Gabapentin question

My civvie was recently diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. Needless to say I'm having a hard time dealing with this and I am worried constantly. We were just at the vet a few days ago and she could not draw blood because he was getting agitated from everything else they did and so she sent me home with gabapentin so that he would be calmer when I bring him back this week to get a blood sample. I have read a lot of things on this website about gabapentin so I'm a nervous about giving it to him, especially with his condition. She wants me to give .8ml the night before and .8ml again 3-4 hours before his appointment. I'm wondering what people think of the dose? Seeing how much it fills the liquid syringe seems like a lot to me but I have read that other cats are on much higher doses. I know I could just be freaking out because I'm so worried for him in general but I wanted to get some members opinions on the dose. Part of me is tempted to just bring him without giving it because that's all they're doing that day so I think he'd be calmer. Thanks in advance for your advice.

 

To know the dose we need to know the concentration (mg/ml) of the solution.

 

75mg/ml

 

It sounds like he’s getting about 50mg then? 50mg is about a normal dose. I have a friend who was told by her vet to give her cat 100mg tonight to calm him during the fireworks and I told her I thought that was too much. Her cat has a heart murmur and she gave it to him last night to test it out. He just got very sleepy and out of it but was otherwise fine. .8 is actually not that much liquid but it depends on the size of the syringe you’re using. Minnie developed cardiomyopathy because of the pneumonia last month. What else is Civvie on? Did the vet recommend any diuretics like furosimide? Minnie is on L-pimibendan for the heart muscles and also cloripogrel which is a blood thinner.

 

I guess I'm just wondering if I should give half that... .4ml? Or does .8 seem safe??

Civvie (Paws) is on four other meds. He is on furosimide, pimobendan, benzapril, and clopodigrel. Sorry if the spelling is wrong on any of those! So yeah, he's taking quite a bit (at least, to me).

 

I hear ya. Minnie is on all of those except for the Benzapril, but she’s also on budesonide for IBD and until the pneumonia cleared out she was on 2 antibiotics as well so A LOT

if I’m correct and the .8 translates to 50mg, that’s safe to give and less may not have the desired calming effect you’re hoping for @Larry and Kitties am I right on this?

is Civvie diabetic too? Minnie’s BG levels have been all over the map since all of these issues started...

 

No, he's not diabetic thankfully. He'd be a nightmare to BG test! How are you giving all the pills? Two are liquid but the other two are pills and pill pockets have not been successful so we've had to stick with the pill popper which has been horrible!

Okay, I hope 50mg is safe. I'm just so paranoid it will cause his heart to slow down too much...

 

Sorry I should have looked at your signature ha!

I have the same issue. Minnie suddenly stopped eating the pill pockets so I asked for everything in liquid form, even though it’s also a nightmare, especially the veraflox antibiotic which was 2.2 mls! She’s now getting 2 mls of furosemide, which I discovered I can get at any human pharmacy super cheap, and that’s a lot but it’s like water so very liquid and it’s easier to get her to swallow it all 3 times a day. That’s right, 3 x a day It also doesn’t taste like anything How much furosemide are you giving him? We had to increase her dose because I had to rush her to vet twice with shortness of breath. This dose is working and she drinks a lot and pees like 6 times a day now I got the pimobendan compounded with tuna flavor and it’s only .2 mls thank god. So is the budesonide. The only pill right now is the cloripogel and I wrap it in a very thin lawyer of pill pocket so it slides down her throat easier.

 

I open her mouth, stick my finger as far back as I can and close. She swallows 99% of the time without any issues. Then I give her a treat immediately after. The only time it’s an issue is if I can’t get it far back enough and she bites it and spits it out. Then I have to do it again until it works

 

Yikes! That is a lot! I completely understand. He gets the furosemide and the pimobendan (also tuna flavored!) 2x a day, and the other two once a day. I called yesterday to see if I could get everything in liquid form and they said yes! So whew! That should make things somewhat easier. I probably won't get it until end of next week though.

