[Pebbles82]

It definitely would not be .3 mls of dog Metacam - that would be a massive overdose and far too big a quantity. You did right to query it with the vet and don’t hesitate to do so again if you’re not sure.

0.03 mls sounds about right. You should have been given a 1 ml syringe with the Metacam (the smaller one on the photo you posted). The end of this fits inside the larger syringe supplied with the dog metacam.

You draw up the Metacam in the larger syringe (about 1ml eg) then draw 0.03 into the smaller syringe from the larger one. Anything left in the larger one can be squirted back into the Metacam bottle. It stores well and doesn’t need to be refrigerated.

The 1ml syringe has 10 markings. Each of these is 0.1 ml. Each of those 0.1 markings has 10 small markings. Each of those is 0.01. So the dose is three of the tiny markings.

“A drop” is not exact enough - drops can vary in size a lot - it needs to be measured out in the small syringe.

Doubling the dose is not a good idea at all - too much can cause kidney failure.

Once a day is standard. The full dose will give the relief needed. The important thing is to give it at the same time each day because it will start to wear off after 24 hours. Giving half a dose twice a day won’t give full relief at each dose. So stick to once a day.

Metacam is an anti inflammatory - it’s the equivalent of ibuprofen for humans - so although it’s an anti inflammatory it also acts as pain relief.

The dosage is partly worked out by weight but not as per the instructions on the bottle because the vet has to factor in the hamster’s metabolism in the dose. As such the equivalent dose for a hamster is higher than for a cat (if you had a cat the same weight eg).

So metabolism has already been factored into the dose. I actually think 0.03 sounds quite a high dose for the weight of your hamster. It is probably the maximum within the range. There is some leeway in the range.