Max Meloxicam

[Disheygirl]

I have a girl who the vet thinks has a repro issue or cancer (mass in the abdomen) and I’ve been giving her Meloxicam as Rx by the vet. There’s not much we can do and until this eve, she was getting along and didn’t seem too bothered.

She has taken a turn for the worse and I can’t get her in to see the vet for euth until Monday.

How much Meloxicam can I give her without poisoning her in a horrible way? I don’t want her to suffer through the weekend but I can’t kill a bug, much less a chicken so if I can make her more comfortable, I’d like to.

 

[Debbie292d]

So sorry!

I haven't heard of that drug being given to a chicken. How much did the vet prescribe for her?

If you're sure she needs to be put to rest, do you have a friend or neighbor that could do it? We live in the country so when we've had to cull a chicken, we use a shotgun and sometimes I've had tears streaming down my face, but it's for the best for them not to suffer.

 

[Eggcessive]

I would give her the dosage the vet recommended because it is based on weight. Which strength do you have? Try to make her comfortable by positioning her with towels, and give her food and water up to her beak. It is always hard to lose a hen. I made myself learn to put them down by watching a few videos online. It sounds cruel to hang them upside down, but you can use a cone or as I do tie the legs together with a small piece of twine and hang from a nail on a tree. They become very calm. The with the sharpest knife, I slit the jugular veins on both sides of the neck. Then I let them bleed out in a minute or two. It is very quick. With this method or the cone method, many people use to butcher chickens. Some use the broomstick method or cervical dislocation.

 

[Disheygirl]

So sorry!

I haven't heard of that drug being given to a chicken. How much did the vet prescribe for her?

If you're sure she needs to be put to rest, do you have a friend or neighbor that could do it? We live in the country so when we've had to cull a chicken, we use a shotgun and sometimes I've had tears streaming down my face, but it's for the best for them not to suffer.

1/2 a tab per day - 7.5mg (3.75mg). My husband said he can do it but he hasn’t done it in 20 years and I could see it going wrong. We don’t have any farmer neighbors….I wish!

 

[Susan Skylark]

if you are euthanizing on Monday overdosing a little with an nsaid over the weekend isn’t going to hurt anything. Kidney failure and gastric ulcers are the main issue, but since she doesn’t have more than a couple days to live it isn’t an issue. Meloxicam is fairly safe anyway and in mammals a 2x loading dose is used initially. Give her the recommended dose and repeat again in 6-12 hours or as needed. The bird dose is pretty high apparently (not surprising with their fast metabolism) as that’s the dose for a 75 pound dog!

 

[Ponypoor]

if you are euthanizing on Monday overdosing a little with an nsaid over the weekend isn’t going to hurt anything. Kidney failure and gastric ulcers are the main issue, but since she doesn’t have more than a couple days to live it isn’t an issue. Meloxicam is fairly safe anyway and in mammals a 2x loading dose is used initially. Give her the recommended dose and repeat again in 6-12 hours or as needed. The bird dose is pretty high apparently (not surprising with their fast metabolism) as that’s the dose for a 75 pound dog!

My BIL and I had to euthanize his old hen last month when she broke a leg - it was very traumatizing for me and I am sure him too. But it had to be done. It was evening and no Vets on duty - and realistically I can’t afford $400 to have a Vet euthanize the poor old dear.

As for med dosages, it’s all about how it’s metabolized. I give my elderly horses an arthritis med (gosh name eludes me), and they get 1/2 the dose a dog gets! But the horses metabolize it differently than a dog does.