Cut Pain Med Dosage in Half - How?

[piano cat]

Joey is back from the Vet after his second bladder infection. First hours home he ate, drank and used the litter box - YAY. But has eaten little since that Wednesday night and as you all know, not eating can cause horrible, bad things to happen with cats. I suspected the sedative effect of the Gabapentin for pain combined with the sedative effect of the Aceproazine for urethra relaxation might be the reason. Vet agreed, said let's try cutting the pain med dose in half. Seems to have helped, ate a bit Friday and this morning. BUT - the med is a liquid in pre-measured doses in tubes I squirt into his mouth. It separates in the tube and shaking does not mix it up again. I was simply squirting half down the sink but could that be dangerous and be giving him too much of one ingredient that needs to be tempered with the part that got squirted away? Today is Sat. Vet is closed, can't ask them. I did pick up some appetite stimulant and some Cerenia to help with this on Friday, so maybe, maybe, I can go back to full pain med dose, will see, only gave the half this morning. Any ideas?

 

[FeebysOwner]

How much liquid is in a full dose? 1ml, 2ml, etc? Depending on the amount, you could squeeze out the entire dose into a small tsp and then mix it up (maybe with a toothpick?) and then draw out half of it. You will need some small empty oral syringes with measurement markers in order to know how much to draw up that would be equal to one-half.

I have done this with a med that was no more than 0.1ml, so it is doable - even more so when dealing with larger amounts.

 

[piano cat]

How much liquid is in a full dose? 1ml, 2ml, etc? Depending on the amount, you could squeeze out the entire dose into a small tsp and then mix it up (maybe with a toothpick?) and then draw out half of it. You will need some small empty oral syringes with measurement markers in order to know how much to draw up that would be equal to one-half.

I have done this with a med that was no more than 0.1ml, so it is doable - even more so when dealing with larger amounts.

I thought of this. But it would no longer be sterile. I don't know if that is a concern but if it is not then why didn't the Vet give me a little jar of the med, with instructions to shake before using and have me do the draw-ups myself? The full dose is 5.8 ml.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Which med are you trying to half-dose?

Either way, I don't think sterility is the issue. There may be an issue of ensuring you are using the correct amount, and that is why syringes were pre-filled for you. However, Gabapentin has always been given to me in a bottle for me to administer the doses myself. I am not familiar with Acepromazine, but believe it is a tranquilizer/sedative - perhaps that is why. I do know, that normally, Acepromazine is either in pill form or injection, so I am guessing if this is the medicine you are trying to split, it has been compounded into a liquid, which means some sort of flavoring has been added and could explain why it is separating. Btw, Gabapentin is often compounded too, but when I have had it that way, I never noticed any separating.

You just need to make sure the tsp you use is clean, and the oral syringes are thoroughly cleaned as well if they are not new ones.

 

[piano cat]

SOLVED. It's the pain med the Vet said to half dose, the Gabapentin. Had a brainwave and instead of depressing the syringe I opened it up, back and forth a few times. This drew the two separated fluids back and forth and mixed them into each other. Then I continued with squirting half down the sink and half down Joey. Thanks FeebysOwner, I am worried about Mr. Joe, not thinking properly and it helped to talk to you about this. P.S.Yes, both have chicken flavour added to them.