The Metacam Debate

Thanks for all this, Robin. I did not realise that Metacam was linked to digestive or liver problems in cats. It's interesting that NSAIDs can cause similar issues in many humans (including me!). My cat has never needed pain medication (touch wood... furry wood is best... where is that cat anyway...), but if he should, I will bear your information in mind. He is getting on a bit and we've put him on fish oil and glucosamine sulphate supplements. They have helped his arthritis very much and he hasn't needed pain relief at all - in fact his coat is more shiny and he got his old "spring" back.
I agree with you about many of the dry "prescription" diets. My sister studied animal nutrition at college for part of her degree. She warned me off dry foods, as many do not have the correct nutrient balance and cause kidney problems.
So, question Metacam and "special diet" foods... I will bear it in mind.

Hi Robin. Not sure that this comment fits here but I wanted to share it. Recently my vet prescribed an oral medication for my cat. He mentioned that it was an amount slightly less than a half teaspoon. When I picked up the medication at Walgreens I pointed to the oral syringe and said "the amount he gets is this line right?" to which the pharmacy tech said "yes". 5 hours later when the medication did not seem to be having any effect, I remembered the vet saying the dose was about a half teaspoon and thought that the amount I gave him was not correct. I drove back to Walgreens and spoke directly with the pharmacist. Sure enough, the dose the pharmacy tech indicated as being correct was WRONG!!! Fortunately it was an underdose not an overdose but I was pretty upset.

Once again, we are our cats advocates and it's up to us to ensure there is no misunderstanding about medication doses, especially those given with a syringe. Regular people don't think of things as in the 'cc" markings on a syringe.

I'm glad to see there is more information available on Metacam these days. My vet offered to prescribe it for my elderly kitty who was suffering from arthritis. I did a little internet research and found enough information to give me pause, so I stuck with the prednisone he was already on and nixed the Metacam. Too scary. (My vet felt it was safe enough but was respectful of my decision. He's been a good vet to both my cats.)

I finally decided to go ahead and give the Metacam when my cat was terminally ill with cancer and had nothing left to lose. It did give him some blissfully pain-free hours in his last days. A dose was supposed to last 48 hours (if I recall) and he got about 6 hours out of each dose, but in those hours he cuddled and purred and acted like his old self. Those hours were a gift. I'm glad I took a chance then. I sometimes wonder if I should have taken the chance earlier and spared him from some pain -- but I just don't think I could give Metacam to a cat who had a reasonable quality of life and life expectancy.

That's interesting. I work at an animal sanctuary in the UK (200+ cats) and metacam is what usually gets prescribed (I was given it to mix with the food for one of my cats as we weren't confident we could get pills into her). It might be that metacam is the only liquid painkiller avaliable (at least here)? Candy, the cat that had it was having it after being attacked, and then when an abcess developed - The vet said we could have tablets, or tablets we could break open and mix in and came back with metacam - had it every day for about a week with a little syringe used to measure out against her body weight. Candy didn't seem to have any issues and it certainly helped get her back to feeling herself.

Possibly its one of those drugs that if a cat has x/y/z going on, it can aggravate it? That said I know of one cat who was on painkillers and anti-inflammatories for a broken foot who developed kidney failure soon after but at the same time she wasn't a young cat, at least 10 if not older.

I had a sweet 6 year old tabby who got a scatch on her eye. She was seen at the vet and given eyedrops, and an otherwise perfect bill of health. But she was also given a Metacam shot for the pain. Within a week, she had stopped eating for several meals and then I found her dead on my office floor the next morning.

I don't understand why its being used in cats when the therapeutic dose is so close to the dangerous dose level. Why not just give opiates for pain, when its so much safer and has a longer track record.

This is where the drug war becomes ridiculous - vets aren't prescribing safer opiates because the federal rules for handling them are so convoluted and stringent.

I lost my cat a week ago and although I am not 100% sure, think Metacam was the cause. My gut told me at the time that I might be doing the wrong thing by giving it to her and it ended up being right. She had a corneal ulcer and was being treated with Buprenorphine for the pain, plus drops for the eye which has been stitched closed so it would heal. She was in good health otherwise. I was administering this via injection as she would not take it orally and she was doing fine. Eating, drinking, purring. After three days on Metacam, she stopped eating and appeared to be in tremendous distress. I had previously voiced my concern to the vet about Metacam and she assured me it should be fine and that my cat needed this. I took her to the emergency room and asked them to put her out of her misery. She was 17yrs and I had already been back and forth to the vet four times since she was originally diagnosed. This was always incredibly stressful for her and she would have to be boxed down pretty much each time. I could not bear to put her through any more. I feel my cat would still be alive today if I had not given her the Metacam, but I will never know. I miss her terribly and harbor tremendous guilt. A month ago she was in perfect health, today she is a pile of ashes.

I took my cat Limpy had very bad tooth and gum disease she was about 12 years old. I found her living in a warehouse parking lot when she was about 2 year old. We took her to have some teeth pulled because her mouth was hurting her very badly and she wasn't eating much. The vets didn't tell us but they gave her a injection of metacam after surgery. Limpy came home seemed fine started eating again , her mouth healed up fast, but about a week and a half later she stops eating . We took her back to the vets and they run all sorts of test and xrays. They find fluid all in her chest. They can't find cancer but keep telling me it must be a mass. I took Limpy home and gave her anti biotics but she died just a few days later. I never found peace with what happened. I now believe it was the metacam. I will never go to these vets again, I think I will be looking for a holistic vet in the future.. I may have to drive a long way. But when you have the best cat in the world like my Limpy was why take chances.

I have a little tabby almost a year now, i noticed the past couple of months she has a slight limp on her back legs. I also noticed that she wont come to ther front door when i get home and other things she used to do due to what i assume is pain.  I took her to a vet and after a couple of xrays she says there is a problem with her spine due to an injury which might have been caused by a dog bite or a car or even maybe a fall (if anyone would like to take a look at them, i will gladly show them as i dont see any differnce between the Vertebrae thats supposed to be the problem). 

The vet prescribed metacam (for cats) and this is where my question comes in. I noticed a lot of these posts are quite old, i am assuming that metacam for cats didnt exist when these posts were written, am i right or am i wrong? I am very confused and would really like to know what to do.

Thanks in advance

From the company that makes it..  Boehringer  "Do not administer a second dose of Meloxicam (metacam). Do not follow the single, one-time dose of Meloxicam with any other NSAID. Do not administer Metacam Oral Suspension following the single, one-time injectable dose of Meloxicam. A SINGLE USE product.

From vet Dr Karen Becker  "The injectable was approved for one-time use only in cats to manage post operative pain. The oral form, was not approved for use in cats at all."

From the black box warning of the FDA "Do not administer additional injectable or oral meloxicam to cats"

Well, that's clear enough for me.