Description
Gabapentin is used as a pain medication and mild sedation in cats. It is safe for patients with kidney disease. The typical dosage is 1/2 capsule twice daily for pain and 1 to 1 1/2 capsules to reduce anxiety/cause sleepiness 2 hours before needed. The capsules can be opened and the powder can be mixed into the cat’s canned food or it can be given in capsule orally. The most common side effect is sedation (obviously) and if that is not needed the medication can be given at a lower dosage or discontinued.
How to administer Gabapentin:
Gabapentin is a mild sedative that comes in capsule form and will decrease anxiety during the visit, but not cause complete sedation.
There are a few different methods to administer gabapentin to your cat:
You may manually administer the capsule to your cat. This video walks you through manually administering medication:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PBHOfVYSwM
If you are not able to manually give your cat the capsule, you can open the capsule and mix the powder into canned food or milk. When mixing it into canned food you will want to ensure that your cat will eat the entire amount. We would recommend that you mix the medication into a small amount of food to ensure the cat eats all of the medication and to administer the medication before you give your cat his or her regular meal so that you know that your cat will be hungry. When mixing the medication into milk, you will want to pour the powder into the milk. A syringe can be used to squirt the mild directly into your cat’s mouth if needed. Please let us know if you would like a 3ml syringe.
If you are not able to manually give your cat the pill, and he or she won’t eat it in canned food, there are ways to disguise the capsule. Pill pockets are available in chicken and salmon flavor. We recommend only using 1/2 of a pill pocket to coat the pill because a whole pill pocket can be overwhelming to cats. Bacon wrap, bacon grease, butter, and cheese are also good alternatives to coat the outside of the capsule. Squish the substance of your choosing around the capsule to disguise it.
If your cat will not eat the coated capsule alone, consider rolling the pill pocket or bacon wrap in crushed up treats or Fortiflora. You can also break up your cats favorite hard treats, such as Temptations, and stick them to the coated capsule to encourage your cat to eat it.
Another alternative is Meow-Mix’s Irresistible treats. With a small amount of water added to the treat, you can turn it into a soft substance that can be used like a pill pocket to coat the capsule.
If you are not able to use any of the above suggestions, another option would be to use pet piller. This video is a helpful guide on how to properly use a pet piller.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb1fhuysgCg
The following are links to some of the mentioned products that we carry:
http://citycatpharmacy.com/product/pill-pockets/
http://citycatpharmacy.com/product/feline-greenies-smartbites/
http://citycatpharmacy.com/product/pill-wrap/
http://citycatpharmacy.com/product/life-essentials-chicken-treats/
