Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

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Harry101
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Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

Our Sophie has been on Metacam solution since March and we now have some pills called Robenacoxib. Does anyone have any experience of these? Are they are strong as the solution? Sophie needs this to help with her stress cystitis condition as well as the amitripyline pills. Thanks
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by lemonbella »

My cat has been taking Metacam for arthritis for the last 3 years. It's much more effective at pain management than anything else we've tried, so whilst there are risks to kidney function, we monitor this and have decided as an old cat the benefits outweigh the risks
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by LittlePenBigHeart »

Yeah we used to give it to our last cat quite often when he'd been in scraps with other cats (frequently) or when his osteoarthritis in his back legs played up (every Winter). Honestly, the only thing we ever noticed in him while he was on it was he moved better and seemed happier!
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Crewella »

With several elderly cats I always seem to have a bottle of Metacam on the go for one or the other! It is very effective for pain and inflammation, although I am aware that it can affect kidney function so I do keep an eye on them. It can also upset their tummies a little, so I make sure never to give it on an empty stomach, but its benefits definitely outweigh any concerns with my lot.

I have no experience of Robenacoxib, I'm afraid - I did look it up and it looks interesting and relatively new - another NSAID as is Metacam. I'm sure my vet will mention it at some point, but I'd be interested in how you and Sophie get on with it. Good luck, I hope it helps her. :)
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by lilynmitz »

I used Metacam for our frail old girl Lily for the last few years of her life. She had the full range of geriatric feline medical conditions, including kidney failure, but it made such a difference to her quality of life (she had dreadful arthritis in her legs and back) that we decided the pro's greatly outweighed the cons, so we kept her on it, while carefully monitoring everything else. She was like a different cat the first time we had her on it, and I wished I'd done it sooner. I kept her on the lowest dose that she was comfortable on, and occasionally took her off it for a few days to give her kidneys a rest, but I've never doubted that we did the right thing. We lost her to heart failure eventually, the one thing we didn't see coming, but boy did she put up a fight to survive all her other many trials, my dear old girl.
Harry101
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

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It is so frustrating watching poor Sophie constantly peeing on my bed and outside leaving little drops sometimes. I wish I could give her metacam more often than once in 24 hours as she flares up so quickly and it lasts all day. There does not seem any solution to help her when it is happening. It is like something is irrertating her bladder to make her squat but I do not know what. Please can anyone help. I cannot get her to have wet food instead of dry as she only licks the gravy on the wet food and I think she will be more stressed without her w/d and c/d. Sophie did not like the wet alternatives. Sophie does drink often but not worrying concerns. No interest in water fountain. I hope these amitripyline pills eventually work but they seem not to last all day just for about 8 -12 hours. Everywhere I have read online no one has said they do not work but it seems that way for Sophie. Only been on them for two weeks, not sure if they work the same as humans where the symptons get worse before they get better. I have posted on a few forums with anyone with any experience but not much luck. For something so common it seems there are not many answers. I just want to help her so much and find a way to stop the peeing everywhere. The crying does seem to have stopped for the moment though,
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by booktigger »

Does Sophie have anything like Cystaid?
Harry101
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

Yes we use these, two pills on the food but when she is having a flare up she goes off her food but what she does eat has to be food without anything on it.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by lilynmitz »

Is her condition more of less constant? Lily kept getting it, but the last time just went on for ages, so the vet did further investigations and found she had crystals in her urine that had formed stones in her bladder. He operated to remove them (he found 9 - even showed them to me!), thoroughly flushed out her bladder, and we never had the problem again, apart from the odd brief flare up which I jumped on straight away each time with Cystaid, and usually it went within a few days. But those bladder stones must have been so painful for her, constantly irritating the lining of her bladder, it was well worth the cost of the op.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

We already had the ultrasound a few months back, they have checked the urine for infection but nothing
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Jan »

Hi Harry ... not sure I can help that much ... but we were within 24/48 hours of losing our cat (male) 2+half years ago to stress related cystitis so I have enormous empathy for anyone who has a cat suffering from this problem.

