Meloxicam tablets?

[cate1124]

You're a gem; I'm not surprised to learn you were a vet assistant for 8 years. I read about the meloxicam/aspirin interaction; the last time she had aspirin was Thursday p.m., so her system should be well clear by tomorrow. But I'd much rather have a redundancy than a fatal error.

Have you ever used aspirin on your girls? I think it has helped previously, on milder inflammations and when enlisting a vet seemed like overkill. But because vets don't use it, I'm only mostly confident about safe dosage and have no idea about safe duration, though I monitor poop for signs of GI distress. I know it's not as effective as meloxicam, but as a matter of practicality and economy, one can't always go to a vet.

 

[JustSarahThanks]

You're a gem; I'm not surprised to learn you were a vet assistant for 8 years. I read about the meloxicam/aspirin interaction; the last time she had aspirin was Thursday p.m., so her system should be well clear by tomorrow. But I'd much rather have a redundancy than a fatal error.

Have you ever used aspirin on your girls? I think it has helped previously, on milder inflammations and when enlisting a vet seemed like overkill. But because vets don't use it, I'm only mostly confident about safe dosage and have no idea about safe duration, though I monitor poop for signs of GI distress. I know it's not as effective as meloxicam, but as a matter of practicality and economy, one can't always go to a vet.

Very true. It's unfortunate that there's so few options over the counter for animals, you're pretty much stuck with just aspirin unless you can get in to see a vet, and if I've taken away anything being in this community it's a lot of people are very sadly underserved in their communities as far as having access to avian vets.

I haven't used aspirin on my birds as of yet, we got them as newly hatched little puff balls on April 30th and other than Goga's dive into the deep end of vet med we haven't had other problems with them (yet! KNOCK ON WOOD!). I would be curious if anyone has ever looked at Duralactin usage in chickens, it's not a commonly used product in vet med but it's super interesting. Basically they essentially reverse engineered the anti-inflammatory aspect of NSAIDs by hyperimmunizing cows, it's a milk derived product that works by inhibiting neutrophil production. As it's a milk product it's supposed to be very palatable and as far as I know doesn't run into a lot of the risks that NSAIDs present. We didn't use it often where I worked but it sounded like a really interesting option for cases where liver function is already compromised (or in cats who incidentally can't take pretty much any kind of NSAID long term safely except for robenacoxib). I'm unclear if it's prescription or over the counter, is the only thing. Just seems like the kind of thing that should be more widely available and I would be really interested to learn if it's effective in birds.

 

[cate1124]

Hmm. Duralactin sounds really intriguing. I suppose using it with chickens would be off-label, but then so is Meloxicam and, I imagine, many other meds vets use for poultry.

I'm glad your youngsters -- apart from Goga's aptly described "deep dive" -- are doing well. They've obviously hit the chicken jackpot in landing with you. Thanks again for conversing with me! You've been a real help.

 

[JustSarahThanks]

Hmm. Duralactin sounds really intriguing. I suppose using it with chickens would be off-label, but then so is Meloxicam and, I imagine, many other meds vets use for poultry.

I'm glad your youngsters -- apart from Goga's aptly described "deep dive" -- are doing well. They've obviously hit the chicken jackpot in landing with you. Thanks again for conversing with me! You've been a real help.

Thank you! And I'm glad it's been helpful! I was a little worried about hijacking the thread or something, I don't know. It's been nice chatting and geeking out about this stuff. I hope you'll let us know how the vet visit goes and if they cover any new ground, I'd love to hear what the DVM has to say and if there's more to chicken analgesia than what I learned over the course of Goga's ordeal and what you've learned in your ongoing exploration into chicken arthritis.

 

[cate1124]

Thank you! And I'm glad it's been helpful! I was a little worried about hijacking the thread or something, I don't know. It's been nice chatting and geeking out about this stuff. I hope you'll let us know how the vet visit goes and if they cover any new ground, I'd love to hear what the DVM has to say and if there's more to chicken analgesia than what I learned over the course of Goga's ordeal and what you've learned in your ongoing exploration into chicken arthritis.

I'll post if there's anything new, for sure!

 

[JustSarahThanks]

How's your granny-brahma doing, @cate1124 ?

 

[cate1124]

You're sweet for asking! She's been seen by both my mobile vet and avian vet since you and I corresponded. The recommended dose of meloxicam -- 1 mg/kg of BW -- wasn't having much of an effect, but research indicates it's relatively safe at higher doses. So we're trying a higher dose of meloxicam -- .5 tab twice a day (my hen is 6 pounds, 6 ounces) -- and I'm going to try, for free, this thing called an Assisi collar, an electromagnetic treatment. She had cold laser in the office today, too, also free. My chicken vet is trying different protocols with different species, so I benefit by being her chicken person.

 

[JustSarahThanks]

You're sweet for asking! She's been seen by both my mobile vet and avian vet since you and I corresponded. The recommended dose of meloxicam -- 1 mg/kg of BW -- wasn't having much of an effect, but research indicates it's relatively safe at higher doses. So we're trying a higher dose of meloxicam -- .5 tab twice a day (my hen is 6 pounds, 6 ounces) -- and I'm going to try, for free, this thing called an Assisi collar, an electromagnetic treatment. She had cold laser in the office today, too, also free. My chicken vet is trying different protocols with different species, so I benefit by being her chicken person.

Ooh, I'd love to hear how she does with the new treatments, especially the cold laser! We had one where I worked and it did seem to help the old arthritic dogs and cats. I haven't heard an Assisi collar before. Hopefully your hen responds nicely to the different modes of pain management!

 

[cate1124]

Ooh, I'd love to hear how she does with the new treatments, especially the cold laser! We had one where I worked and it did seem to help the old arthritic dogs and cats. I haven't heard an Assisi collar before. Hopefully your hen responds nicely to the different modes of pain management!

Thank you! It's actually called an Assisi Loop; I misspoke. I think the cold laser may have helped a little yesterday; we'll see if the loop -- she just stands between my legs, her sore leg within the loop, 15 minutes 2-3 times a day -- and the increased dosage of Meloxicam work to good effect. Here's a journal article I found that speaks to the efficacy and relative safety of Meloxicam vs. other NSAIDs for back yard flocks. It makes me confident that bumping up the dose might help and is unlikely to harm:

(PDF) Treatment of Joint Inflammatory Diseases in the Lame Backyard Chickens with NSAIDs (researchgate.net)