Meloxicam 7.5

[Hollis]

Got a rx today for meloxicam for Norm. 30 pills. $8. Just a little cheaper then the $111 for the metacam they wanted to give me. Or the $2 a pill deramaxx he was on for 7 years.

 

The dosage for Norm is half a pill a day. Which may be a little high so vet and I agreed on a quarter pill a day and see what that does.

 

Since he'll only be getting one dose a day, is it better to give with breakfast or dinner? I want to be certain he is the most comfortable he can be.

[KF_in_Georgia]

I give Sam his in the morning. The most important things are:

 

(1) Give Pepcid (or generic famotidine) about 30 to 40 minutes before his meal (which may make it more convenient for you to give him meloxicam at night--unless you like getting up early for one pill).

 

(2) Give the meloxicam on top of his food, so the food is cushioning his stomach. And if he won't eat his meal for one reason or another, skip the meloxicam.

 

P.S. I use a pill splitter to break the original pills in half. Then I use kitchen sheers to snip a bit off the half. This winds up being easier than trying to put that half-pill back into the pill splitter.

Edited November 28, 2012 by KF_in_Georgia

[kudzu]

Just for comparison my 60-70 lb Greys got 1/3 pill per day of the 7.5 mg meloxicam. That was because 1/2 was too much. We figured it gave me a safety margin if I missed a bit when splitting without short changing my dog on comfort. Saying that in case you find 1/4 isn't enough for Norm.

 

Don't think it matters which meal you give it with. For my male, I gave it to him at night because he slept better that way. He always seemed more uncomfortable at night, perhaps because we keep the house colder at night. For my female I usually give it in the morning because she seemed happier & more active throughout the day that way. When I took meloxicam it didn't last 24 hours, really not even close. Not sure if the drug metabolism is different with dogs, faster or slower, but I figured I would try to time it for the period of the day they seemed to most need pain relief.

[PatricksMom]

Meloxicam stays in the system, so time of day shouldn't matter. I would use Pepcid and make sure he eats a full meal.

[Hollis]

Any thoughts on how long until I see results? Days? Weeks?

[GreyPoopon]

I give Metacam (liquid Meloxicam) at night because that's when one of the two on it is more likely to eat.

 

You should see results quickly, maybe even within a day or so. Depends on the nature of the problem.

[Hollis]

You know, that's the funny part. Norm came to us on Deramaxx. Never knew why. Have tried to wean him off over the years but he always got stiff and slow.

Now that we can't get any more deramaxx we tried this: http://dgpforpets.com/index.shtml

It doesn't seem to hurt in anyway, but it certainly didn't take the place of the deramaxx. So now we try the meloxicam.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Holly

[DocsDoctor]

Here in the UK Doc has the liquid form - he started out on Meloxidyl, is now on Metacam because that is cheaper. My vet tells me that Metacam was the original product, then when its licence expired other manufacturers brought out copies - Meloxidyl and ?Loxicam are the ones available here. She has no problems with writing me repeat prescriptions for whichever I can buy cheapest online, given that their makeup is identical.

 

We use the liquid form as she says that is more easily absorbed and gentler on the stomach. It needs to be given with food so I squirt it onto Doc's lunch. He's been on it now for 6 or 7 months (following diagnosis with a compressed disc in his spine and resultant arthritis) - no problems with his digestion, kidneys, etc, appetite very good.

[Hubcitypam]

Any thoughts on how long until I see results? Days? Weeks?

I'd say within a day or two.

 

I had good results with KennyRooWho my grey/shep mix foster... that someone wanted me to hold for a couple of days...which turned into a couple of years.