Fortunately for us, my late mother brought him up on wet food (Felix) but the vet told us to add as much added water to his food as we could get down him to keep his bladder flushing through. Could you try mixing some of the juice/jelly of wet food with warmed water and see if Sophie will lap that up? Blackie hates renal food (he has Stage I CKD) but will happily lick up the juice.

Cystophan, plenty of added warmed water has worked a treat on Blackie .... with the added bonus that it keeps his kidneys working well - long may that last!

By the way ... you're not alone - pet fountain was useless on Blackie, even when I filled it with rain water :roll:
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

Inhave just boiled the kettle and will wait for it too cool to warm. I have squeezed out the whiskers gravy and will do another bowl with two cystaid pills in. Trouble is when she is having a day like today it is hard to her to eat.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

Well, i have not had chance for the hot water to cool down and Sophie has licked up most of the gravy. Does having more liquid reduce the peeing on bed and squatting everywhere are this is why she is on the anti depressants that do not seem to be doing anything.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by lilynmitz »

The amiltriptylene is probably partly for painrelief but also to relieve anxiety that's triggering the attacks. Getting more fluid into her will dilute the urine so that it irritates the bladder lining less, and flushes out the concentrated urine. So int he long run, yes, it will help reduce how frequently she feels the need to stray by helping relieve the cystitis, but meanwhile the more she's drinking, the more she'll pee. But it's important to get as much fluid into her as possible for just this reason. The concentrated pee is highly alkaline (like bleach), which will be really sore on the inflamed tissues in the bladder lining. It's a rotten condition, and very painful for her, as well as stressful for you watching her suffer and cleaning up after her, so I do sympathise but you can get on top of this eventually, so don't despair.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Lilith »

I hope I'm not sticking my neck out here as I've absolutely no knowledge of amitrypline (blimey can't even spell it) for feline use, but being a veteran of nearly 50 years of psychiatric drugs; I take nothing now as nothing ever worked, I can say that amitrypline is an antidepressant that can work in some cases but in others cause psychotic symptoms. My support worker saw her mother being prescribed this stuff for dementia - and going completely ...well...mad. Once she was off the AD she was back to her normal self, not good, but far more rational than when on the AD. I too have experienced this, which is why I won't take these meds.

Anyway (sorry about the personal stuff) I'm just wondering, could it be that Sophie literally doesn't know what she's doing, when she's squatting and wetting everywhere. It's obvious that she has a problem and you do have to try every remedy advised and good on you, but from my own experience, I'm wondering if the ADs may be causing her to be confused and if they're the right thing for her?

I've used Metacam for a very elderly doddery old guy with arthritis and he was ok, but I've had far better results lately for arthritic cats with glucosamine/chondroitin supplements - but I've no experience with using Metacam for a cat with Sophie's condition. It seems to have a good track record though as a painkiller and my old lad was fine on it, no side effects.

All the best to Sophie and hope you get her problems sorted soon, poor lass, give her a love from me :)
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Crewella »

My Daz suffered with bouts of cystitis and urinary blockages a couple of years ago and I agree that extra fluids and Cystaid or Cystophan, along with metacam for the pain and inflammation, were what I think helped Daz with the cystitis issues. I've had no experience with amitriptyline. I did the same thing and added water to his food as it was the only way to make sure he got enough fluid, and I still do that as a preventative measure. It helps to flush any irritants through and also dilutes the urine and so again alleviates the irritation, as lilynmitz has said.

I really hope it helps her and she is feeling better soon.
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Jan »

Harry101 wrote:Inhave just boiled the kettle and will wait for it too cool to warm. I have squeezed out the whiskers gravy and will do another bowl with two cystaid pills in. Trouble is when she is having a day like today it is hard to her to eat.
would really like to be able to answer this but fear I won't be much help - Blackie has never been a cat to wee anywhere other than his litter tray. Neither has he ever been prescribed amitrypline - and his appetite has always been good. Would trying another brand be of any help to get Sophia to eat? I know people say cats are fussy eaters, but Blackie will try anything in fits and starts.

