Gabapentin

Has anyone used this on their dogs?

I'm waiting for a prescription to be delivered to my vets at the moment (ordered on Tuesday and won't be in until next Tuesday).

Just wondered if anyone has any experience of using this and if it helps?

Never seen it used on dogs, but I've seen some amazing results on human patients with severe neurological/nerve pain.

Hope it does the trick for your doggie.

I googled it as I've never heard of it and here were some result's first a copy from the page il put up for you.
Gabapentin (Neurotin Rx): is a seizure control medication that seems to suppress chronic pain. It is expensive and we have not had a situation in which we had to use it so I have no personal experience with it. The recommended dosage is 1 to 4mg/kg every 12 hours in dogs and every 24 hours in cats. In humans gabapentin is reported to provide additional pain relief in extreme pain situations in which narcotics such as morphine aren't potent enough alone.
Here is the website i found.
http://www.vetinfo4dogs.com/dpain.html

Thanks both

Glazby has been on a course of steroids for the pain caused by his spondylosis completely encasing his sciatic nerve.

The steroids didn't even touch the sides and so they've suggested a 10 day course of gabapentin to see if that helps.

Expensive - Yes!! Its around £60 for 10 days which if he was on it daily would work out at around £180 per month

I've been told its usually used for epilepsy but its a nerve pain pain-killer and so will hopefully help him - only other option if not is surgery and we've ruled that one out already.

If anyone has any experience in using it on their dogs I'd be interested to hear - if there are any side-effects etc.

Thanks!

Objective To assess whether there is a change in seizure activity in dogs with refractory epilepsy that are receiving appropriate doses of phenobarbitone and/or potassium bromide, when gabapentin is added to the therapeutic regimen.
Design A prospective study of 17 dogs with a refractory seizure disorder, 16 of which have idiopathic epilepsy.
Procedure Patients were stabilised using phenobarbitone and/or potassium bromide to produce tolerable therapeutic serum concentrations and dosed additionally with gabapentin at 35 to 50 mg/kg/d (divided twice or three times daily) for 4 months. Owners recorded seizure activity and side effects during this period in a standardised diary. Patients underwent monthly physical examinations and venepuncture to assess selected serum biochemical analytes, as well as phenobarbitone and bromide concentrations. Patients were further monitored for long-term response to adjunctive gabapentin therapy.
Results There was no significant decrease in the number of seizures over the study period for the entire cohort, however three dogs stopped seizuring completely. There was a significant increase in the number of patients who showed an increase in the interictal period (P < 0.001). Serum alkaline phosphatase activity and triglyceride concentrations were elevated at baseline. There were no significant changes in biochemical analytes during the course of the study period. Side effects observed initially on addition of gabapentin included sedation and hind limb ataxia. The former resolved spontaneously after a few days; the latter after a slight reduction in bromide dose. Long-term, a further two patients became seizure free and ten patients remained on gabapentin indefinitely. No long-term side effects have become apparent.
Conclusion Addition of gabapentin to phenobarbitone and/or potassium bromide increased the interictal period and shortened the post-seizure recovery in some canine epileptics. In some dogs, seizures were prevented completely, while in others there was an increase in interictal period. The short-half life of gabapentin has advantages for seizure control, however its present high cost may prohibit therapy in large dogs.

This article is cited by:

• T. von Klopmann, B. Rambeck and A. Tipold. (2007) Prospective study of zonisamide therapy for refractory idiopathic epilepsy in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice 48:3, 134–138 Abstract Abstract and References Full Text Article Full Article PDF

Treatment with gabapentin of 11 dogs with refractory idiopathic epilepsy

S. R. Platt, BVM&S, DipACVIM, DipECVN, MRCVS1, V. Adams, BSc, DVM, MSc, PhD2, L. S. Garosi, DVM, DipECVN, MRCVS1, C. J. Abramson, DVM, DipACVIM3, J. Penderis, BVSc, MVM, PhD, CertVR, DipECVN, MRCVS1, A. De Stefani, DVM, MRCVS1 and L. Matiasek, DVM, MRCVS1

1 Centre for Small Animal Studies, Animal Health Trust, Lanwades Park, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 7UU
2 Centre for Preventive Medicine, Animal Health Trust, Lanwades Park, Newmarket, Suffolk CB8 7UU
3 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Ohio State University, 601 Vernon L. Tharp Street, Columbus, OH 43210, USA

Eleven dogs diagnosed with refractory idiopathic epilepsy were treated orally with gabapentin for a minimum of three months at an initial dose of 10 mg/kg every eight hours. They were all experiencing episodes of generalised tonic-clonic seizures and had been treated chronically with a combination of phenobarbital and potassium bromide at doses sufficient to reach acceptable therapeutic serum levels without causing significant side effects. In each dog, the number of seizures per week, the average duration of the seizures and the number of days on which seizures occurred were compared for the three months before and after they were treated with gabapentin. A minimum 50 per cent reduction in the number of seizures per week was interpreted as a positive response to gabapentin, and six of the dogs showed a positive response. After the addition of gabapentin, both the number of seizures per week (P= 0·005) and the number of days with any seizures in a one-week period (P=0·03) were significantly reduced. Mild side effects of ataxia and sedation were observed in five of the dogs, but they were not severe enough to warrant the treatment being discontinued during the trial.






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Hope this helps.

Worked for me!! Never used it on dogs though.

Thanks for your replies everyone - much appreciated.

Glazby hasn't got epilepsy but they are using the drug for its chronic pain relief so fingers crossed that it will work as well for him as it has for you guys who have used it yourselves!

I use it as I have a prolapsed disc and can't get through the day without it

It's worked for me, after radiotherapy damage to my sacral nerves.
Blooming marvelous
Hope it does the same for Glazby.

I hope it does the trick for him. The pain must be really getting him down by now. Poor mite.

((Big Hugs))