So you wrap a little pill pocket around the pill and then use a pill popper?? Hmmm. I heard of butter too.

Can I ask how much the furosemide is at a human pharmacy?

He is getting 12.5mg of the furosemide in pill form. He is drinking more and peeing bricks now too. Sad. Never happened with him before. This whole thing is heartbreaking.

 

How do you get her mouth open? It's so hard for me. I've tried everything but it's like he has a jaw of steel.

 

My civi Moxie is on 50 mg BID of gabapentin. I give 100 mg to some of my fractious cats before vet visit.

 

Yes of course. You can always ask me anything I’m an open book lol. The liquid furosemide with my goldrx card is $9.99 at CVS, but if I can wait a few days for Ralph’s or Vons to order it, they don’t carry it in stock, it’s only $5.99!

I take a tiny piece of the pill pocket and i wrap it around the 1/4 cloripogel pill. Not even half a pill pocket less than 1/4 probably, just enough to cover it. I don’t use the plunger but she does cooperate a little when I open her mouth. I’ve used butter before. I freeze it though. Make a tiny ball and wrap the pill in it then freeze. Get it out only when it’s time to pill your cat and it does glide in too because the butter starts melting right away

 

https://felinedm.com/tips-tricks-and-how-to-do-stuff/pilling-cats/
I found this here it's really a great video

 

I’m sure you and your vet know this but have them check for the potassium levels when they do the blood work because the furosemide can cause potassium deficiency. My vet said Minnie’s numbers were marginally low last time so she started her on RenaPlus, which is a potassium gel. I add it to her food and she doesn’t seem to mind it. Lately she’s been even licking it off my finger!

 

Oh btw, you can also get the liquid furosemide from Chewy for about $11. I get the RenaPlus from them too. The vet wanted to charge me $48 when one tube on chewy is $8.99

 

Wow great to know, thank you!

 

Great, thank you!

 

Wow, not using the plunger , that's incredible! Yes, I used butter and froze it. It worked okay but I think I used too big of a ball, haha.

That's really cheap. We'll see what my vet tries to charge ...

 

Thank you!

 

I stopped with the butter because a) a little bit of a pain to freeze and all and b) it starts to melt right away and sometimes it’d get super messy especially if she managed to spit it out!

 

It just depends on how fast you need it. Chewy takes the longest because of shipping. I only had one day’s worth left so I went to CVS and picked it up there in 40 minutes. Good luck and keep me posted!! It’s nice to see someone else on all the same meds so we can relate not that the actual illness is nice, you know what I mean

 

Yeah , I experienced that with the butter as well! I'm hoping to move to all liquid in the next week so we'll see .

 

CVS is right by my house so that might be what I do. I agree, it's SO nice to have someone else going through the same thing. You can start to feel all alone with this, and really sad!

 

And overwhelmed

 

Oh if you don’t have the goldrx card get the app. The first 30 days are free. Also call your cvs before going there to make sure they have it in stock

 

I just wanted to say that I feel so bad for all the kitties that have to take so many meds a day and to all you amazing mommas who have to do this every day.

 

I guess it’s in lieu of labor pains?

 

Haha yes!

 

Aw thank you!

 

Yessssss.

 

So I picked up the furosemide from the vet today. $57!!!!!! I guess I'll be going to CVS next time! You say it's 11 in liquid? Or is that chewy? Do you need a script? Holy cow!

 

Yes I know told ya!!

CVS. I picked up my refill today with my goldrx card and it was$8.19. Yes you need a prescription for both but chewy is I think $11 and you have to wait for shipping. I like just going to CVs and getting it on the spot

 

If you need the RenaPlus later too get it from Chewy because that’s a pet specific product and it’s also that kind of big price difference!

