into consideration.

Yes, see an out of hours emergency vet if the emeprid isn’t helping, if he appears to be in pain, or if his poops stop.

What was his weight this morning?
 
He's almost breaking wind if that makes sense ..it smells! He's still pooing small poops.
 
Will ring out of hours if bloated more. So I gave emeprid at 11:30 am when do I next give it ..0.5 ml
 
Piggies&buns said:
Thats a shame. I don’t think the pain meds are high enough even though he is small. Dog metacam would be better than cat, but it doesn’t sound like your vet is taking guinea pigs higher tolerance into consideration.

Yes, see an out of hours emergency vet if the emeprid isn’t helping, if he appears to be in pain, or if his poops stop.

What was his weight this morning?
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Will ring out of hours later to ask them
 
Piggies&buns said:
Thats a shame. I don’t think the pain meds are high enough even though he is small. Dog metacam would be better than cat, but it doesn’t sound like your vet is taking guinea pigs higher tolerance into consideration.

Yes, see an out of hours emergency vet if the emeprid isn’t helping, if he appears to be in pain, or if his poops stop.

What was his weight this morning?
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Hasn't lost any weight since yst x
 
I've always done every 12 hours.
Larry is on long term meloxicam for arthritis and has 0.4ml of dog metacam daily. When he had cat metacam he was on 1.2ml daily. He is 1.1kg.
 
It’s normally given every 12 hours, although I have heard of some being told to give it three times a day (so about every 8 hours)
 
Piggies&buns said:
Thats a shame. I don’t think the pain meds are high enough even though he is small. Dog metacam would be better than cat, but it doesn’t sound like your vet is taking guinea pigs higher tolerance into consideration.

Yes, see an out of hours emergency vet if the emeprid isn’t helping, if he appears to be in pain, or if his poops stop.

What was his weight this morning?
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Can I ask what is the treatment for bloat as I'm a bit confused now?
 
Piggies&buns said:
A gut stimulant (emeprid) and pain relief, as well as the other tips in this guide - syringe feeding, daily weight checks, not feeding veg during the bloat episode etc - Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
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Thanks so much.. I have a huge issue as veg is the only thing he will eat on his own. I have reduced it.. he's had 40 MLS so far of our own critical care - nuggets, hay plus eaten some porridge oats on his own. He is bloated and still sounding hollow but also belly full of food too.
 
Buggster10 said:
Thanks so much.. I have a huge issue as veg is the only thing he will eat on his own. I have reduced it.. he's had 40 MLS so far of our own critical care - nuggets, hay plus eaten some porridge oats on his own. He is bloated and still sounding hollow but also belly full of food too.
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Feeding veg to a piggy who has bloat and an unbalanced gut runs the risk of making things worse. Please don’t give him veg - instead offer plenty of hay and enough syringe feed per day to keep his weight stable. It’s the fibre which is going to help him.
Only reintroduce veg very slowly 48 hours after the bloat episode has ended. Start with a small amount herbs as they tend to be kinder on the digestive system. Bloat can come in waves so it’s not always a straight road to recovery
Dont feed any veg known to be cause gas (cruciferous veg such as broccoli or cabbage).
 
If the vet said every 6 to 12 hours I'd be looking at every 8 just because it fits in well with night time... you can give a dose before you go to be and another first thing. It's to keep the gut moving - once it starts going on it's own I don't think it does any harm anyway. The gas has to come out the back end - there's nowhere else for it to go! And the fibrous syringe food will push everything through. He should 'deflate': when Louise started to go down she went from hard barrel to softer sides but with a little balloon half way down her right hand side - so piggy in your lap facing left and the side which is away from you. This is, I think, the caecum and I reckon that's where the gas build up starts.

I didn't squeeze her to massage, I sat her on a fleece on my lap and rested an electric toothbrush against her side, moving it back and forth. I had a warm hot water bottle under the fleece (it was April) and she sprawled on that. I did both sides, and a little bit underneath if she let me. She did seem to quite enjoy it in as much as she enjoyed anything at that point. She certainly didn't jump or try and move away. Her eyes looked squinted in her poor face from the pain. She had dog metacam the same as George - about 0.3ml twice a day - the 'low dose' my vet refers to. I also did gentle tapping on her sides but only very light pressure because she literally felt as if she would pop. The thing is she's such a big fat fluffy girl (1.35kg) that she always feels solid and looks enormous so I just didn't spot it by looking at her until she'd stopped eating. Then I went to pick her up and there was just no 'give' in her sides at all! I didn't hear any gas escaping but she did start to go down. The others got their veg when she was out being massaged - she had nowt but Recovery support food and hay for 48 hours.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Feeding veg to a piggy who has bloat and an unbalanced gut runs the risk of making things worse. Please don’t give him veg - instead offer plenty of hay and enough syringe feed per day to keep his weight stable. It’s the fibre which is going to help him.
Only reintroduce veg very slowly 48 hours after the bloat episode has ended. Start with a small amount herbs as they tend to be kinder on the digestive system. Bloat can come in waves so it’s not always a straight road to recovery
Dont feed any veg known to be cause gas (cruciferous veg such as broccoli or cabbage).
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He will not eat hay or pellets. I'm syringe feeding only. He can't eat hay at all.
 
Buggster10 said:
He will not eat hay or pellets. I'm syringe feeding only. He can't eat hay at all.
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Ok, I must have misread something you said above about eating critical care, nuggets hay and porridge oats on his own.
Just continue with syringe feeding the Critical Care then, but do stop veg for now.
 
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