I have an older (9-10 years) pig. Up until about a year ago, she was a very active pig, but started slowing down about a year ago. At that time, I Made sure she was getting enough Vitamin C, no real effect, figured it was just old age.
A few months ago, she started peeing everywhere, and acting like she was losing control of her back legs. When I took her into the vet, she tested the urine and found she had a UTI, cleared up after a week of antibiotics.
Also mentioned to the vet that she also recently seemed to be losing the user of her back legs, ie. as she walked, sometimes she would drag her back legs behind her, also back legs in unusual positions when she sat down or or slept.
Vet gave me some metacam that seemed to help at first, but she also explained that it can cause liver damage and other side effects. For an older pig, quality of life is my main concern, I don't want her to be in pain or struggle. Vet suggested that metacam be given on bad days, but if she has good days where she is moving well consider not giving.
Metacam did seem to help at first, every day seemed like a bad day so I gave it to her in the morning repeatedly. She would move around, eat food, and wheek often. This went on for about a month but over the weekend she was really cutting back on her eating, only eating around half as much, and also seemed to be moving around pretty well, so I didn't give her the metacam on Saturday or Sunday. By Sunday her eating seemed to be picking up a little, I'll keep monitoring her eating today as well as her mobility was fine (seemed to be doing fine on Sunday and this morning).
My question is what should I do with the metacam in the future? I saw a lot of mention on medical sites of trying to vary the dosage or find the minimum effective dosage(?) to try to keep side effects at a minimum. If her eating is picking back up when she is off it, then it's likely the thing that had an effect on her appetite(?). Does anyone else have experience with this sort of thing, she is the first pig I've kept that's had these problems.
A few months ago, she started peeing everywhere, and acting like she was losing control of her back legs. When I took her into the vet, she tested the urine and found she had a UTI, cleared up after a week of antibiotics.
Also mentioned to the vet that she also recently seemed to be losing the user of her back legs, ie. as she walked, sometimes she would drag her back legs behind her, also back legs in unusual positions when she sat down or or slept.
Vet gave me some metacam that seemed to help at first, but she also explained that it can cause liver damage and other side effects. For an older pig, quality of life is my main concern, I don't want her to be in pain or struggle. Vet suggested that metacam be given on bad days, but if she has good days where she is moving well consider not giving.
Metacam did seem to help at first, every day seemed like a bad day so I gave it to her in the morning repeatedly. She would move around, eat food, and wheek often. This went on for about a month but over the weekend she was really cutting back on her eating, only eating around half as much, and also seemed to be moving around pretty well, so I didn't give her the metacam on Saturday or Sunday. By Sunday her eating seemed to be picking up a little, I'll keep monitoring her eating today as well as her mobility was fine (seemed to be doing fine on Sunday and this morning).
My question is what should I do with the metacam in the future? I saw a lot of mention on medical sites of trying to vary the dosage or find the minimum effective dosage(?) to try to keep side effects at a minimum. If her eating is picking back up when she is off it, then it's likely the thing that had an effect on her appetite(?). Does anyone else have experience with this sort of thing, she is the first pig I've kept that's had these problems.