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Miles had a broken back leg way back when he was young. He's been having a problems getting up lately.

Yesterday was is annuel, and the vet suggested taking metacam

 

http://metacam.ca/english/metacamforpets.htm

 

Just wanted to know if some of you use it ?

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Miles October 4 2002-Novembre 19 2013 Mommy loves you big boy

Tatum December 1 2004-January 23 2015 Love you Miss SiSi Bums

Rowdy October 26 2001 -November 5 2015 Miss you Bébé Lou

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Guest ShanYu

Nike has used it - he was limping and the vet thought it was a bit of arthritis from an old injury. It helped with the pain with no side effects. He has been fine and not needed medication since.

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I had an old boy (non-grey) on a half-dose for about 5 years with zero issues. We did bloodwork on him regularly (can't remember -- yearly? 6 months?) to make sure it wasn't affecting his liver and kidneys. It sure kept him going through his arthritis and hip dysplasia!

 

I've also used it now and again with Summer for this injury and that injury. Again, no side effects seen.

Edited by OwnedBySummer

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Lisa B.

My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer

Certified therapy dog team with St. John Ambulance

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Shadow is very stiff and he has had trouble getting up from all of his beds. this spring his visit to the vet he has lost 6 pounds, mostly muscles in his rear legs. He is also about to have his thirteenth birthday and that happens. The vet gave him metacam for a week and he was good for a few weeks. I watch to see if he is in pain by the look in his eyes.

How old is Miles? Shadow was injured in his hind leg and has a broken toe that never healed properly. This happened when he was racing at 3 years old. He runs every so often not as fast as 10 years ago mind you and he is still happy.

 

Robin and Shadow

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Shadow is very stiff and he has had trouble getting up from all of his beds. this spring his visit to the vet he has lost 6 pounds, mostly muscles in his rear legs. He is also about to have his thirteenth birthday and that happens. The vet gave him metacam for a week and he was good for a few weeks. I watch to see if he is in pain by the look in his eyes.

How old is Miles? Shadow was injured in his hind leg and has a broken toe that never healed properly. This happened when he was racing at 3 years old. He runs every so often not as fast as 10 years ago mind you and he is still happy.

 

Robin and Shadow

Miles is 10, will be 11 in October

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Miles October 4 2002-Novembre 19 2013 Mommy loves you big boy

Tatum December 1 2004-January 23 2015 Love you Miss SiSi Bums

Rowdy October 26 2001 -November 5 2015 Miss you Bébé Lou

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You'll find, if you try it, that it's pretty easy to tell what the correct dose is. I like to give the maximum dose then, when everything is good, to decrease it to the point where you're getting a good amount of pain control and mobility vs the size of the dose. As Robin said, you can see it in their eyes.

 

IIRC, you can also use Meloxicam. Especially if you don't have a doggy drug plan. But don't quote me on this, someone who knows more about this would have to confirm it.

Edited by OwnedBySummer

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Lisa B.

My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer

Certified therapy dog team with St. John Ambulance

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I used Meloxicam (with my vets blessing) for a few years with KennyRooWho, an old grey mix that was dumped on me. It really helped him. He was HBC long before he arrived here and it was never set so it carved a new socket so to speak. Some say it is harder to get exact dose with the tablets but the cost saving is substantial.

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If you use Meloxicam (it's the tablet equivalent of metacam) you have virtually no control over the dose. The smallest tablet size available is too large for dogs, so you're cutting it in half and that's still a very large dose. And it's a very tiny pill--not designed to be split--so that splitting the pill and trying to shave off a bit more is a very imprecise operation.

 

Worse, dogs on the tablet format seem more inclined to develop an ulcer that will require them to stop all NSAIDS--permanently. That's what I've read, anyway. I didn't see notes about that until my Sam became one of the statistics: an ulcer from the meloxicam back in the Spring (he'd been taking it for less than 3 months). Now I have to control his arthritis pain without the aid of any NSAID, and that's harder to do. If I had it to do over again, I'd have used the liquid, despite the higher price.

Edited by KF_in_Georgia

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Kathy and Q (CRT Qadeer from Fuzzy's Cannon and CRT Bonnie) and
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If you use Meloxicam (it's the tablet equivalent of metacam) you have virtually no control over the dose. The smallest tablet size available is too large for dogs, so you're cutting it in half and that's still a very large dose. And it's a very tiny pill--not designed to be split--so that splitting the pill and trying to shave off a bit more is a very imprecise operation.