I tend to agree with Lilith. It might be worth talking to the vet about what else can be done or given? I can only give my own experience in that Blackie is registered with 2 vets (one here in NSomerset and the other in Kent) and both of them have advised lots of added warmed water to his food and that he should have pouches in jelly or gravy along with 1 daily Cystophan tablet. Dry kibbles can be given as an occasional treat. He seems to love the Hills urinary stress kibbles so he has a few of them.

All of us who have cats with this condition know how difficult and stressful it can be for the owner. Poor old Blackie was up + down to the vets so many times back in 2014 because I was so worried about me missing signs of cystitis. Even went up to the vet hospital one Sunday fearing the worst - only to be told after an hour's wait, all was well and 'that will be £141 please' :roll:
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by lilynmitz »

I've known Amiltriptylene prescribed in low doses for pain relief, with no side effects. Different drugs affect people (and presumably animals) in different ways.

I tried Glucosamine/chondroitin on Lily but it's a slow acting supplement that helps the joints heal (correct me if I'm wrong), but in her case the arthritis was too advanced so we went straight to pain relief. In retrospect, I would have persevered with the Glucosamine if I'd realised she was going to live so long, but we kept expecting her to pass away imminently, and the tenacious little thing hung on for around 2-3 years longer than we were expecting!
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Lilith »

Hi Lilynmitz I've been googling and we're both right. Amitriptyline (spelled it right!) is used for pain relief in some cases although its primary use is as an antidepressant - but reading this stuff reinforces my determination not to take THAT stuff - the side effects sound worse than the illness :o

https://www.drugs.com/amitriptyline.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitriptyline

However, the first link warns against using this if there is any urinary trouble, but the Wikipaedia link mentions it being used in cases of urinary incontinence, which is relevant in Sophie's case.

I'm sorry to hear Lily didn't get much benefit from glucosamine/chondroitin but it could well be as you say, that her arthritis was too advanced/severe - and also they're all different, and many of these alternative remedies have different results for different patients. Mousey improved within days and recently, seeing Emily having difficulty in jumping on to my knee, I've started her on the g/c and she's already livelier, and doing her speciality act - following me about and plonking her furry ginger form right in my flight path when I'm busy, grrrr, bless her little white pawses! May she go on doing this for years to come (she's 15 and it's worrying that I may not have her for much longer.)

Again best of luck to Sophie, Harry :)
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by booktigger »

Harry101 wrote:Yes we use these, two pills on the food but when she is having a flare up she goes off her food but what she does eat has to be food without anything on it.
Please be careful using NSAIDS if she isn't eating well, as they can cause stomach ulcers. My friend has a cat with cystitis who won't eat wet food, she uses lik e lix to get Cystaid in her, might be with a try?
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Harry101 »

Has anyone tried Onisor for cats which is similar to Metacam, any side effects, they do not seem to help. What can help Sophie to stop squatting every few minutes? Sophie does not always seem stressed when she is doing it she settles down, gets up squats then settles back down again. Will more water intake decrease the squatting, she is certainly peeing alot all over the house. Please can anyone help? Thanks
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Re: Does anyone use Metacam for their cat?

Post by Crewella »

Onsior is the brand name for the Robenacoxib, as you probably know. It should work in much the same way as Metacam (it's another Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug), but as I said I'm afraid I've not tried it personally.

From experience, a bout of cystitis usually takes about a week to come and go - or it usually did with Daz, even with Metacam and Cystophan/Cystaid. She squats so often because the inflammation makes them feel like they need to pee all the time, even when they actually don't, and then when they do pee it hurts so they get sort of locked into a cycle. Get as much fluid into her as you can, as it will help her to flush the irritants out of her bladder and dilute the urine so it's not so painful. It will, however, increase the amount of pee, as has been said.

I really recommend the Cystophan/Cystaid (both do much the same) as it helps to line the bladder wall and also has L-tryptophan which helps them deal with stress. Ask your vet about it if it hasn't been mentioned.
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