Hi Kerry,
I personally have not used Metacam, but I know some people on the
lymphoma list I'm on have. Some kitties did just fine but there were a
few that had problems, now mind you these cats all have cancer of one
kind or another so it may have been the cancer itself that contributed.
I will try and find some specific messages of the ones that had problems
and send them to you. Here are some quotes:
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"My cat suffered seizures when on Metacam."
"I lost her to renal failure a couple of months later. When I asked the
vet if he thought the Metacam might have had something to do with it, he
said no.
I am so sorry. I believe the makers even mention potential kidney failure."
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I have heard that it can affect the kidney's myself from my vet, I think
that is the most common side effect. She has used it on her own cats
but of course she would know exactly what to look for as far as adverse
reactions, and probably do blood work more often than the lay person
would want to. There are also many others that have used it with no
problems that they were aware of, so I guess it all depends on how
familiar your vet is with the drug and how to use it. I know a lot of
people with kitties that had mouth cancer used it when their cats
couldn't eat because of pain and they did fine and were comfortable
enough to eat again.
With all that said many of these cats were in pretty bad shape and most
certainly not going to live a very long time so the priority was to take
away their pain and keep them comfortable. Some of the kitties with
mouth cancer were in pretty bad shape with fairly aggressive and sizable
tumors so palliative care was extremely important.
--
Belinda
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