Gout and pain medication

[kujen]

After a few weeks of lifting his leg, my budgie Buddy has been diagnosed with gout. At first the vet thought it could be atherosclerosis. And I thought it could be a testicular tumor because his cere looked a bit dark.

I took him back to the vet on Friday after noticing a white spot on the foot, which the vet has diagnosed as gout with tophi. X-rays were done which showed no tumors and the kidneys were not enlarged, maybe even a little smaller than his last scan. Since that appointment yesterday it seems like the tophi has grown and more are appearing.

He’s been prescribed allopurinol. My question is what pain medicine should I be giving him?

He’s on gabapentin and I was also giving him meloxicam after I first noticed him lifting his foot. I gave him meloxicam for about two weeks but he still lifted his foot. Then the vet told me to stop it for a week and start him on aspirin. This was when they thought it was atherosclerosis. Since Monday he has only had gabapentin and his foot looks swollen and painful. They still want me to try aspirin for him. I won’t be able to get it until Tuesday.

I have read that low dose aspirin increases uric acid levels (in people, I don’t know if birds would be different). And that meloxicam is hard on their kidneys. I saw a study that high dose meloxicam caused gout in chickens. He was on a low dose but I wonder if I made his foot any worse giving meloxicam for two weeks. Or was it actually helping his pain and I should have kept giving it. So I don’t know what to do. The vet told me I could use either one but they both sound like they could make things worse.

Which pain medication do people usually use for their birds with gout?

[Hezz]

Firstly I would be listening to the vet, and if you have questions this should be your first port of call. Secondly I would be looking at what could be the cause of the gout in the first place. High protein diet and Vit A deficiency seem to come up regularly as causes in birds. I’m not sure any present members have had to deal with gout but I’m sure they will set the record straight if this isn’t the case. It certainly isn’t something I’ve needed to deal with. MeloxIcam is very well regarded as a form of pain relief for birds; whether it would exacerbate the gout, again a question for the vet.

Edit: Marianne Marlow, am I remembering correctly that one of your older boys may have had a touch of gout, or was that only a possibility??

[Marianne Marlow]

Hezz we did wonder if Hector had gout but we settled on arthritis due to his advanced years and that he did not have the white crystals on his leg that gout was meant to produce (was quite a few years ago now).

I remember reading that celery is good for gout but I couldn't get him to try it anyway!!

[Ira]

Munchy had gout. He was on allopurinol and tramadol as prescribed by the vet.

These are definitely questions to direct at the vet. Any pain medication is going to be prescription unless it's stuff like cayenne pepper, and I wouldn't class that as medication really.

[Hezz]

Apr 16, 2023 10:49:14 GMT Ira said:

Munchy had gout. He was on allopurinol and tramadol as prescribed by the vet.

These are definitely questions to direct at the vet. Any pain medication is going to be prescription unless it's stuff like cayenne pepper, and I wouldn't class that as medication really.

I agree with all of the above.

[kujen]

The gout tophi just seems to look worse every day. Even though he seems to be lifting his foot up less often.

He’s been on aspirin for several days now but I’m wondering if I should go back to the meloxicam. I’d have to wait several days in between them again though if I did that. I have both prescribed by the vet and they said to use either one. It's just difficult because I know NSAIDs can be bad for their kidneys, and he likely has kidney disease causing this.

I had tramadol prescribed to him before for a previous issue, but he vomited after I gave it to him. So I've never tried that again.

[Hezz]

Ouch, poor little bird, but a good sign that he isn’t resting the foot as much. Is it showing up in both feet? If he doesn’t have one already, perhaps a platform perch might be helpful, so he can have a lie down rather than be constantly on his feet.

[Marianne Marlow]

That does look painful. Poor little sausage.