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Metacam for a cat with suspected kidney problems? Metacam is known to cause acute kidney failure in cats.
OP, Catsmom21 is quite correct.
I just went and fetched my bottle (we have three dogs). In big, bold, black letters on the "Client Information Sheet" found inside box Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc. (ie, the manufacturers) state:
"Do not use in cats."
I really don't think it gets any clearer than that.
Each one of us takes care of our animals to the best of our abilities, and we each are entitled to our way of taking care of them. It is of no use to judge anyone for what they do.
This person believes in QUALITY of life, and if OP's way of taking care of a certain fatal situation is not your way of doing things, so be it. These are OP's animals, not yours!
Now I know this will probably start some insults or enraged posts, but I have "put down" several of my own pets when necessary for years. One had serious cancer, the other was very badly mauled and perforated by a Great Horned Owl and literally was not going to make it through the night. She was crying intensely and looking up at me. Sob.
I have a good friend, a longtime vet, who says that it's so disturbing for most pet owners to have to take poor ailing and suffering Fido or Mimi down to the vet when they know why they are doing it. And the pet, who often doesn't like to go for a car ride anyhow, also senses, as only pets can, that "something's going really wrong here", and they get quite agitated as well.
Then, for the owner, when the vet administers the final paralytic drug, it's truly "heartbreak time", in a room with, essentially, a stranger or two, and the pet is also quite stressed out. My vet friend has had to counsel many heartbroken adult men who broke down sobbing, and certainly ditto for most women owners, and in many cases the dogs, in particular, begin crying out as well.
Nope. I take care of it when they are relaxed, perhaps on a necessary pain med, and in a favorite chair or place outside. It's very hard to do, but I'm also taking full and complete responsibility for my own pet, and ensuring he or she is in the most comfortable and relaxed setting possible.
Having said that, I'll be fighting this situation with Dot first; she means far too much to me. But of course, I also don't want her to suffer, and certainly won't let her.
I'll probably take her to the vet tomorrow and get his opinion. I'll let you guys know.
I'm off to bed now; she's curled up there, snoring lightly! Sleep well, Dotted Cat.
Rifleman, I feel your love for your animals right through this computer. You are an incredibly strong person to put your own animals down. I don't know how you do it, and I don't want to know, for that is your business. There have been a few times, I have been forced to kill an injured animal or bird here on our property, and it is one of the hardest things I have done. I am not even able to imagine what your emotions are like when there is a bond of love between you and the dying animal.
I know I sound like a broken record on this, but have you considered starting your cat on a raw diet??? I have seen MIRACLES with some of my very ill rescue cats, actually coming back from the brink of death to health. I wouldn't be saying this if it were not true. I am a believer that just about anything can happen when a cat is given the very best nutrition.
Regarding the Metacam: I questioned my vet when she prescribed this anti-inflammatory, for my information told me this was a medication for dogs only. I was told that the pharmaceutical company that makes this medication, decreased the amount of mg per ml and this dosage was SAFE for cats. I don't know if this relieves your mind any. To say the least, I have used used Metacam, BUT very sparingly.
Are the vets wrong? Are the telling the truth? Why are they prescribing Metacam for cats? Who do you trust?
I am just passing on to you what I have been told.
Last edited by Garden of Eden; 07-27-2010 at 01:06 PM..
Just in general it's important to pay attention to behavior and body language as best you can. The cat will go to great lengths to not show visible and especially audible signs of pain; it's just an instinctive behavior. Small changes that you may be able to notice can be signs of significant illness that can be addressed early and prolong the cat's comfortable life.
I'm trying to do this myself with a hyperthyroid cat. And I've been dragging my feet on having her back to the vet; he said to come back and recheck things in 6 months and it's been 7 or 8. It's such a traumatic experience, taking her there in the car, in the carrier, she knows what's up of course.
Indeed I'm getting slightly concerned about kidney failure, which apparently can often follow medication for hyperthyroid. One of the things I've noticed more recently is hunching over the water bowl, which is sometimes considered a symptom of a kidney issue. It might actually be nothing (there hasn't been change in her urination), but I'll bring it up to the vet when I go. I suspect we'll be doing bloodwork anyway to check the thyroid level.
Don't wait too long. The sooner CRF is diagnosed the better the chances of long term maintenance. And you are correct, the thyroid and kidneys go hand and hand and unbalancing of one can affect the other, including a cat having to take medication to control the hyperthyroid.
So gird up, I know it's hard to put them through it, especially the ones who really really stress at vet trips, but this is very important!
Rifleman, I feel your love for your animals right through this computer. You are an incredibly strong person to put your own animals down. I don't know how you do it, and I don't want to know, for that is your business. There have been a few times, I have been forced to kill an injured animal or bird here on our property, and it is one of the hardest things I have done. I am not even able to imagine what your emotions are like when there is a bond of love between you and the dying animal.
I know I sound like a broken record on this, but have you considered starting your cat on a raw diet??? I have seen MIRACLES with some of my very ill rescue cats, actually coming back from the brink of death to health. I wouldn't be saying this if it were not true. I am a believer that just about anything can happen when a cat is given the very best nutrition.
