i had a cat
named squeaky who was diagnosed in mid-july with advanced jaw cancer
and i was given metacam and bupronex for his pain. he only had less
than a month to live so i did not mind using metacam on him since he
was terminal. he died 2 wks later from the cancer, not from the meds
which i believe helped him enjoy his last days. i had him put to sleep
basically just at the right time. however, i failed to throw the
bottle of metacam away.

another cat of mine, frankie, has stomatitis and while squeaky was
dying i stopped doing things for frankie like brushing his teeth and
giving him his food additive. after squeaky died i went to put his
additive in his fancy feast one night and it poured onto his food,
much to my confusion. so i poured off the excess and fed him. he
didn't finish his meal, but ate enough. the next night when i went to
feed him again i remembered i should look into why the food additive
bottle was pouring out when it should issue droplets, and much to my
horror i realized it was METACAM i'd poured on frankie's food the day
before! however, he appeared none the worse for wear, but still i
called my vet immediately and we began tracking his kidney values.
they were 1.3 and he was acting just fine at first. then in a week
they raised to 2.4, enough to cause my vet concern. he is still just
as happy and lively a cat as ever though his appetite is down (but
he's always been picky). she had immediately contacted the makers of
Metacam to establish a case file for frankie and now she is making an
effort to get me reimbursed for some/all of my vet fees. even though
it was my mistake, they calculated i had dosed him with what is
considered a 'normal' cat dose of metacam in england. they need to
know that ONE single dose of what they consider therapeutic is now
damaging my cat's kidneys. a couple days ago we began frankie on sub-
cutaneous fluids daily and he's also been taking pepcid AC. the makers
of Metacam have now suggested frankie go on intravenous fluids but i
cannot afford the $1000 fee it would cost at the emergency hospital,
so he is currently with my vet for 30 hours of intravenous at a cost
of $125. i will take him home and resume the sub-Q and hope for the
best. we will again check his kidney function on tuesday.

i feel terribly guilty for giving my innocent frankie a dose of
metacam. i'd been so overwhelmed with the speed at which squeaky died
after diagnosis with cancer that i wasn't thinking right and grabbed
the wrong bottle. he is only 4 yrs old and FIV+ with stomatitis, so he
already had enough to face without me adding to it (i purposely
adopted him knowing he had FIV) i hope that frankie's story will have
a happy ending and that we can restore him to health, but i must tell
the cat world out there that ONE SINGLE DOSE of metacam caused these
kidney problems and that is NOT RIGHT. one single dose the company
considers OK to dose cats with in england. and english cats are no
tougher than american cats. it was my mistake dosing him, but please
understand i was still in grief over squeaky and my husband had also
died of cancer swiftly just 2 1/2 yrs ago so it really hit me hard. if
i had been thinking right, i would have thrown his leftover meds away.
instead my sweet little orange boy is paying for my blunder. please
keep your fingers crossed for frankie. squeaky's death cost me $750
and i can ill afford this expense now. i hope the company at least
helps me out somehow. as if things couldn't get any worse, i am now
being biopsied for cancer myself on tuesday. i need my little comfort
cat to help me get through this and i will do anything to get him
through this.

valerie