Liquid or pill? I don’t want to get into giving liquid with a syringe, but maybe the liquid would work in her wet food unless she’d smell it and shy away from the food. When I first gave the pill form before dental surgery, she vomited it back up, but then I tried again (with a pill pocket) and it stayed down the 2nd time. Now that my cat is a bit over a week post-dental cleaning, she's gotten very picky with her food. Vet thinks maybe it's oral pain associated with the root condition I described in a previous thread. This is all getting so complicated. Guess I was lucky all those years when she just ate the same food all the time without any issues. I guess older cats can often get more picky. Sense of smell declines from what I read.
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What's the best way to administer gabepentin?
- Thread starter three4rd
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Lucy is almost 20 and has two extractions pending for next week. We have her on Gabapentin in a capsule. It is 100mg but she did not do well on that dosage. The vet lowered it to 50mg and she is much better. Obviously, a cat can't really swallow a capsule so we put half the inside contents in canned food. She doesn't even hesitate to eat. We had her in a liquid antibiotic but the dose was so much that we had to give it to her in two steps. Just divided the dose into two. She hated every minute of it and it was very difficult to get her to take the second dose so the powder worked better for her.
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- #3
Is this gabapentin even the best choice out there to manage pain? Are there other options I could ask my vet about? I don't want to have my cat be lethargic and sort of 'out of it' all the time - just trying to keep her eating enough to sustain weight. I had high hopes that she'd start eating dry food again once she had the teeth cleaning, but that hasn't happened and actually seems worse since the cleaning. It's most disappointing. Then I find out that the cleaning revealed this problem with the roots resorption, so I guess she will need to be on pain medicine at least sometimes.
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Did the vet prescribe Burprenex after her dental procedure? That's a customary medicine after a cleaning. The liquid syringe form of Gabapentin has a terrible taste and the majority of cats don't like it. I know mine certainly didn't and other members have had the same experience. 
Here is a recent thread about Gabapentin that might be helpful for you: Gabapentin for cat?
Here is a recent thread about Gabapentin that might be helpful for you: Gabapentin for cat?
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- #5
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- #6
Thanks for this. If I try it, I believe I'll go with the pills and see if she eats them with pill pockets. She did the morning of the surgery. So disappointing that the eating has not improved following the teeth cleaning. I'm monitoring weight closely and might yet schedule an ultrasound. This was discussed about two months ago already but then we figured we'll wait till the teeth cleaning and see what effect that has.
Here is what the vet sent me in regards to this resorption issue. I'm just going with what she reports. Never mentioned that any teeth needed to be pulled.
"Some cats, as they age or in some kittens, have stomatitis and gingivitis (inflammation of the oral cavity and the gums, respectively) either because of aging, how their immune system responds to their teeth, or in response to plaque and bacteria build up. This inflammation can cause the roots of the teeth to be resorbed. What that looks like on a radiograph is instead of a well-defined tooth root, you see a hazy root that begins to blend in with the surrounding bone of the jaw. There is no clear reason as to why this happens in cats. Sometimes it is because of bacteria and infection of the tooth root. Sometimes it is related to their own immune system. Marzi has these changes noted in her upper L canine and around her molars. This is probably why the upper R canine is missing.
There is always benefit in cleaning the tartar off of the teeth because that can exacerbate the inflammation and speed resorption. Teeth with plaque also are more likely to get infected roots and fall out or cause pain.
We might have issues with periodic oral pain depending on what her gums look like. We can manage that with anti-inflammatories or pain medicine as needed. We shouldn't need an antibiotics for a while since she had a good cleaning. We'll have to see how she goes."
So, I'm not sure where we're going from here. Hate the thought that the cat might be in constant pain with this condition. That's just very sad.
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- #7
So I couldn't hold out any longer on this and broke out the mirtaz tonight. Marzi has been leaving large amounts of food in her dish - the same food that she's been eating very well for the past many weeks. I hate to use this stuff but until I hear further from the vet as to prescribing some sort of pain reliever and/or anti-inflammatory, I decided a dose of mirtaz is appropriate. I've only ever used it once before a few months ago. Taking this one day at a time.
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- #8
Further discussion relative to above is on this thread Has anyone used these treats? I welcome any additional advice.
