Hi all we have been prescribed rapamycin for my hcm boy. I’m in the uk.
It’s a big pill. As it’s slow release can it be cut? Any suggestions will be appreciated
In my country vets don’t prescribe rapamycin. I had to prepare the medz by myself.
My boy’s dosage is 1.71mg(0.3mg/kg). Because the cat’s acid in the stomach is mcuh stronger than human stomach, I cut one to 1/3 and put into delaye release empty capsule and cut the other one a little bit, put it into the capsule.
The #2 size(1.8cm length) capsule which I used is not enough for dosage, I had no choice but to make 2 pills.
I think if you get vet’s assistance, you’ll get better way to do it.
Capsules tend to float if you don’t fill them with dense enough stuff. Wouldn’t it be interesting to coat directly the rapamune (for europeans) tablets with the stuff they use on pills ?
It’s a shaggy cat story.
I have two feral rescue cats, now approx. 2-3 years old. Getting them to take a rapamycin pill has been extremely difficult.
Because they were feral cats previously traumatized, I am loath to force something down their throats.
Of course, as many cats are, they are incredibly picky about what they eat. Naturally, I tried to disguise the pills using cat “Pill Pockets,” coating them with “Churu” treats, etc. If I ground up the rapamycin and added it to their wet food, they would eat a little and ignore the rest. None of this worked, so I decided to give them a daily cat vitamin with their food as an alternative.
I tried a couple of different brands and found one they would eat with their food. I have been doing this for quite some time. They think the vitamin is a treat and eat it first.
The cat vitamins I bought are consistent with the “Pill Pockets.” etc.
Three weeks ago, I decided to give it another try. I wrapped the Biocon Rapacan tablets with the vitamin pill, which is moist and crumbly. It is tricky to keep it together while wrapping it around the rapamycin pill.
Frankly, I didn’t think this was going to work, and I would be wasting yet another rapamycin pill. But voila! They ate the vitamin-covered rapamycin pills first.
Today, they received their third weekly 1 mg dose. I plan to keep up this routine. (Fingers crossed)
They are still young, active, and in good health, so I haven’t seen any change in their behavior.
I keep a close eye on their stool color and consistency and have seen no change.
Cats are cats, so I cannot say if this will work for others. However, if you do not want to force your cat to take a pill, you can give it a try.
I am posting an Amazon link to the cat vitamin that worked for me.
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My cat has inflammatory bowel disease and it’s been horrible. In his prime he weighed 15-16 pounds and this morning he weighed 9.2. I regret not seeing this thread sooner and searching the internet as a successful rapamycin study was done on cats with IBD! Our vet has never heard of it! 
The smallest pill I have is 2 mg, the dose in the study would equal 1.25 mg. Going to say it’s close enough given his malabsorption issues. This is our last Hail Mary. Thank you to everyone who shared and for the pill tricks!
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2mg sounds very high for a small cat, especially the first dose. My IM vet who is very familiar with the study on cats for heart disease and has other dogs on it suggested 1/2 for 4 weeks and then 1.
I ordered empty delayed release capsules (DR capsules were used in the study) from Animal Biome and I’ll put my broken rapa in those.
Normally I’d say feed your cat raw because it cured my IBD boy instantly, but I hesitate with the bird flu. However, if your cat is struggling, maybe it’s worth the risk to at least try it? I assume you at least feed grain free canned? Not all respond to raw, but many do. There is a facebook group called raw feeding for IBD cats. I learned a ton there, including various probiotics and other items that might help.
I have other tricks up my sleeve I will potentially remember if you want to share what you’ve already tried.
Hope that helps
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We got him in Guam when he was a kitten. He had horrible diarrhea even after getting rid of all the parasites so the vet suggested a near raw diet. It worked like magic then a couple of years ago he decided he didn’t like it but I found a healthy food he liked and of course it’s $$$$. He started going downhill about 5 months ago.
I will get the time release capsules. Hoping I can get it in him. He knows when he’s being trucked! lol. Thank you!
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My cats never liked most commercially made raw, so I’ll share this incase it’s helpful
The only premade Raw they would eat is RAWR brand. The owner is out of Oakland CA and very trustworthy. They started selling nationwide a year or two ago… mail order and in select stores (if you are in the US).
They much preferred homemade.
Their old favorite would be when I’d put raw chicken and liver in the food processor and then add Alnturin supplement
And then their second favorite was using the raw completer supplement called EZ Complete.
You add it to raw or cooked meat and no liver needed. A TON of education is available on their site, and the owners will help if needed.
On their site, you can find
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Beth, I got the empty capsules and reduced the dose to approximately the same as the cat study. Pill pockets worked! He has had a remarkable turnaround. We just got his test results and it’s likely Lymphoma. I checked interaction with the drug the Vet prescribed and Rapamycin has a positive effect when used together. Thanks again for sharing!
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WOW! This is such a wonderful update!! I’m thrilled for you!!!
I’m sorry to hear about the lymphoma, but I’m thrilled you are seeing improvement!!
We paused the rapa for my cat with mast cell because she had a bad reaction, but it was the same week as changing her medicine (we switched up the medicine because her tumor came back). We gave her a break on both and have now added back the medicine to EOD instead of daily, and she is back to feeling better. If we can eventually go back to daily, and if she does well, I’ll try rapa one more time.
I don’t think rapa technically caused harm, but I’ve seen some people here who have a bad reaction, so it can be individual. Not sure it was the rapa, either. Might have easily been the medicine. I could barely get her to eat for two days.
And just to share because I mentioned RAWR the other day…. The owner said because it has eggshell and not bone, it can be cooked. So, I’ve been cooking their RAWR and they are eating voraciously! It’s a reasonable food for my two CKD cats, so it’s quite a win. So many ckd cats shrivel away to skin and bones.
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