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Injured hock

T

Tara95

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hello, one of my pigs has injured his hock (ankle) so I have been prescribed metacam to help with this. The guinea pig weighs 1000g and was advised at first to give him 0.25 of cat metacam once a day. Then when I said I would like to up the dose as I didn't think that would touch the pain due to the guinea pig not moving much the vet then agreed to 0.4 once a day. The vet then got the textbook out and advised that the max the guinea pig could have was 0.8 a day based on weight but would not advise this as the medication only starts 0.25 on it. I questioned it as I am sure I've heard on here it is better to give the guinea pig the pain meds twice a day. He said once a day should be fine as it lasts for 24 hours but he said if I found some research that says that I could follow that advise but at my own risk as they are not exotic vets. Does this sound OK to give pain meds once a day?

Many thanks 😊
 
Old George has about 0.35ml of the dog one twice a day. That's 1.5 mg/ml. He started out on about 0.23ml twice a day two years ago but now he has a stone as well as arthritis. Our metacam syringe has a purple plunger and is actually labelled in 'units' not mls. I had to measure to get the equivalent. George has 4 or 5 'units' - that's the amount you give a 4 or 5 kilo dog(!) per day but he has it twice a day (!) and he's doing OK. But I've been around a few years...

I once accidentally overdosed a little sow and she looked rough for a few hours but by lunchtime she was back to normal. If they didn't burn through it fast she would have been sicker for much longer. It will depend on other factors to do with piggy's general health though - not just weight. I signed a waiver for George to get the dog version once the cat version (0.5mg/ml) had been licensed for pigs. If you give it once a day the general thought seems to be they'll burn through it by 12 hours later - or at least some of it. So you might notice some changes in piggy's behaviour in the hours after he's dosed. Because of his injury he might actually be better resting a little - if we had that injury we would too. Mine are naturally active morning and evening for a big foraging session and munch before mainly sleeping the rest of the day/night (2 of them are getting on a bit) so I dose just before they get lively, hoping the pain relief allows proper exercising (when they would be doing it anyway) and enthusiastic munching unhindered by little twinges. I hope your lad recovers quickly x
 
Wheekallweek said:
My Larry was on 0.4ml dog metacam twice daily, but that was a pretty high dose.
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Free Ranger said:
Old George has about 0.35ml of the dog one twice a day. That's 1.5 mg/ml. He started out on about 0.23ml twice a day two years ago but now he has a stone as well as arthritis. Our metacam syringe has a purple plunger and is actually labelled in 'units' not mls. I had to measure to get the equivalent. George has 4 or 5 'units' - that's the amount you give a 4 or 5 kilo dog(!) per day but he has it twice a day (!) and he's doing OK. But I've been around a few years...

I once accidentally overdosed a little sow and she looked rough for a few hours but by lunchtime she was back to normal. If they didn't burn through it fast she would have been sicker for much longer. It will depend on other factors to do with piggy's general health though - not just weight. I signed a waiver for George to get the dog version once the cat version (0.5mg/ml) had been licensed for pigs. If you give it once a day the general thought seems to be they'll burn through it by 12 hours later - or at least some of it. So you might notice some changes in piggy's behaviour in the hours after he's dosed. Because of his injury he might actually be better resting a little - if we had that injury we would too. Mine are naturally active morning and evening for a big foraging session and munch before mainly sleeping the rest of the day/night (2 of them are getting on a bit) so I dose just before they get lively, hoping the pain relief allows proper exercising (when they would be doing it anyway) and enthusiastic munching unhindered by little twinges. I hope your lad recovers quickly x
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Thank you guys for advice :)
 
My Ted was given 0.4 ml Dog Metacam twice a day by Simon Maddock. Dog metacam is 3 times stronger at 1.5 mg/ml as opposed to 0.5 mg/ml for Cat Ted‘s weight was 1300 gm

I always try and get dog metacam if I can. I think you are right to question the dosage
 
Bill & Ted said:
My Ted was given 0.4 ml Dog Metacam twice a day by Simon Maddock. Dog metacam is 3 times stronger at 1.5 mg/ml as opposed to 0.5 mg/ml for Cat Ted‘s weight was 1300 gm

I always try and get dog metacam if I can. I think you are right to question the dosage
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Ok thank you. 😊
 
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