phenobarbital and gabapentin

[Cat.mama]

Does anyone have experience with using these together?

my girl had teeth removed maybe 7 years ago. She was never right after the surgery. Always ate funny, like chewing at air. She went back under twice but they could not figure it out why the snapping noise or pain. She just adjusted, the noises faded and she adjusted to the pain. Always still kinda struggled to eat.

Fast forward to a couple months ago. Now 17 years old with an infected tooth and not eating, she had more teeth removed. A different city, a new vet.
Same issue minus the noise. She wouldn’t eat once pain meds wore off. It seems like maybe the nerve in the gum was damaged on first surgery and was rehashed imo. Even liquids or baby food, as soon as it would hit the mouth, she would flinch.
Three more trips. Stitches removed, no resolve, put back under, they removed the healthy tooth above that area in case it was hitting down causing pain (1 incisor tooth left), no resolve, last trip early stitch removal, no help.
She has been on gabby which was kind of helping. The days she came home doped up and numb from surgery she ate like crazy.
Doctor recommended the phenobarbital. Said it might help calm the nerves.
First two weeks were going pretty good. She’s eating like normal in the evenings when dosed with both meds. However she was pretty loopy.

Last Monday it seems like The meds caught up with her very quickly. She can no longer jumpin the evenings when medicated with both. Can hardly walk. Her back legs give out and she just falls.
The vet said she is just drunk. We can try to lower the barb.

the hope here is that the barb will fully kick in and we can discontinue the gabby.
she gets barb in the am and barb and gabby in the pm. During the day she is not so woozy.
The last couple of days I’ve been dosing the two pm meds about an hour apart (gabby first) and it looks like the weakness is starting with the gabby.
I’ve been googling all evening about barb and neuropathy and toxicity etc but after seeing that it is also starting with just the gabby I’m wondering if it’s all just too much for her.

does anyone have any experience or suggestions.If I don’t give her both meds she doesn’t really eat. My thoughts were to stop the gabby and just stick to the barb as that is the course we eventually want however I am a bit worried after all I read online tonight.

we are on week 3 of this treatment now with the barb. She has been on gabby for months. She is actually decreased by 100 mg gabby for these last 3 weeks.

I wanted to edit to say she can still walk around slowly right now she is just very slow

 

[Mac and Cats]

I don't have any experience with phenobarbital, but when we first put our cat on Gabapentin for arthritis, she had some issues with walking, just kind of wobbly and "drunk". We persisted and after a couple weeks she adjusted and has been fine. She still takes Gaba twice a day, but now does not have the wobbling or falling down issues. Has your vet said that it could wear off after awhile? If not, can you call and ask?

 

[Cat.mama]

I don't have any experience with phenobarbital, but when we first put our cat on Gabapentin for arthritis, she had some issues with walking, just kind of wobbly and "drunk". We persisted and after a couple weeks she adjusted and has been fine. She still takes Gaba twice a day, but now does not have the wobbling or falling down issues. Has your vet said that it could wear off after awhile? If not, can you call and ask?

Hello
I did send videos around day 2 or 3. I was actually preparing videos for the vet.. I wanted to gather stuff to start talking about quality of life etc this being before the major mobility had kicked in.
It was about an hour after I dosed her and she was going to jump to her food bowl, I grabbed my phone .. thought it would be perfect to show the vet how she was kinda struggling. At that moment was when everything hit, I dropped my phone and ran to keep her falling backwards. That was last Monday and the last time she’s had the strength to jump. I sent that vid and several more from the next day where mobility went way down hill. There are no more attempts to jump. Her food and bed are now on the floor.

She was previously on 150-200 mg of gabby a day and it hardly phased her. I mean at one point i was crushing her pills, her sisters got like maybe 10 mg each… they were faded for 3 days! This old Biddy has handled the gabby lile
Nothing! Starting off the vet was very confident that any drowsiness/ high, she would grow a quick tolerance to.