He did great on the pills as did Rex. Cost from Mexico (where some of my own meds come from) .07 a pill as opposed to $100+ for the liquid and $2 a pill (then) for Deramaxx. My vet and another helped me figure out the dose. Rex was 90 pounds and got 1/2 a pill...Kenny was around 60 and got a smaller dose like Kudzu said. Never had tummy issues with either and just gave it every morning...ummm my morning which is pretty much noon.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Hubcitypam

[greysmom]

Toni has been on 1/2 a pill for about 2 months and the difference has been astonishing. She was on rimadyl before for some pain and stiffness from a neuroma in her leg. It worked OK though she still limped on and off, especially after playing hard with the lure pole or zoomies. But it was SUPER expensive, so I asked if there was anything we could switch her to that was cheaper. Since we started the meloxicam, she hasn't limped once, and is back to being her old, wacky self.

 

Toni weighs 75 pounds, gets 1/2 a pill every morning AFTER breakfast (along with gabapentin), and we've never had any tummy troubles.

[Hollis]

Norm weighs around 70 lb.

 

 

Gave him around a 1/3 of a pill last night. Had a lot of trouble splitting it. He had it in a piece of cheese with his tramadol on top of his dinner. Around 7pm.

 

 

At 11pm I watched him get up from his pillow by pushing with his back legs instead of pulling with his front legs. He just.....stood up! I was astonished. This morning when mama2 came home from work I waited and watched and yup, same thing. Pushed with his back legs! Mama2 was astonished.

 

And then, while I was in the shower, he found a stuffy and was playing with it.

 

ONE DOSE, ONE TINY DOSE! I swear! I am not exaggerating! I am totally blown away. I cant wait to see him tonight to see how he is. And I'm still up in the air as to when I want him to have it. Will see how he is tonight.

 

ONE DOSE!

[kudzu]

YIPPEE!!!! Sure hope that continues. Quite likely it will.

 

Don't know if this will help you but I have found splitting those pills to be easier if I do the following. Set pill on a flat, smooth service like counter. Using both hands, put a thumb on each side of the pill. (Yes, I know the pills are very small but I still manage to accomplish this fairly easily.) Now press down on the either edge of the pill simultaneously. There is usually no snap & quite often I don't feel it break. Still when I remove my fingers I find a pill broken somewhat neatly in half. Then, just as KFinGA mentions, I break a small portion off of each half. In this way I get something resembling 1/3 of a pill.

[greysmom]

 

That was very much our experience. I've been more than pleased with the results of using this drug.

[GreyPoopon]

:)

 

You might well see continued improvement.

 

The two of mine who are on it now for chronic soreness would be lost without it. I take it too. I wasn't sure it was doing much until I was off it for a few days (hadn't picked up the refill) and was _very_ sore.

[MerlinsMum]

It's good to see this thread. Merlin had been prescribed Deramaxx for his arthritis some time ago, and he'd done ok on it -- I only gave it to him a couple of times -- but then the shortage started. Recently he had an arthritis flare-up and was given Rimadyl, which did NOT agree with him at all, in fact it caused a really bad flare-up of his IBD He's on the mend now, thank goodness, but we won't be touching Rimadyl again. Greysmom told me about Meloxicam a few days ago and I have a call into the vet to see if she recommends switching to that instead (Thanks, Chris )

 

I am just concerned that Meloxicam is going to upset Merlin's ever-so-sensitive stomach again. But I do have to find something that will help relieve the pain and inflammation the next time his arthritis flares up...

[Hollis]

It's now been an hour and a half since his 2nd dose. I swear he is standing a little taller. And when I pat his tookus he doesn't start to buckle. And I realized tonight he's not panting. He would pant when he was coming inside. Tonight? Nothing. This really is amazing.

 

Oh. And his dream running is MUCH more active!

[GreyPoopon]

I am just concerned that Meloxicam is going to upset Merlin's ever-so-sensitive stomach again.

 

It can, yes. But we've used it for Minnie (two types of severe IBD diagnosed > 10 years ago via scope). We also give her a stomach drug (Misoprostal). I like to start the Misoprostal at least a half day before the Meloxicam, and I continue to use it for several days after the last dose of Meloxicam.