Any advice on administering buprenorphine?

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Mitzelplik's Mom

Mitzelplik's Mom

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My holistic vet thinks Mitz has some arthritis pain even with the glucosamine she's getting and has suggested Buprenorphine. I have the medication but have not tried it yet. Mitz loves to rub the side of her face on my hand and loves her head and face petted but any time I try to open her mouth or even lift her lip, she fights me. I'm hoping some of you have some tricks I can try.

Also, are there any side effects I need to be aware of? I'm to give it 'as needed'.

Thanks!
Joan
 
I don't know how you will get it in... it needs to go inside the cheek ... that's the best for it to be effective.
Some cats are very sensitive so I would start with the lowest dose and see if you need to increase.
Mine was getting 0.1 mL - 0.2 mL

Ask your vet about adequan. It's labeled for dogs ( and horses)
That really helps with arthritis. You start out giving it every week for a month and then every 3 or 4 weeks depending on your cat
needs.
Some vets don't know much about it yet but it's been found to be effective on cats....
It was helping mine a lot.
dose is 25mL, and injected like insulin, subcutaneously.
My girl did not like the bigger needle that the vet used so I switched to using my insulin needles.
 
Poor Mitzelplik! I hope she can cooperate with you and feel better soon.

I can't think of a gentle way to get anything inside a cat's mouth:(
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
Some cats are very sensitive so I would start with the lowest dose and see if you need to increase.
Mine was getting 0.1 mL - 0.2 mL
Click to expand...

Same here. A 0.2ml dose was way too powerful for Saoirse. She did better on the 0.1ml dose. A specialist put her on a bupe trial a few months back to see if it would help Saoirse's pancreatic inflammation. She Rx'd 0.27ml TID. I didn't get as far as the third dose. Saoirse went from being pretty OK to really poorly within the space of 24 hours and it triggered a minor pancreatitis flare. It took me weeks and weeks to stabilize her again.

Useful info here.


Mogs
.
 
ECID when it comes to dosing bupe! .02 was all I could give my Tiger, it knocked her for a loop. It also caused constipation for her, I had to give Miralax, but I would ask your vet beforehand to make sure it's okay. I found it easiest to sit behind Tiger, wrapping my left hand around her to gently open her mouth, while I syringed with my right hand.

RE:the arthritis, you might want to PM @Wendy&Neko . Wendy's Neko gets accupressure and has her bupe compounded into a tasty liquid, plus she is giving her Duralactin and at last I heard, Neko is doing great.
 
rhiannon and shadow (GA) said:
I don't know how you will get it in... it needs to go inside the cheek ... that's the best for it to be effective.
Some cats are very sensitive so I would start with the lowest dose and see if you need to increase.
Mine was getting 0.1 mL - 0.2 mL

Ask your vet about adequan. It's labeled for dogs ( and horses)
That really helps with arthritis. You start out giving it every week for a month and then every 3 or 4 weeks depending on your cat
needs.
Some vets don't know much about it yet but it's been found to be effective on cats....
It was helping mine a lot.
dose is 25mL, and injected like insulin, subcutaneously.
My girl did not like the bigger needle that the vet used so I switched to using my insulin needles.
Click to expand...

Hi Rhiannon,
Mitz is already on Adequan (every 10 days) and it definitely helps but not enough. I also switched to the insulin needles - much better!
The vet recommended a 0.2 mL dose for the bupe but maybe I'll ask her about starting with less.
Thanks!
 
T
Critter Mom said:
Same here. A 0.2ml dose was way too powerful for Saoirse. She did better on the 0.1ml dose. A specialist put her on a bupe trial a few months back to see if it would help Saoirse's pancreatic inflammation. She Rx'd 0.27ml TID. I didn't get as far as the third dose. Saoirse went from being pretty OK to really poorly within the space of 24 hours and it triggered a minor pancreatitis flare. It took me weeks and weeks to stabilize her again.

Useful info here.


Mogs
.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, Aine.
 
Tiger(GA) and Ruth said:
ECID when it comes to dosing bupe! .02 was all I could give my Tiger, it knocked her for a loop. It also caused constipation for her, I had to give Miralax, but I would ask your vet beforehand to make sure it's okay. I found it easiest to sit behind Tiger, wrapping my left hand around her to gently open her mouth, while I syringed with my right hand.

RE:the arthritis, you might want to PM @Wendy&Neko . Wendy's Neko gets accupressure and has her bupe compounded into a tasty liquid, plus she is giving her Duralactin and at last I heard, Neko is doing great.
Click to expand...

Ruth, I'll try that with Mitz. Sounds like it might be easier than approaching from the front! The medicine came from a mail order pet pharmacy and I believe it is the flavored, compounded liquid. Maybe this will be easier than I'm imagining. The vet we're seeing does acupuncture and massage - Mitz has had 2 sessions with her. I do think it makes a difference, but I can't afford to see her very often :(.

Thanks for the warning about constipation and I will look up Duralactin! @Critter Mom, it sounds like Saoirse only had trouble with that on the higher dose. Is that right?

Thanks again everyone!

