[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Long-term use of painkillers

Ann Evans ann.evans at hintlink.com
Wed Mar 20 10:12:02 EDT 2013


Hi Joanie,
The CCT recommends metacam to be used with caution in cavies and for the 
shortest amount of time. Ideally it should only be used for post 
operative pain if Rimadyl is not available. How much pain killers are 
given and for how long depends of each case. Here are general guidelines 
from the CCT. Cavies are the most Rimadyl tolerant of all the rodent 
species. Rimadyl has been used in cavies since the early 1980's. It is 
the CCT's first choice for pain or inflammation.

Rimadyl 5-10 mg orally twice a day. I usually start out at a the higher 
dose of 10 mg twice a day and then reduce it to 5 mg twice a day when 
the piggy is showing improvement. Administer for as long as needed. A 
typical time period would be 10 days. For arthritic piggys the dose can 
be slowly adjusted down to 5 mg every other day for the life of the 
piggy. I had one arthritic piggy that lived on this dose of rimadyl for 
4 years and died at 9 years of age. This was before I knew about 
Potter's tabritis tablets that can be bought from amazon.com.

You asked for rimadyl in milliliters. It comes as an injectable liquid 
at a concentration of 50 mg/ml. Since I am a pharmaceutical scientist I 
formulate for the vets that I work with a 10 mg/ml solution of rimadyl 
in black currant juice. However, a vet could dispense to you in a small 
bottle 5.0 ml of the Rimadyl 50 mg/ml injectable solution. To give 10 mg 
of Rimadyl you would need to pull into a 1.0 ml syringe 0.2 ml of the 50 
mg/ml solution and then pull up some juice to flavour the Rimadyl. For 
example pull up 0.7 ml of juice. Invert the syringe a few times to mix 
the rimadyl and juice then give orally.
If you want to give 5 mg of Rimadyl using the 50 mg/ml solution you 
would pull up 0.1 ml of the Rimadyl and then mix it with juice.

I hope I am making myself clear. Rimadyl comes as tablets and an 
injectable liquid that can be given orally. Dose is expressed in 
milligrams, mg. Concentration is expressed as milligrams per milliliter, 
mg/ml. If you want to give 10 mg of Rimadyl using a 50 mg/ml solution 
the equation is: 0.2 ml times 50 mg/ml = 10 mg.
Likewise, If you want to give 5 mg of Rimadyl using a 50 mg/ml solution 
the equation is: 0.1 ml times 50 mg/ml = 5 mg

Ibuprofen: Using children's ibuprofen which is a 20 mg/ml oral 
suspension give 0.2-0.4 ml orally twice a day for as long as needed. As 
above with rimadyl, I usually reduce the dose to 0.2 ml when I see 
improvement.

Metacam: 1.5 mg/ml oral solution. Give a maximum of 0.2 ml orally once 
or twice a day. Do not exceed three days. Change over to rimadyl or 
ibuprofen. Personally I do not use metacam in cavies.
There is no harm in changing over from rimadyl to ibuprofen. However, I 
would not arbitraily rotate their use. It is best to stay with one drug 
I volunteer as a consulting rodentologist to Drs. Danielson and Saleh 
D.V.M. of Ehrlich Animal Hospital and Dr. Bonsack D.V.M. of Westchase 
Animal Hospital Tampa, Florida.

Cheers,

Ann and the Rescued Piggys of Piggyville, Tampa Florida USAor the other.







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