Metacam dose a little excessive?

[Ravien715]

Hi I am a new member but had rats for over a year now.

Sadly I lost one of my boys this weekend and naturally as anyone else I didn't want to rehome his orphaned brother. I got him two new cagemates who are a lot more sprite and nimble because they're only eight weeks. Long story short my Bob whose around sixteen months old, while playing with one of the new babies managed to get a limp. We went to a vet today, she does not think it's anything life threatening as Bob continues to eat, drink and do his business in the litter box, however she did prescribe us metacam to help with any inflammation and pain because Bobby isn't a very vocal rat so he could be in pain he's just not really showing it. I am a little worried about the dosage he was given because it seems a little excessive? He was prescribed 0.5ml a day, it's the 1.5mg/ml one with drop drip. If anyone could let me know whether that seems like a normal dosage I'd be grateful.

 

[rmn34]

My most recent prescription was 1mg/kg. That equaled about 0.15ml dose for a 250g rat

The dosage range on ratguide states anywhere from 200µg/kg to 2mg/kg

That may or may not be excessive... What does he weigh?

 

[Ravien715]

746grams

Edit: I know he is chunky, but I am not overfeeding him. He just hoards food and then has binge sessions before I can even find it in the cage

 

[lilspaz68]

Your vet is dosing him at 1 mg/kg which is used post-op or for extreme swelling. I am getting 0.497 which rounds to 0.5 ml.

As for his limp, is there any excessive swelling? Or bruising? Is he using the sprained leg at all? If not, I wouldn't give him any as it's a mild sprain and will resolve on its own.

 

[Ravien715]

There's no swelling at all, he's using it, but the limp is really evident and his tail sort of contracts and bends the same was as the limp which is the only thing that worries me most and the one thing he did not do at the vet

 

[lilspaz68]

Ok give him 0.25 ml of Metacam to help with any discomfort then.

 

[Ravien715]

That's exactly what I did before anyone even answered. I didn't feel comfortable with giving him the dose vet gave us. He was a little sleepy afterwards, but he's out and about around the cage now, eating, watching the youngsters in the cage next to his, and finally putting his chew toys to use since he's got no other levels to go to

Thank you for your help though, it's good to know that my gut feeling wasn't too far off