My cat hates the vet. She hisses and scratches so they prescribed gabapentin to calm her down before visits. I can tell it’s working because she’s drowsy, calm and unsteady on her feet. But when she gets to the vet it almost immediately wears off. The last appointment they ended up having to sedate her just to examine. The only change was an increase in gabapentin. The vet used the same amount of ketmine as his precious one as a general anesthesia. So we believe the gabapentin is the root cause, but we aren't sure. My husband and I have been heartbroken seeing our boy who is so, so active being unable to jump and run or climb his cat tree. Hi there! Look up something called redirected aggression. Something very similar to this happened to me. I worked with a cat behavioralist and she did have us dose our cat with small doses gabapentin every day, but we also had to make some behavioral changes (play with her more, try not to make sudden movements, try not to panic when she attacked) we’re all good now and no more gabapentin! In cats, gabapentin is most often used as a pain medication for chronic pain, such as from arthritis. Gabapentin is also recognized as beneficial in reducing the fear responses that a kitty may have to the stress of handling and being examined at the vet. Thankfully the cat is still eating, drinking, and using the litter box. But for those whose cats are on gabapentin, how many days did it take for you to notice positive effects? I have no experience with it, so I don't know in my gut if it's actually helping. The vet prescribed my cat gabapentin as I am taking her on a 4 hour train ride to my parents’ on Saturday (+2 hours to include travel to and from stations, waiting, etc). Every time I’ve traveled with her, even on a 10 minute car ride to the vet, she yowls and often pees or poops in the carrier. TL;DR: anyone here have experiences giving their cats Gabapentin for anxiety? More specifically, has anyone used Gabapentin for cat introductions? Is this a safe option? How did it go? Yesterday my cat had a visit with the vet. The vet insisted that he take 200 mg of Gabapentin. Personally I didn't like that dose but, my cat is 17 to 18 The second cat is extremely sweet and friendly to humans, but she attacks 2 of the other cats (one of them being the pee-cat, which probably adds to that cat’s stress). We have 5 cats total. Sweet cat only attacks the 2 cats who won’t attack her back bc they’re too scared. They just run. Gabapentin is as much a sedative as a pain killer, according to my cat vet, and you might only need a small amount to calm her as you are not trying to relieve pain. Discuss with the vet the fact that you don't want a knocked out cat and are concerned about that aspect of using it. Have you ever used Gabapentin with your arthritic kitties, and what do you know about it? I wondered if you can build up the dosage? If you have any advise, please let me know. Two of my cats have had gabapentin. It does help with pain, but in one of my two cats it turns him into a total zombie. The good news is that within 48hrs of stopping the gabapentin, both my cats are back to normal. I took my cat to the vet today for possible UTI/urinary issues. He basically said she seemed to be having a stress related urinary issue (I had been out of town for about 9 days) and gave me liquid Gabapentin to give to her to manage her pain until the problem resolves itself. Never realized cats could take gabapentin. yes from what my vet told me it's a relatively new way to treat anxiety as well as aggression. In human use, gabapentin also helps improve GAD, bipolar disorder, neuropathic pain, epilepsy. What were her anxiety symptoms? Just curious. She looks wonderful! Even if your cat has responded well to gabapentin before, still do a test run to make sure the gabapentin that you have is working and has not gone bad - For oral solution gabapentin, refrigerate as instructed, in a dark bag. If you are transporting the gabapentin, it helps to have a cold bag, or just a bag of ice to keep the vial cool. My cat Statler was diagnosed with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (vet appt last Thursday, biopsy Monday, results last night). Last week, the vet sent us home with gabapentin and on Monday I asked them for tips because he seemed like he had a big aversion to the medicine. I have to give my cat 100 mg of gabapentin tonight and 100 mg tomorrow 3 hours before the vet visit as she is getting her blood drawn. I’m nervous because she’s a 9.7 lb cat and I don’t know anything about how sedatives work on cats. At this point in time, r/AskVet's official position is "While research is ongoing regarding CBD products for dogs and cats, the available data are both mixed in quality and in results. Given the very real concerns surrounding manufacturing standards of CBD products, the difficult legal status of the products, and the availability of medications Gabapentin is supposed to wear off in 8 - 12 hours. The first time I gave our cat Gabapentin the vet told me to let them know if he's too groggy because the dosage may have to be adjusted. Obviously not all cats react the same way. One of our cats is really sensitive to gabapentin, so we tend to reduce the recommended dose; if the cat doesn’t get the whole dose you’ll probably be fine. Also, gabapentin can be compounded into cat-friendlier flavors. We get the chicken flavor, usually.
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