Need Gabapentin dosage and source info

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Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA

Member Since 2009
My vet Rx'd gabapentin for Beau for pain and neurologic issues as a 1/4 of a 100 mg tab bid. I can't locate 100mg tabs anywhere locally or on the internet.

What forms are people using? Are you getting it compounded somewhere (where?) and what dosages are you using?

The drug info sheet says for a cat for pain management the dose should be 1-2mg per pound 2-3X/day. For Beau that would be a max dose of an 1/8th of a 100mg tablet (if such a thing existed). But even the vet Rx website are selling the larger mg capsules and 600 mg tablets, so I am wondering if the doses are a lot higher.

Beau has neurologic signs like ticks, jerks, tremors and balance issues plus arthritis in his back. Poor guy. I just want him to be more comfortable.

Thanks
 
RxList info

Comes in a solution - 250 mg/5 mL oral solution -
So with an oral syringe,
1.0 mL has 50 mg
0.5 mL has 25 mg
0.1 mL has 5 mg

Merck veterinary Manual info
"Gabapentin has been used in cats with seizures at 10 mg/kg, bid-tid."
 
thanks for that info, unfortunately, that oral suspension has xylitol in it, so is not suitable for animals. And the pain management dose is a lot lower than the seizure management dose.
 
You may need it compounded, then, if you can't find 100 mg tablets.

I tried to get onto Medscape and look it up in the reference section but my internet at home and on my cell wasn't cooperating. The site is free and requires registration. If you go into the reference section, you can check the pharmacology to see if it is water soluable. If yes, it is just a matter of having added to a soltution in a ratio that will make dosing easy with a cat.

Some vets have a compounding machine that will add pet specific flavorings to it.
 
Just go with capsules and split the contents with a razor, then mix in food.

The twitches indicate seizures, so you want to ask about phenobarbital.
 
Sheila,
You could also try some yahoo groups for info, like yahoo group epi-felines. has several good docs. not a lot of traffic, but knowledgeable people always around.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/epi-felines/

Other persons posted the following:
It was originally made as an anti-epileptic. When seizure patients were taking it, they noticed that other pain like migraines and backaches went away as well and that's how it got it's off label use.

We used it in our german shepherd who had seizures due to cancer. we had to strengthen the dosage as time went by.

Gayle
 
Thanks Gayle and BJ. I think I need to get the script re-written now to capsules before I can fill it, but at least I have a delivery method and some dosing suggestions (from my thread on lev).

Gayle, why do ticks indicate seizure disorder? The vet is thinking a degenerative brain disorder akin to human Parkinson's. You can find any info if you Google "Parkinson's in cats" - except other people asking about the possibility. It seems like there isn't a definitive diagnosis 'label' yet for cats, but maybe "Seizure disorder" is it?

Actually, I would say it is more like he has MS as he seems to be lowing coordination and muscle tone at times.
 
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