Regarding the Metacam: I questioned my vet when she prescribed this anti-inflammatory, for my information told me this was a medication for dogs only. I was told that the pharmaceutical company that makes this medication, decreased the amount of mg per ml and this dosage was SAFE for cats. I don't know if this relieves your mind any. To say the least, I have used used Metacam, BUT very sparingly.
Are the vets wrong? Are the telling the truth? Why are they prescribing Metacam for cats? Who do you trust?
I am just passing on to you what I have been told.
Metacam is used off label for cats more and more often. Me, I've seen what it can do first hand and unless it is a nothing to lose situation will not ever allow it's use on my cats.
There is risk in every medication of course. And metacm is approved for use orally in cats in Europe, and the doses are made up accordingly. It's a very fine line between safe and toxic with metacam and cats and since it is labeled and dispensed for dogs, sometimes the dosage can cross that line.
However if it IS used in a cat, the cat should have a full blood workup before the med is dispensed, to check all organ function, especially kidneys.
Interesting responses, esp. on Metacam. The vet did note that the package insert says Dogs Only, but he and the entire small animal clinic here has been using it in accordance with info from the manufacturer (and if we can't trust big Pharma, who can we trust, huh?...).
Anyhow, just for the diagnosers out there (and I appreciate it, BTW!), a few additional facts. This is not a pain in the back issue, since the highly sensitive area is almost all of her upper back extending down her sides a bit, and it simply twitches when I lightly (and I mean lightly!) stroke her.
But oddly, she also loves to be brushed with one of those intense wire brushes, always has. She goes into "purring rapture", eyes closed, smiling as only cats can, and falling down at my feet or in my lap to encourage me to do this.
At the same time, nowadays she'll start reflexively (but lightly!)licking her chest and forlegs, and never bites or chews at those areas. Just licking, up and down, and the micro-second I stop brushing or stroking her back, she stops. Odd!
She does exhibit all the classic symptoms of advancing kidney failure, with excessive water consumption and huge consequent output, now often missing the box and peeing over the edge. Smelly! Another problem to deal with, but we just picked up one of those deep plastic storage boxes and this will constrain her urine, I hope.
Apparently someone must have posted a nasty about my putting an animal down. (I saw a delete, and a comment in my defense. Thx, BTW!). I'll let you folks know that, despite what some assume my online name might imply (damned redneck!), I'm a custom riflesmith who makes very specialized long-range target rifles and who also competes in single-shot buffalo rifle type competitions.
I was, for many years, a field biologist who worked for big oil and several big corporations trying to prevent the extirpation of polar bears and arctic foxes from the surrounds of their offshore oil rigs (they wanted to just get a local hunter with a rifle and shoot anything that "interfered" with their "extraction" efforts). I must have directly contributed to the salvation of at least 300+ free-ranging polar bears. Several of those companies now use the protocols I set up in conjunction with the Canadian Wildlife Fed., as well as similar protocols for the wild grizzly bears that are "pests" around Banff & Lake Louise.
Then, I worked for Ducks Unlimited in habitat restoration and monitoring, never once actually drawing a bead on a duck. They are far too beautiful, in my opinion, to render them down for dinner (they're also scrawny and tough I hear...). I also volunteer down at the local animal shelter, and used to donate money from my own corporation to wild animal rescue, hospice and shelters. I'm hardly a ghoulish killer.
Thus, as you'd expect.. I will notallow the terrorization or suffering of an animal that's in a difficult or hopeless situation. I fully understand how a person who has not seen or experienced the natural deaths of wild and domestic animals to be able to deal directly with such a situation, but in my opinion, for me, it's by far the most caring and sympathetic way to deal with it. After much soul seqrchnig. After all, consider that otherwise, some stranger will have to put your cat or dog down for you. Think about how that animal might view this.
It's also extremely difficult to do, and I have to mentally prep myself for at least a day, and I have trouble sleeping the night before. I just have to balance the entirety of the situation.
As for Dottie, I am not giving up on her, and told her so just this morning as she was twitching in my arms. While not being "anthropomorphic" here, I also do insist that they absolutely do have feelings that pure hypothetical biologists will not allow. I know she understands how I feel about her, and that I'm doing my best.
On that note, I'll be off to the vet's tomorrow, and will let you'all know. Again, to recap, apparently that Metcam is allowed at low doses and infrequently. Remember: Tylenol is v. hard on human kidneys as well, but if used properly.... anyhow, I"ll raise the issue with him. He's been a small animal vet for nearly 35 years.
It sounds to me almost like feline hyperesthesia, probably triggered by something else that is causing pain or anxiety. Sorry if I missed it, but have you had lab work done? A senior blood panel would probably shed some light on what's going on here.
It's also extremely difficult to do, and I have to mentally prep myself for at least a day, and I have trouble sleeping the night before. I just have to balance the entirety of the situation..
It also takes a tremendous amount of courage OP.
I hope Dottie's a little more comfortable.
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