Amount of wet food to mix with gabapentin?

[TardisDance]

During Sango’s last vet visit, I was sent home with liquid gabapentin. She is on the feral side when she is handled (I suspect due to being from a hoarding situation). I ended up scratched (even through gloves), peed on, and almost bitten. She broke being scruffed 3 times so it was quite the ordeal of chasing her around the room before I could finally get her in the carrier. The vet advised giving 1cc of liquid gabapentin mixed in wet food the night before and the morning of a vet visit. This appears to be a 50 mg dose each time. How much is enough wet food to mask the flavor of the meds? The meds don’t appear to be flavored and I hope they aren’t super bitter to her.

I’ve only just started getting her to eat some wet food and she eats around 2 tablespoons at a time of FF gravy lovers. I feed her breakfast and supper. Most of the time she leaves the meat behind and eats that later. She was eating Weruva Stews but now she’s rejecting those :-( I am going to try BFF OMG again since the flavor is strong and she laps up the gravy (I only stopped feeding because she leave a lot of meat behind). Would 2 tablespoons of food be enough? I’m curious how much others feed their cats to mix in with meds.

The vet suggested that I do a trial run before her next appt which is in a little less than a few weeks so I’m going to give her BFF OMG for breakfast tomorrow without the meds first and then try with meds on Saturday. She needs a teeth cleaning and while she normally shouldn’t have food before anesthesia, the vet insisted since she’s such a handful and she worries that she won’t be able to do the bloodwork on her. I need to drop her off in the early morning and the actual procedure is not until 11 am.

Sorry for the long post. I am super nervous about her not eating her food with the meds and anxious about handling her again with the way she acted last time! Poor thing gets so stressed out and it’s making me stressed!

 

[Lari]

I think I split up one of those brothy soup packets between my two cats and mixed the gabapentin in for the one cat, and she licked the bowl clean.

She'll eat anything, though, so that might not help you. But with a soupy type dish, I didn't need a lot.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. For any meds that I have to give Feeby, I do one of the following (in a relatively small amount - say a spoonful):
1.) 'juice' from canned tuna and chicken, and then offer a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
2.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
3.) lickable treats, such as Applaws, Wholehearted, Tiki Cat Stix, Inaba Churu, Vitakraft - just to name a few. Half a tube of any of these should suffice as a spoonful.
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse (which is complete meal, not a treat).
All of these have worked well when I have to give Feeby any kind of meds, including one that caused her to foam at the mouth without it being hidden in one of the above!

 

[Hellenww]

My Yoshi takes 25 twice a day for arthritis. The liquid we get is chicken flavored. Yoshi didn't seem to notice it was in his food. He's not a picky eater but Sqeeker who is picky has eaten Yoshi's food a few times and didn't notice it either. I'd bet what you were given is also flavored.

 

[TardisDance]

Hellenww I hope it's flavored. I haven't actually opened the bottle yet. I spoke with the vet over the phone about giving her meds prior to her cleaning and I didn't think to ask. She only said to give her a small meal the morning of teeth cleaning, just enough to get the meds in her. She's been a picky eater since I adopted her last year. I suspect it's because of the tooth pain. She pawed at her face and has a small wound and the vet thinks a tooth is infected. Poor baby. Her teeth came up fine when we had our initial exam when we adopted her, but I suspect her issues just weren't visible yet.

 

[TardisDance]

Unfortunately, I think she knows there’s medicine in her food. She scratched around her plate. Ugh. It doesn’t seem to be flavored, so I’m going to call the vet on Monday to see what options there are.

Edit: I tried a small amount on the tip of my finger and I don’t blame her. I know cat taste buds aren’t as good as humans, but it’s awful! It reminds me of antibiotics I had as a kid. I don’t blame her! It didn’t smell good but it must be 10 times worse for her.

 

[Lari]

Unfortunately, I think she knows there’s medicine in her food. She scratched around her plate. Ugh. It doesn’t seem to be flavored, so I’m going to call the vet on Monday to see what options there are.

Edit: I tried a small amount on the tip of my finger and I don’t blame her. I know cat taste buds aren’t as good as humans, but it’s awful! It reminds me of antibiotics I had as a kid. I don’t blame her! It didn’t smell good but it must be 10 times worse for her.

You might have to syringe it into her mouth. That was what the vet thought we'd have to do with Sparkle, even though I knew she'd eat it. It's possible also she might not notice it in something smellier, like tuna.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Unfortunately, I think she knows there’s medicine in her food. She scratched around her plate. Ugh. It doesn’t seem to be flavored, so I’m going to call the vet on Monday to see what options there are.
Edit: I tried a small amount on the tip of my finger and I don’t blame her. I know cat taste buds aren’t as good as humans, but it’s awful! It reminds me of antibiotics I had as a kid. I don’t blame her! It didn’t smell good but it must be 10 times worse for her.

Did you try any of the options I offered before (see below)?

