Arthritis in bunnies question.

[Devi]

My 6 yr old lion head lop mix. Has significant arthritis in his right leg, we took him to the vet due to weight loss ( lost near a pound on a 3lb bunny) and loss of appetite, and the fact he stopped using the litter pan. As well as laying around and being abnormally aggressive. That's when we found out he has arthritis, after blood work and x-rays and a 500. vet bill to make sure it wasn't cancer (I may have panicked as his bloodwork suggested it could have been cancer too). So right now the vet has him on Meloxicam 3mg once a day as a trial to see how he does. He's been on it for roughly three days now while he is eating better and back to using his litter pan he still isn't entirely back to his playful self and still lays around more than usual, he doesn't even want to come out for out of pen time..he will ignore the open door and when taken out he will just go right back in which isn't like him. So my question is what is the long term for a bunny with arthritis like? what adjustments should I make? ( I already lowered his litter pan so he doesn't have to hop, should I make his 4'x 4' enclosure smaller so he doesn't have to move as much?) or should I just let him go?

 

[JBun]

Do you mean 0.3mg meloxicam once a day? 3mg would be enough for a 6 lb rabbit at the higher end of the dosage range.

 

[Devi]

Do you mean 0.3mg meloxicam once a day? 3mg would be enough for a 6 lb rabbit at the higher end of the dosage range.

yeah. it's 0.3mls once a day. Sorry about that.

 

[JBun]

Is that the 1.5mg/per ml meloxicam or the 0.5mg/per ml?

 

[Maki_p29]

My 6 yr old lion head lop mix. Has significant arthritis in his right leg, we took him to the vet due to weight loss ( lost near a pound on a 3lb bunny) and loss of appetite, and the fact he stopped using the litter pan. As well as laying around and being abnormally aggressive. That's when we found out he has arthritis, after blood work and x-rays and a 500. vet bill to make sure it wasn't cancer (I may have panicked as his bloodwork suggested it could have been cancer too). So right now the vet has him on Meloxicam 3mg once a day as a trial to see how he does. He's been on it for roughly three days now while he is eating better and back to using his litter pan he still isn't entirely back to his playful self and still lays around more than usual, he doesn't even want to come out for out of pen time..he will ignore the open door and when taken out he will just go right back in which isn't like him. So my question is what is the long term for a bunny with arthritis like? what adjustments should I make? ( I already lowered his litter pan so he doesn't have to hop, should I make his 4'x 4' enclosure smaller so he doesn't have to move as much?) or should I just let him go?

Maybe look into getting some acupuncture done. The vet I see does acupuncture in rabbits and other exotic animals. My bunny gets treatment once a month. It has been helpful with her arthritis and bladder sludge issues.

I’ve read a few articles about acupuncture in rabbits with arthritis and how it greatly helped them have a better quality of life with arthritis.

it may be something to look into if it is available in your area.

 

[JBun]

Presuming it's the 1.5mg/ml meloxicam since that's the most commonly used, 0.3ml of that would mean your rabbit is getting 0.45mg of meloxicam once a day. So that's really at the lower end of the dosage range for rabbits if your rabbit is 1 kg(?). Average dosing for rabbits is about 1mg/kg(1.5mg) per day, or 0.3-0.6mg/kg, twice a day. It's pretty common for vets less experienced with rabbits to under dose meloxicam.

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/
Provided your rabbit doesn't have any kidney issues, I would ask your vet about trying the dose you're giving, but to give it twice a day. Twice a day dosing was proven more effective in rabbits because of how quickly they metabolize meloxicam, and that would put your rabbit closer to the average dosing range for rabbits. Then see how that goes. Once the pain is under control, then dosing may be able to be decreased, a little bit at a time to see how your rabbit responds to the lower dose.

There are some other options to help with arthritis. One member on here had really good results with his rabbit on Adequan injections. If you don't have it in Canada, cartrophen would be a similar med. There are also supplements like glucosamine and Myristol that may prove helpful. Then if you find any of these other options helpful, the meloxicam dosage could likely be gradually reduced to help put less stress on the kidneys. You may even be able to eliminate it completely using one of these other joint supplements.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Arthritis
Medirabbit: arthritis in rabbits

 

[Devi]

Presuming it's the 1.5mg/ml meloxicam since that's the most commonly used, 0.3ml of that would mean your rabbit is getting 0.45mg of meloxicam once a day. So that's really at the lower end of the dosage range for rabbits if your rabbit is 1 kg(?). Average dosing for rabbits is about 1mg/kg(1.5mg) per day, or 0.3-0.6mg/kg, twice a day. It's pretty common for vets less experienced with rabbits to under dose meloxicam.

https://www.vgr1.com/metacam/
Provided your rabbit doesn't have any kidney issues, I would ask your vet about trying the dose you're giving, but to give it twice a day. Twice a day dosing was proven more effective in rabbits because of how quickly they metabolize meloxicam, and that would put your rabbit closer to the average dosing range for rabbits. Then see how that goes. Once the pain is under control, then dosing may be able to be decreased, a little bit at a time to see how your rabbit responds to the lower dose.

There are some other options to help with arthritis. One member on here had really good results with his rabbit on Adequan injections. If you don't have it in Canada, cartrophen would be a similar med. There are also supplements like glucosamine and Myristol that may prove helpful. Then if you find any of these other options helpful, the meloxicam dosage could likely be gradually reduced to help put less stress on the kidneys. You may even be able to eliminate it completely using one of these other joint supplements.

https://wabbitwiki.com/wiki/Arthritis
Medirabbit: arthritis in rabbits

It's the 3mg per ml to answer the previous question. But Kidney wise his fine, and a healthy bunny besides arthritis. The vet is doing the .3 to see how he takes to it since he didn't take to pain meds that well before when he was fixed and we're making sure if it was actually the pain med or the anesthetic that cause the issue before cause before he went into gi stasis. But since it's been three days and he's been a little piggy with his food I would say we may be in the clear with the pain meds. And yes he is currently a 1kg bunny normally a 1.5 kg bunny but he's lost weight and muscle mass. But I do live in Canada, BC to be exact.

 

[Devi]

Maybe look into getting some acupuncture done. The vet I see does acupuncture in rabbits and other exotic animals. My bunny gets treatment once a month. It has been helpful with her arthritis and bladder sludge issues.

I’ve read a few articles about acupuncture in rabbits with arthritis and how it greatly helped them have a better quality of life with arthritis.

it may be something to look into if it is available in your area.

I have found some places that do offer it but it's really expensive in my area.