 

Well, this is supposed to last me for two months so now I know what to do next time. The other place, a pet place, I could get it from is $120!! I mean, WOW, what a rip-off. Talk about taking advantage of pet owners. This is ridiculous.

 

What’s the dosage you’re giving him and how many times a day? It must be small because Minnie is on 2mls x3 a day so one bottle barely lasts 2 weeks

 

Holy cats!! That's insane. Paws is on 1ml 2x a day. The bottle I have lasts two months.

 

Did you get the 60ml or bigger? 60 will last you 1 month. I guess I should have mentioned I've been getting the 60ml bottle

Minnie was on 1.4 x2 a day at first but the cardiomyopathy wouldn’t go away and she kept having shortness of breath so she was upped to x3 a day and then finally at the last visit upped to 2mls to try to get it all out once and for all!

 

Must be bigger because they told me it will last me two months...? I'd have to check to be sure.

I don't think cardiomyopathy goes away... Do you mean the fluid in her lungs?? If it goes away, that'd be great but that's not what my vet said .

This whole thing is so hard . I hate it. And holy cow am I poor now after all these vet visits and medication!!

 

You have a cat that needs clopidogrel!? My vet recommended taking my cat off Benazepril and start clopidogrel. This cat is IMPOSSIBLE to pill - it's been a miracle that she tolerates Benazepril and it's because it's tasteless and I mix it with butter. Do pill pockets have a high success rate? I've tried mixing clopidogrel with her food and she can smell it a mile away. I called the vet and they said they can do liquid for $50/month...hoping there are other solutions I can try first, but this cat is super smart.

 

Ive found with most anything like a pill pocket, you cant touch the med first then form it around the pill. They can still smell what makes the pill icky. I got creative and smashed the pill pocket first then added the pill... THEN WASHED MY HANDS. Then gingerly folded the "pocket' around the pill . It worked... and after a while I got pretty good at this lol

 

Yup - he is on clopidogrel. And benazpril. And two others, ugh. I had success with pill pockets for about a week and then he turned his nose up at them. So now I have all meds in liquid form which is NOT CHEAP. If my vet could do it for $50/month I'd be happy! But nope, we're talking way more. It's such a bummer.

 

I had to be careful too but even then he stopped liking the pill pockets in general, ugh!

 

never fails.

 

Ahhh I wish Clopidogrel was tasteless! That’s crazy you’re paying more than $50/month!! I was hoping to do the treat form, but that is $78/month!!!

ugh so sounds like pill pockets are a maybe and most likely temporary. I don’t know know what else to try before going for liquids. Anyone else have any suggestions?

 

Can you pill him? If you can you might try buying gel caps and (with gloves on) put the pill in one of those. Other than that, maybe wrap pill in american cheese???
All I know is they have a good sniffer. If you touch that pill then touch the delivery... he WILL smell that pill.

GOOD LUCK!
j

 

I also tried Vetquionol or something like that, I can't remember the name. It's another pill wrap. Both cats turned their noses up at it so that was pointless, unfortunately. The clopidogrel I have is chicken flavored so that may be why it's more expensive but I don't know. Any way to rip off pet owners! Ugh!

 

She’s impossible to pill. It’s a feat to even get a pill in her mouth, and then it’s very likely she spits it out when I walk away.

 

Yeahhhh I had one of those too. smh. There are pilling tricks and tips but admittedly they take practice. You can run out of a script easily that way.
My friends cat had hyper T. Her cats dosage was 1/4 of an already tiny pill. She thought she was pilling her cat effectively until I sent her a black light, because her kitty wasnt getting any better. I told her to use the light anywhere near where she was pilling. Sure nuf she found many rejected pills in the carpet.

 

I'd suggest a pill popper but those are just as hard and horrible, in my opinion.

 

Yeah I was going to get one, but I know it won’t work long term. It will stress us both out.

 

Definitely stressful. I used it for awhile until I switched all meds to liquid form. Needless to say, it was super stressful for us both.