Hi. For any meds that I have to give Feeby, I do one of the following (in a relatively small amount - say a spoonful):
1.) 'juice' from canned tuna and chicken, and then offer a piece of the meat as a treat afterward
2.) baby food meats (Gerber Stage 2 or Beechnut)
3.) lickable treats, such as Applaws, Wholehearted, Tiki Cat Stix, Inaba Churu, Vitakraft - just to name a few. Half a tube of any of these should suffice as a spoonful.
4.) Tiki Cat Mousse (which is complete meal, not a treat).
All of these have worked well when I have to give Feeby any kind of meds, including one that caused her to foam at the mouth without it being hidden in one of the above!

 

[TardisDance]

I fed her BFF OMG Chicken & Tuna Charm me which she has eaten before. It smells super strong with tuna so I thought it would be a good choice. I know others have been able to mix meds with the BFF line before with success.

 

[TardisDance]

Lari I wish it would be that easy. She hates being handled and I have to wear protective gloves and several layers of clothes just to clip her nails. She fights so hard and back kicks me just trying to pick her up. She’s from a hoarding situation so I suspect her issues have to do with the abuse she endured along with being under socialized. Basically, I’m dealing with a semi-feral cat. I’m facing the fact that it’s going to be another battle just to get her to vet to have her teeth fixed up. She hid for months in our house before she would even approach us. She’s a sweetheart and does cuddle with me at night but is still dealing with so much.

 

[Lari]

That's too bad. Sparkle is a fighter, too, but between my husband and myself, we were able to syringe her pain meds after her tooth extractions with him holding and me syringing. But it wasn't easy and she sounds like a tougher nut.

I don't have any other ideas. Just best of luck!

 

[TardisDance]

Lari I really hope my vet can offer something chicken flavored and hopefully it will help. I can’t believe she’d suggest mixing the plain liquid med but I guess some cats aren’t so picky. It’s tough because everything is curbside now and there’s so many things I would have asked in person and just didn’t think of. I’m not complaining, but it does presents a bit of a communication barrier.

She’s my first cat as an adult. I had 7 cats as a kid at once and while all didn’t care for meds, I would manage to pill or syringe liquid antibiotics to all of them with help from my mother. Sango is the most sweetest most cuddly cat I’ve had but when she’s handled, she’s acts like a banshee. It makes me sad to ever imagine what she’s been through as a hoarder cat :-(

 

[TardisDance]

Update: I called the vet and they sent her prescription to Wedgewood Pharmacy to compound the gabapentin possibly into treats. I saw positive posts about Wedgewood and it just so happens to be one of the compounding pharmacies they use. I am waiting for a call from Wedgewood with recommendations and pricing. I saw some positive reviews about the gourmeds tablets which are crunchy type treats. They sell softer treats too.

 

[strider rose]

TardisDance - may i ask why you are giving the cat gabapentin for ?

 

[TardisDance]

strider rose for vet visits and monthly nail trims. She acts full on feral when I have to handle her in any way. I know some people don't trim cat nails at all, but she never wears them down enough even with multiple scratching posts. Her dew claw almost curls under.

 

[strider rose]

TardisDance - oh ok . i was just curious is all . how is she doing today ? what is your cats name ?

 

[TardisDance]

strider rose her name is Sango. She is a 4 year old tuxedo and I adopted her last year from a county animal shelter. They said she was from a hoarding situation and was just recovering from a URI when I adopted her. She was very malnourished when we adopted her. She weighed only 7 lbs and we could see her vertebrae sticking out. She nearly 10 lbs now. She hid from us for 2 months in our bathroom and then another 2 months in a wool cat cave, so she was super undersocialized and afraid of us. She's improved a ton and follows me around and even cuddles with me at night.

The biggest hurdle is being able to handle her for nail trims, vet visits, emergencies, etc.

 

[Caannes]

I know this is a really (really) old post but in case someone comes here in the future:

1. Try pill pockets. First read the instructions on back (I think most who say pill pockets don’t work haven’t read the back). Made by the folks who make greenies (aka cat crack). Wash hands, remove a pill pocket from pack. Take pill in one hand (e.g. right). Hold pill pocket in left hand. Place pill into pocket and close USING YOUR LEFT HAND ONLY). Wash hands and give pocket to cat. If you touch with same hand holding pill the cat will smell/taste it. Sometimes it helps to toss an empty pill pocket first, then the filled one. If your cats really suspicious, toss a third (empty) after that.

2. i second all the info re: tiki cat etc for mixing, with or without a few drops of tuna or salmon water.

3. obviously harder w/ the OP’s semi feral cat but as best you can, everyone should work on getting cats used to you touching feet and ears. From as soon as you can. For the OP you may reach a point where you can trim the nails after gabepentin (no need to go to vet). But for everyone start now, the younger the better. There may come a day they need ear medicine applied or God forbid are diabetic and you need to stick ears. One of my boys has a tumor causing high blood sugar. He’s a huge polydactyl who’s fine with me trimming nails or giving him his inhaler. But he has always hated anyone messing with his ears. I wish I’d gotten him over that before I need to squeeze blood out of them. Not pretty. So I’ve started training the other boy just in case (although he likes his ears cleaned so it isn’t such an issue)