Loxicom

If you remember Jasper has hip problems and he is proscribed Cartrophen once every six months, but we also have Loxicom on hand at home just incase he over does it or tweaks his hip. Never had any problem with it, and it does help when needed, (which isn't very often) but I believe that long term it can affect the kidneys.

If I remember right scallywag uses it more than I do for Beau.

Doesnt tonib use this cazypops

We have it for the cats caz2golden. Its just a another brand name for Meloxicam also branded as Metacam. Don't know how it affects dogs but in cats its believed to potentially increase the risk of kidney damage if used long-term. Its very much a a balancing act.

We had Penny on it from October 2010 (aged 11.5) for arthritis. It really worked well for her, we had to find the lowest dose that was effective & over the years that increased to the maximum dose for her weight. We were advised that there was an increased (small) risk of kidney disease with it but this was balanced against quality of life. In early 2015 Penny was diagnosed with CRF, (chronic renal failure) by which time she was nearly 16 & still going strong in her mobility etc. We stopped the Loxicom & gradually her mobility was decreased. Sadly she also developed hyperthyroidism (which, as far as I know, is not linked to Loxicom usage) & as she wouldn't be pilled there was a limited time left so we decided that for quality of life to put her back on the Loxicom & in March 2016 just short of her 17th birthday she had deteriorated too far.

Very sad but I still wouldn't change our decision she had a much better quality of life with it than she would have without it. She's also been on Nutraquin+ which helped the arthritis but wasn't enough. Its a gamble there are plenty of cats that have been on it long-term with no ill effects.

Our other cats have had it for short-term issues, painkiller & anti-inflammatry after operations or for abscesses.

That's the best info I can give you.

If you don't want to go down the painkilling root, why not see if Carprofen could be an alternative, and it's non addictive.

gypsy posted a link for it, I'll see if I can find it for you.

Sorry Caz I spelt it wrong Cartrophen is an anti inflammatory this is the link that I was looking for. It's interesting reading, I've linked it to the whole thread so you can get the full picture of its use. www.yourpetforums.co.uk/post/101278/thread

Bit late here but just wanted to add this

Samson was on loxicom (as you'll know caz) and he didn't react well to it at all. His appetite dropped a lot (as in he wouldn't even finish a bowl full of food a day and wouldn't accept favourite treats) and I think on about the 4th day of being on it I came back after nipping to the shop for 10 mins to find he had diarrhoea all over the kitchen floor (and looked very sorry for himself). Both symptoms are common side effects of the Meds. After that we took him off it and within 24 hours he was back to normal. I've noticed that comparing the ingredients list to metacam it has a lot more chemicals in it. So if Samson does injure himself again then we are going to request metacam and see how he does on that.