 

Worse, dogs on the tablet format seem more inclined to develop an ulcer that will require them to stop all NSAIDS--permanently. That's what I've read, anyway. I didn't see notes about that until my Sam became one of the statistics: an ulcer from the meloxicam back in the Spring (he'd been taking it for less than 3 months). Now I have to control his arthritis pain without the aid of any NSAID, and that's harder to do. If I had it to do over again, I'd have used the liquid, despite the higher price.

My vet mentioned the same higher risk for ulcers. His friend's dog got an ulcer really, really quickly on the meloxicam tablets.

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I used Meloxicam (with my vets blessing) for a few years with KennyRooWho, an old grey mix that was dumped on me. It really helped him. He was HBC long before he arrived here and it was never set so it carved a new socket so to speak. Some say it is harder to get exact dose with the tablets but the cost saving is substantial.

Not if your dog becomes ill from it or worse ---sorry Pam you know its one of my pet peeves.

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I used the liquid forms of both Metacam and Meloxicam (not at the same time) on my last dog for some 8 years. I dosed her intelligently... half dose for maintenance and full dose for the occasional acute phases.

Given that the intial dose is recommended to be double, get Sucrafate from your vet for the first couple of weeks to help prevent stomach ulcers and bleeds. Also have bloodwork done to rule out pre-exisiting Kidney disease as those drugs may adversely affect the blood flow around those organs and can accelerate CRF. Remember too that kidney disease can lead to a build up of non metabolized drugs; something I found out when my last dog got bad heart arrrthymias from Tramadol o/d in later stage CRF.

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I've used it with several dogs. All did fine with it except Treasure. She lost her appetite. She loved to eat, so that was serious enough to stop using it.

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Xavi the galgo and Peter the cat. Missing Iker the galgo ?-Feb.9/19, Treasure (USS Treasure) April 12/01-May 6/13, Phoenix (Hallo Top Son) Dec.14/99-June 4/11 and Loca (Reko Swahili) Oct.9/95 - June 1/09, Allen the boss cat, died late November, 2021, age 19.

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Not all dogs can tolerate NSAIDS.

 

For those of mine who can, Metacam is a standby for both short and long-term use. At the moment, I have two on it--one has been for ages, the other just started recently and will remain on it (she's been on it occasionally in the past).

 

I always use Metacam. My vet is not convinced that the generic is as effective, and we've had good success with the brand name liquid.

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It was a blessing for my Bella when she had some neck pain, however she stopped drinking water, so we added pepcid and that solved it! The metacam must have been tough on her stomach, but with the pepcid, it was a miracle drug.

Greyhound Collars : www.collartown.ca

 

Maggie (the human servant), with Miss Bella, racing name "A Star Blackieto"

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Guest MnMDogs

Mork is doing very well on it (he's been on for the past 6 months). He's at exactly 80 pounds so 1/2 of the 7.5 mg pill is his daily dose.

 

I agree with the poster above about the size of the pill making it VERY difficult to split, but I've noticed that the last 2 bottles have been slightly bigger tabs which makes it much easier. We give him a 20 mg Pepcid about 30-40 min before eating (and dosing) and he's not had an issue, he was on rimadyl for a month or so before we changed and that did affect his appetite.

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I use it for my boy Max for pain, when he had eye surgery, Anal Gland surgery, and off/on when he runs and is sore, he will be 11 in October and although he never had race injuries, I think he has arthritis. He does great w/it, syringe has weight on it for dosage so it is easy to dose and he loves the taste of it. It is the only med he takes easily :)

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Roberta & Michael with Furkids- Flower (Shasta Flowers 6/7/06) & Rascal the kitty - Missing our sweet angels - Max(M's Mad Max) 10/12/02 - 12/3/15, Sara (Sara Raves 6/30/01 - 4/13/12) Queenie & Pandora the kitties - gone but never forgotten

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I used it for a couple of years w/Patrick. He was on Tramadol, cosequine, and fish oil, but when his arthritis started to flare up or before he did something I knew could cause a flareup I started him on it, usually for 4 days total. He never had any problems with it (splitting the human meloxicam).

Beth, Petey (8 September 2018- ), and Faith (22 March 2019). Godspeed Patrick (28 April 1999 - 5 August 2012), Murphy (23 June 2004 - 27 July 2013), Leo (1 May 2009 - 27 January 2020), and Henry (10 August 2010 - 7 August 2020), you were loved more than you can know.

