Metacam Dosage Calculator for Cats

How to use the Metacam dosage calculator for cats

What this calculator does

This calculator converts a cat's body weight into a theoretical meloxicam amount for one of three indications: post-operative pain, acute musculoskeletal pain, or chronic musculoskeletal pain. It then converts milligrams into milliliters using the concentration associated with the modeled stage and estimates oral drops for the 0.5 mg/mL suspension. It is a calculation aid, not a prescription, diagnosis, or confirmation that meloxicam is appropriate for a particular cat. Product approvals and permitted routes differ by country. The FDA's meloxicam safety notice for cats explains that U.S. oral products are not approved for cats and repeated dosing has been associated with acute kidney failure and death.

When to use it

Use the calculator to check arithmetic in a veterinarian-provided plan, compare the first-day and follow-up quantities, translate a prescribed mg/kg rate into mL for the stated concentration, or prepare a clear worksheet for discussion with a veterinary clinic. Do not use it to choose a drug, change a prescribed dose, extend treatment, or substitute one concentration for another.

How to calculate

1. Enter Your cat's weight as a positive number. Use a period for decimals, such as 4.5.
2. Choose the weight unit, kg or lb. Changing the unit converts the current value rather than merely changing its label.
3. Select the Indication. Post-operative and acute pain use a modeled first-day rate of 0.20 mg/kg; chronic pain uses 0.10 mg/kg.
4. Read Dosage for the first 24 hours, First-dose volume, Dosage after 24 hours, Follow-up volume, and Drops needed. The schedule table repeats the same canonical values with route and concentration context.
5. Select Download Excel to export the current inputs and outputs. The workbook is built from the current model and validated as an OOXML package before download. Select Reset to restore 4 kg, kilograms, and post-operative pain.

Input guide

Your cat's weight is required and accepts a plain positive decimal from 0.1 to 100 kg equivalent. A realistic example is 4 kg. A larger weight increases every calculated dose, volume, and drop count proportionally. Do not enter units in the number box, do not use scientific notation, and do not treat a comma as a decimal separator. The Weight unit control accepts kg or lb; 1 lb is converted to 0.45359237 kg. A common mistake is changing the unit after manually converting the number, which converts twice. Indication is required and determines the first-day rate and route. Post-operative pain models a 0.20 mg/kg injection at 2 mg/mL before surgery. Acute musculoskeletal pain models a 0.20 mg/kg oral first dose at 0.5 mg/mL. Chronic musculoskeletal pain models a 0.10 mg/kg oral first dose at 0.5 mg/mL. The follow-up model remains 0.05 mg/kg at 0.5 mg/mL.

Output guide

Dosage for the first 24 hours is the body-weight-based meloxicam amount in milligrams. First-dose volume divides that amount by the applicable concentration. Dosage after 24 hours is the modeled 0.05 mg/kg maintenance amount. Follow-up volume converts that maintenance amount using 0.5 mg/mL. Drops needed uses three drops per kilogram for the 0.05 mg/kg oral dose, equivalent to dose in mg multiplied by 60. The summary pills show the active first-dose rate, the fixed follow-up rate, and the 24-hour interval. The table's Stage, Rate, Concentration, Dose, Volume, and Drops columns expose the same values without additional rounding in the underlying model. A zero or blank result means the input is invalid, not that a zero dose is appropriate.

Worked example

For a 4 kg cat with post-operative pain, the first amount is 4 kg × 0.20 mg/kg = 0.80 mg. Using the 2 mg/mL injection concentration, volume is 0.80 mg ÷ 2 mg/mL = 0.40 mL. The follow-up amount is 4 kg × 0.05 mg/kg = 0.20 mg. With 0.5 mg/mL oral suspension, that is 0.20 ÷ 0.5 = 0.40 mL. The drop estimate is 0.20 × 60 = 12 drops. These are the exact values shown by the default calculator state and exported workbook.