Joan
 
Neko gets .22ml of bupe twice daily. She has quite bad arthritis from her acromegaly. I definitely noticed a difference with the Duralactin - a bit more activity. I wouldn't say doing great, but better. A side benefit is she's not as constipated from the bupe now. I give her a bit of pumpkin daily, but haven't needed Miralax.

One other option is hyaluronic acid. Hyaflex is one such formulation. I think of arthritis help as two part. One is to help the joints as much as possible. Fish oil, Duralactin, Adequan, glucosamine and Hyaflex all do those. I don't know what Mitz's weight is, but getting to a good trim size also helps. I'm fighting excess growth hormone so it's harder with Neko. The second part of arthritis help is the pain relief. Acupuncture definitely helps Neko. The acupuncture vet also showed me how to do daily acupressure to help the duration of the acupuncture so I could go longer between session.
 
Bupe is a controlled substance here too. It means the vet has to write a special prescription that is tracked.

Like Ruth - I also approach from behind, then curl my right hand around and open her mouth at the edges of the lips and aim at the side wall of the mouth. Of course, it helps that it's compounded chicken flavor, she will lick the syringe after.
 
Mitzelplik's Mom said:
Yikes!! That sounds really bad. Hope she's doing better now. Is she still getting any bupe?
Click to expand...

She's doing better now, Joan. Thank you for asking after her. She hasn't had any bupe for several months. Thankfully, after ten months of food trials I finally found a food that agrees with her, even though it's too high in phosphorus for her stage II CKD. Her levels were fairly OK on her most recent labs and we're introducing a binder to help with that. Now that the food supply is resolved it's only introductions of new meds/supplements that cause her most discomfort. There have been times when she could do with a small dose of bupe ad hoc if something upsets her pancreas (the 0.1ml SID dose is OK for her - doesn't sedate her and doesn't bind her) but given that I can only get drawn-up doses and they are only viable for a few days it's not really practical. Any time she is uncomfortable I give her a catnip toy to soothe her (catnip acts on opiate receptors) and I spend a little time giving her long, soothing strokes until her body relaxes and she starts purring: the endorphins really help.


Mogs
.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Neko gets .22ml of bupe twice daily. She has quite bad arthritis from her acromegaly. I definitely noticed a difference with the Duralactin - a bit more activity. I wouldn't say doing great, but better. A side benefit is she's not as constipated from the bupe now. I give her a bit of pumpkin daily, but haven't needed Miralax.

One other option is hyaluronic acid. Hyaflex is one such formulation. I think of arthritis help as two part. One is to help the joints as much as possible. Fish oil, Duralactin, Adequan, glucosamine and Hyaflex all do those. I don't know what Mitz's weight is, but getting to a good trim size also helps. I'm fighting excess growth hormone so it's harder with Neko. The second part of arthritis help is the pain relief. Acupuncture definitely helps Neko. The acupuncture vet also showed me how to do daily acupressure to help the duration of the acupuncture so I could go longer between session.
Click to expand...
Wendy, thanks for all the great info! Mitz has been getting Cosequin for the past month in addition to Adequan. I honestly can't tell if it's helping but I'm guessing it can't hurt. I will look into Duralctin and Hyaflex. What kind of fish oil do you use? Mitz did not like salmon oil at all. Weight is not an issue for her, thankfully. If anything, she could gain a little bit.
Thanks again,
Joan
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Like Ruth - I also approach from behind, then curl my right hand around and open her mouth at the edges of the lips and aim at the side wall of the mouth. Of course, it helps that it's compounded chicken flavor, she will lick the syringe after.
Click to expand...
Another good tip - thanks!
 
Hi Joan,

Saoirse has trouble with fish oils, too. The fishier they are the more she dislikes them. (Salmon oil nauseates her, BTW).

I've used a product called Coatex for Saoirse. She just about manages that with a bit of coaxing (not very fishy - has omega 3 and 6). I've also tried her with Omega Aid (liquorice flavoured!) - palatable but upset her tum a bit. Then Complederm - a bit fishier than Coatex but not too bad. (Upset Saoirse's tum again. :( )

I got a tip on Tanya's site about an omega 3 supplement called Moxxor. The omegas are from green-lipped mussels and the capsules are apparently quite small. I've got some on order for Saoirse to try (coming from the US - ordered online directly from the manufacturer).

Maybe you could try some of the above?


Mogs
.
 
Critter Mom said:
Hi Joan,

Saoirse has trouble with fish oils, too. The fishier they are the more she dislikes them. (Salmon oil nauseates her, BTW).

I've used a product called Coatex for Saoirse. She just about manages that with a bit of coaxing (not very fishy - has omega 3 and 6). I've also tried her with Omega Aid (liquorice flavoured!) - palatable but upset her tum a bit. Then Complederm - a bit fishier than Coatex but not too bad. (Upset Saoirse's tum again. :( )

I got a tip on Tanya's site about an omega 3 supplement called Moxxor. The omegas are from green-lipped mussels and the capsules are apparently quite small. I've got some on order for Saoirse to try (coming from the US - ordered online directly from the manufacturer).

Maybe you could try some of the above?


Mogs
.
Click to expand...
Aine, thanks for the suggestions. Much appreciated.
 
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