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Toni has a neuroma in her right hind, plus a broken left hock. She's been on tablet meloxicam for over a year now, I think. The tablets have a much smaller range of dosing by weight, but Toni happens to fall in the 1/2 a pill range perfectly. She has had no problems with it. I always give it to her AFTER she's eaten a full meal.

 

FWIW, she was on rimadyl (and the generic) for a couple months prior with really no pain relief. Within a few days of started the meloxicam, she was feeling very much better. She's now on a maintenance dose of meloxicam plus gabapentin (for the neuroma). and it is working well - no more limping!

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I've only seen both Metacam and Meloxicam as liquids. I also find giving liquid medications to be much easier, especially for those people who have trouble pilling their dog.

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Lisa B.

My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer

Certified therapy dog team with St. John Ambulance

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Twiggy was on Metacam for about 5 months. She weighed 53.5 lbs and I gave her the 50lb dog dose.

 

After about 4 or 4.5 months, it was clear something wasn't right with her (I thought it was her cancer coming back). Turns out she was getting an ulcer from the Metacam (even though it was dosed precisely and properly). She got it with a meal and also got omeprazole (i.e.: Prilosec) twice a day to try to prevent ulcers.

 

I'm telling her story because even though Twiggy's case was unusual (and may have been exacerbated by chemo meds), if you give Metacam (or even more importantly if you give meloxicam), pay special attention to any signs of discomfort or illness. For Twiggy, it was not wanting to go for walks - if you know her, you know that is as bad as her not wanting to eat!

 

For most dogs, Metacam is great, and has few to no side effects - I don't want to scare anyone away from a generally safe and effective medication!

 

Edited for a ridiculous number of typos!!

Edited by TwiggysMom

Wendy with Twiggy, fosterless while Twiggy's fighting the good fight, and Donnie & Aiden the kitties

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Guest Gemma

Metacam did not work for Peyton. We found that it barely touched his pain, to the point where he started having seizures from the stress. Switched him to Tramadol and, not only was he clearly comfortable, but we have not had a seizure since. :) Most vets will try dogs on an NSAID, IMO, rather than go straight to opiates so it's always worth a try.

 

One of my favourite fosters (who now lives with a GT member) takes generic metacam every day for old lady arthritis and it works very well for her.

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Metacam has been great for my whippet Rickie, who has been on it for several years without issue. Our experience is similar to others that have posted - start with weight-appropriate dose and once results are seen and stable, start slowly reducing to a lower but clinically effective dose. Have bloodwork done very 6 months.

 

Also, my vet told me what some others have said, Meloxicam sits in the stomach longer and has a higher chance of causing ulcers.

 

As a sidebar, since it is not pertinent to the purpose of Metacam being discussed here, do not allow it to be used pre- or immediately post-surgery. Per the Boeringer's documentation, in susceptible dogs it can result in acute kidney failure. Jaynie turned out to be one of those dogs, and the situation was compounded by the fact that because her bloodwork was so good pre-spay, it took a couple of critical days for the vet to figure it out, by which time she was very sick indeed. She made it, but it took two weeks at a specialty clinic, the first days of those in the ICU.

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As a sidebar, since it is not pertinent to the purpose of Metacam being discussed here, do not allow it to be used pre- or immediately post-surgery. Per the Boeringer's documentation, in susceptible dogs it can result in acute kidney failure. Jaynie turned out to be one of those dogs, and the situation was compounded by the fact that because her bloodwork was so good pre-spay, it took a couple of critical days for the vet to figure it out, by which time she was very sick indeed. She made it, but it took two weeks at a specialty clinic, the first days of those in the ICU.

 

Interesting! I haven't heard of this before. Is this due to interaction with general anesthesia (if so, any particular components?), or to surgery? What symptoms would be noted first in a susceptible dog?

 

I'm sorry to take the subject a bit off-topic, but I'm really curious about this. Thinking back, Twiggy had GA (for a CAT scan, not surgery) possibly around the time her reaction to Metacam started. Now I'm wondering if there might be a connection. That would explain things, since we seemed to be doing everything right. (I should also mention Twiggy had an assumed ulcer based on symptoms, not a diagnosed one).

Wendy with Twiggy, fosterless while Twiggy's fighting the good fight, and Donnie & Aiden the kitties

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