I can call, and I will call. However I’m looking for direction on if I should stop the barb all together and stop any progress we’ve made. This is really our last option. My girl is 17 years old and extremely healthy other than the fact that she can’t eat due to pain. This has been the only cocktail making her to eat.
do I keep going this route? I asked in my email to the vet, is this safe, are we doing harm? Shesaid she looks drunk.. and we could try to lower the barb. I did try to lower the gabby however the pills are impossible to cut in half, the are compounded and just crumble.
since she will not eat without it, I can no longer crush some into her food.
I’m leaning on just going with the barb for now but worried on what I read and also the fact I don’t want her hungry. But! If it gets us to the right spot …if it’s safe, a little bit of hungry is worth the end game.
im just lost on what to do

I am worried if the vet doesn’t realize the extent of her mobility as shedid see the video of her jumping. I did relay in my message tho that she no longer has the strength in back legs to jump in the evenings when double medicated.Her jumpingis actually extremely limited at all times this past week

 

[Mac and Cats]

Hello
I did send videos around day 2 or 3. I was actually preparing videos for the vet.. I wanted to gather stuff to start talking about quality of life etc this being before the major mobility had kicked in.
It was about an hour after I dosed her and she was going to jump to her food bowl, I grabbed my phone .. thought it would be perfect to show the vet how she was kinda struggling. At that moment was when everything hit, I dropped my phone and ran to keep her falling backwards. That was last Monday and the last time she’s had the strength to jump. I sent that vid and several more from the next day where mobility went way down hill. There are no more attempts to jump. Her food and bed are now on the floor.

She was previously on 150-200 mg of gabby a day and it hardly phased her. I mean at one point i was crushing her pills, her sisters got like maybe 10 mg each… they were faded for 3 days! This old Biddy has handled the gabby lile
Nothing! Starting off the vet was very confident that any drowsiness/ high, she would grow a quick tolerance to.

I can call, and I will call. However I’m looking for direction on if I should stop the barb all together and stop any progress we’ve made. This is really our last option. My girl is 17 years old and extremely healthy other than the fact that she can’t eat due to pain. This has been the only cocktail making her to eat.
do I keep going this route? I asked in my email to the vet, is this safe, are we doing harm? Shesaid she looks drunk.. and we could try to lower the barb. I did try to lower the gabby however the pills are impossible to cut in half, the are compounded and just crumble.
since she will not eat without it, I can no longer crush some into her food.
I’m leaning on just going with the barb for now but worried on what I read and also the fact I don’t want her hungry. But! If it gets us to the right spot …if it’s safe, a little bit of hungry is worth the end game.
im just lost on what to do

I am worried if the vet doesn’t realize the extent of her mobility as shedid see the video of her jumping. I did relay in my message tho that she no longer has the strength in back legs to jump in the evenings when double medicated.Her jumpingis actually extremely limited at all times this past week

I'm so sorry. I don't really have any good advice for you. Can you try to give her a little less and see how she reacts? Do you think it warrants an ER visit? Does she eat only wet food? Can you add some warm water to it to make it soupy? Would drinking her food vs. eating it seem better for her? Do you think she's not eating due to pain or not eating due to nausea?

 

[Cat.mama]

I'm so sorry. I don't really have any good advice for you. Can you try to give her a little less and see how she reacts? Do you think it warrants an ER visit? Does she eat only wet food? Can you add some warm water to it to make it soupy? Would drinking her food vs. eating it seem better for her? Do you think she's not eating due to pain or not eating due to nausea?

Yes she gets 1/2 a barb 2x a day, tomorrow I think I will try and cut those halves in half and see what happens. I don’t think it’s an er type thing because I did send notice to the vet and it’s been going on a week. It’s just at its worse now.
She eats only wet food and also has baby food. The issues are due to pain.
Thank you for your advice and suggestions.

 

[Mac and Cats]

Yes she gets 1/2 a barb 2x a day, tomorrow I think I will try and cut those halves in half and see what happens. I don’t think it’s an er type thing because I did send notice to the vet and it’s been going on a week. It’s just at its worse now.
She eats only wet food and also has baby food. The issues are due to pain.
Thank you for your advice and suggestions.

So sorry I don't have better suggestions. Please keep us posted? I'm hoping she starts feeling better.