Metacam dosage confusion

[Sparklfairy]

Wondering if anyone can make sense of this, although obviously I'll wait to actually give my cat the meds until after I've called the vet in the morning.

I took my cat to the vet yesterday as she's been sneezing for a few days. Eating fine, seems fine in herself. On Saturday her eyes had a lot of clear discharge so the vet said to bring her in.

They prescribed eye drops and something called Metacam. The label with her name on simply says 'dosage for 4.9kg cat', but the leaflet in the box has 3 dosages per kg depending on what it's supposed to treat?

Post operative pain and inflammation following surgical procedures: 0.05mg/kg of bodyweight
Acute musculo-skeletal disorders: 0.2mg/kg of bodyweight
Chronic musculo-skeletal disorders: 0.1mg/kg of bodyweight

None of these apply to her I suppose it'd be the first one, sort of acting like paracetamol for a cold? As I said, I will check, I just kind of expected it to be clearer on the damn box!

You should have a syringe with it that is calibrated by weight. So give to the 4.9kg mark on the syringe

As PP said, you should have a syringe like this (although this one is for dogs metacam so the numbers will be differently spaced.) My dog is 30 kg so I go to 30 on the syringe as a daily dose.

See picture

My cat is 5kg and was just on metacam following dental surgery. The dose was up to the number 5 on the little syringe. If in doubt, call the vet.

You just fill the syringe to the number that correlates with their weight - so just under the "5" line for you.

Wow, I'm so stupid I didn't even look at the syringe once I'd confused myself with the label and leaflet. Thanks so much everyone.

Sparklfairy · Today 11:34
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Wow, I'm so stupid I didn't even look at the syringe once I'd confused myself with the label and leaflet. Thanks so much everyone.

No you’re not, I suspect we’ve all done it. Hope kitty gets well soon 😻

The syringe is for weight of an animal which might not correlate to the dose your vet wants. My vet always asks for a different dose. Call them and ask.

"The label with her name on simply says 'dosage for 4.9kg cat',"

You aren't stupid, I literally made the same mistake the first time we used it as well.

The instructions literally say to dose for weight. It's in the OP.

I couldn't understand it either, the first time one of our cats was prescribed it, and I'm a nurse.
I had to ring the vet's.

Just be sure it's the metacam for Guinea pigs and cats, my vet inadvertently gave me the one for dogs, due massive panic once we realised I'd been over dosing the cat! Cat was fine, thank heavens. I always double check the bottle now.

I am not a vet and I have dogs not cats but I think the 0.2mg/0.1mg is the strength of the Metacam in the bottle.
The 4.9 is the amount you need to give as others have said it’s marked on the syringe.