Tips on giving gabapentin before bloodwork?

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Sarah Beers

Sarah Beers

Member Since 2016
My kitty is going for bloodwork tomorrow because the vet is pretty sure she has pancreatitis. She never does well with bloodwork and the past two times they had to put her under for it. This time they gave me gabapentin to give her an hour or two before her appointment. I got home and looked at this capsule and I just don't see how I can get this pill in her. It's huge and she is hard to pill to begin with. I asked the receptionist and she told me I could open it and sprinkle it in a very small amount of wet food but the vet had left me a message and said it's 8-12 hour fasting bloodwork. Would a teaspoon of wet food be ok or should I just have them put her under? I know she is going to choke/gag/puke if I try to put this down her throat. The bloodwork is for her pancreas and to check fructosamine.
 
Hi Sarah,

I'm sorry that you didn't get a reply to this question. Did you manage to administer Maddie's gabapentin OK?


Mogs
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No worries. I didn't attempt it. She's the worst with even the smallest pill so I knew trying to get this capsule in her would just stress her out. She got put under for her bloodwork. She's home and a little loopy still. They tried to do it while she was awake and she just wouldn't allow it.
 
I'm glad Maddie's back home, but sorry to hear she had to be put under for the blood draw.

If she needs to get gabapentin for a future blood draw I'd suggest asking the vet about how much food would be OK to give it with so as not to adversely impact the validity of any fasting-dependent blood tests.


Mogs
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In the future, ask your vet for the liquid gabapentin. That is the only way I have ever gotten it, did even know it came in a pill. Then you wouldn't need to worry about feeding.

My vets have talked about gabapentin being used for calming cats before vet visits and procedures before. Its been a while, but they'd just come from some continuing ed about it when we were in with our little hoarder girls that don't do good with strangers or being picked up.

It so tough taking our scared kits to the vet. I've got two that need to be sedated for anything past listening to their heart beat and giving them shots. It think those trips are just as hard on us as it is on them.
 
Larry and Kitties said:
Sara said "looked at this capsule". The common dispensing of that drug is in a capsule, not a pill
Click to expand...

Sorry, capsule to me is just a big a$$ pill. I was just pointing out that there is a liquid form available and because that has been the only way its been prescribed by any of the places I've gotten it at, I had not been aware of a different form.
 
My vet has been using gabepentin for vet visit anxiety and also traveling for quite a while now Capsules come in 100 mg - instructions are to give 50-75 mg 2-3 hrs before travel (or the vet visit) I have been doing that for visits, along with a regular 2 hr car ride, and I am quite pleased with the results.
You can either mix contents of half the capsule with a little food (I did that once and Murphy drooled - I could tell it tasted bad)
I dont think the capsules are big at all but I typically use a small cat-sized chicken-flavored gelatin capsule from capsuline, and give cerenia or any other meds I need to along with the gabepentin in the same capsule (with a water chaser)
 
I must ask my vet about it - they now treat her as a fractious patient by default. :( I'm worried about Saoirse's blood pressure of late but trying to get a reliable reading is a big issue at present. (Hoping my carer will be able to help me with this later this week.) If the gabapentin would help to calm her down enough to measure her BP without skewing the results it could be very helpful.


Mogs
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Hi Mogs - I wouldn't say it's a miracle drug for anxiety (not like a tranquilizer) but it does seem to take the edge off and it is supposedly very safe

Is her blood pressure running high?
 
Her ears have been getting too warm sometimes and she gets a bit tense at times. I'm worried that the post-operative urinary tract issue may have done a number on her already slightly compromised kidneys.

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Murphy's ears get hot at various random times throughout the day, then they get cold I 'm not sure that is a symptom of high blood pressure - I had a cat with renal failure and my vet let me have her BP machine for a few days, and I took his BP at home several times - that was a huge help-- too bad it is so difficult to get a BP reading on the kitties
 
According to Tanya's Site the warm ears can be a symptom. After the eye problem I need to be extra careful about Saoirse's BP. I've bought a Doppler unit but I've only been able to get a reading when my carer helped me last week. Saoirse was stressy so it's not reliable. I need to get her acclimatised to it as soon as possible. I am having to learn to test using her tail; she can't abide anything going near her paws and she freaks out as soon as you apply ultrasound gel to her forelimb. If push comes to shove I may sell the Doppler unit and get veterinary HDO monitor instead. (Wish I'd got one of the latter in the first place.)


Mogs
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Murphy's ears do get very hot for unknown reasons (I love when it happens when it is time to test) and his blood pressure has been tested many times and it is always normal -so it is not necessarily a symptom of high blood pressure -but you are right - with her eye issues, you need to be very careful
 
It's good to hear that it might be nothing, but it's a phenomenon that's new to Saoirse. It has only started happening since the op.
 
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