Sedating an anxious cat for vet visit

bluemoon36

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Hello all, I'm new here but have been reading your very helpful posts for years. My husband and I have a sweet fur baby, a beautiful cat, who has been a part of our family for 11 years. She is such a joy to have around and always makes us smile. Unfortunately, however, she is not so nice to the vet. In fact, she gets down right ugly, flailing around, hissing, biting, etc. The poor vet and my poor girl, it's so traumatic for them both! I will be taking her to get her checked out on Monday due to a cough she's been having this week. The vet feels it's best to sedate her since the visits upset her so bad. He has prescribed 100 mg of gabapentin and 50 of trazodone, to be taken together, 2 hrs before her visit. My question is, does this dose seem excessive to anyone else? I am worried it's too much. I've already contacted another vet and asked them their opinion. They didn't seem overly concerned or shocked at the dose, but simply stated that they have never given trazodone before to a cat and only ever give 50 of gabapentin. It is true my sweet girl probably needs a heavier dose to calm her down since she gets so upset, but I'd feel a lot better if someone who has given their cat these two together would chime in. My vet said he did "research this morning," and the two together are supposed to "mellow out cats with severe anxiety ". My fear is she'll be so mellow she won't wake up! [emoji]128563[/emoji] Any thoughts or experiences with these meds for cats are appreciated. Thank you!
 

margd

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I don't have any experience with either medication for my own cats but have read of anxious cats being treated with gabapentin before visits to the vet.  There is one thread in particular that I am thinking of but I can't find it - at any rate, the gabapentin worked like a charm on two cats who were extremely agitated by vet visits and who had bitten and scratched quite a few over the years.  I've never read of trazodone used for cats but I do have some experience with that medication for humans and can tell you that it is highly sedating with one of its uses is as a sleeping aid for insomniacs. 

It sounds like your vet hasn't used these medications together either since he had to do some reading beforehand, so you might ask him if you can just go with the gabapentin alone.  (Any medication changes should always be run before a vet first.)  If he is reluctant to agree to that, try suggesting that you give the gabapentin first and if it doesn't reduce your little girl's anxiety levels enough (or at all), then give the trazodone. 

I think you are justified in questioning this medication protocol considering your own vet's lack of experience with it and the feedback you got from the second vet.   It might relieve your mind a bit, however, to read the following abstract The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.  http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/abs/10.2460/javma.249.2.202?journalCode=javma   There were only 10 cats in the study, which limits its meaningfulness somewhat but the results do indicate that a 50 mg dose of Trazodone is safe with the only side effects being that of sleepiness.

In terms of gabapentin dosing, it's based on weight of the cat so that may explain the discrepancy between your vet's recommendation and that of the second vet.

I did try to find information on combining the two medications together but couldn't find any, possibly due to my poor searching skills. 

Hopefully, someone with first-hand experience will come along, but I did want to give you a little feedback.
 

anani maas

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I don't have an answer to your question, but have you tried looking for a vet that makes housecalls? I did that for one of my cats who has issues going to the vet, and it made a world of difference in his behavior during the exam. I understand you're probably loyal to your current vet, but just thought I'd make that suggestion.
 

foxden

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B bluemoon36
50 mg of Trazadone will make your kitty very sleepy. I take 100 mg trazadone at bedtime to assist in falling asleep without taking any other sleeping pills.

I think my input is now after your vet visit, and I'm interested in how your cat reacted to this combination of drugs
 

Haubert8

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How did this work out? My vet just prescribed 100 mg Gabapentin and 100 mg Trazodone for my 12 lb cat so he can get a blood draw since my cat was so aggressive at his visit and would not allow any needles near him. I’m also worried this is too much.
 

meowmylexi

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I've given my cat 50-100mg of Gabapentin for a Vet visit before. He's about 11lbs. It made him slow down enough so I could get him into the carrier, and he was pretty relaxed during the exam. It took him about a day to get through its effects.

I've taken trazadone myself and it was disastrous. Never heard of it being given to cats before :dunno:
 

margd

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Seeing that your vet recommended 100 mg of trazodone for your cat really concerned me. I've taken 150 mg of trazodone before and compared to a 12 pound cat, I'm a huge giant. Much to my surprise, though a quick search revealed that 100 mg is not an unacceptably high dose. Check out this abstract, published in 2015 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery: "Use of oral trazodone for sedation in cats: a pilot study".

From the abstract:

"Six laboratory cats were given single 50, 75 and 100 mg doses of trazodone and placebo".
AND
"No adverse effects or changes in physical examinations or laboratory values were detected as a result of trazodone administration".
AND
"Trazodone was well tolerated in this population of cats and caused appreciable sedation at all doses".
BUT ALSO:
"Behavior during examination was not significantly different when cats received trazodone 100 mg compared with placebo".

The full paper is behind a paywall so I don't know how much the cats weighed but I assume they were all roughly the same weight in order for the study to be meaningful. Also, it is a pilot study and so only six cats were tested - a much larger sample size would be needed before drawing too many conclusions. The main thing to know is that research has found 100 mg of trazodone to be safe in cats (of some weight, not given). Since the average house cat weighs 8 to 10 pounds, I lean towards thinking the cats in this study were within this range.

TL/DR: Your cat should be fine taking 100mg of trazodone.
 

Haubert8

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Seeing that your vet recommended 100 mg of trazodone for your cat really concerned me. I've taken 150 mg of trazodone before and compared to a 12 pound cat, I'm a huge giant. Much to my surprise, though a quick search revealed that 100 mg is not an unacceptably high dose. Check out this abstract, published in 2015 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery: "Use of oral trazodone for sedation in cats: a pilot study".

From the abstract:

"Six laboratory cats were given single 50, 75 and 100 mg doses of trazodone and placebo".
AND
"No adverse effects or changes in physical examinations or laboratory values were detected as a result of trazodone administration".
AND
"Trazodone was well tolerated in this population of cats and caused appreciable sedation at all doses".
BUT ALSO:
"Behavior during examination was not significantly different when cats received trazodone 100 mg compared with placebo".

The full paper is behind a paywall so I don't know how much the cats weighed but I assume they were all roughly the same weight in order for the study to be meaningful. Also, it is a pilot study and so only six cats were tested - a much larger sample size would be needed before drawing too many conclusions. The main thing to know is that research has found 100 mg of trazodone to be safe in cats (of some weight, not given). Since the average house cat weighs 8 to 10 pounds, I lean towards thinking the cats in this study were within this range.

TL/DR: Your cat should be fine taking 100mg of trazodone.
 

Haubert8

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Sorry in my earlier post I got the dosage wrong, it’s 100 mg of gabapentin and 50 mg of trazodone. I take 50 mg of trazadone every night as a sleep
Aide and it works great. I’ve read up and find lots of info that up to 100 mg is ok for cats (seems high considering I weigh a lot more than 12 lbs :)) but has anyone given this along with the gabapentin? Seems the two together might be a lot. Thanks for all the inputs!!!
 

margd

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Sorry in my earlier post I got the dosage wrong, it’s 100 mg of gabapentin and 50 mg of trazodone. I take 50 mg of trazadone every night as a sleep
Aide and it works great. I’ve read up and find lots of info that up to 100 mg is ok for cats (seems high considering I weigh a lot more than 12 lbs :)) but has anyone given this along with the gabapentin? Seems the two together might be a lot. Thanks for all the inputs!!!
I just searched again for anything discussing the combined use of gabapentin and trazadone in cats and I can't find it. :confused2: There are general articles hinting that it is sometimes done but no actual protocols combining the two medications. Nor could I find any research studies done on the effectiveness and safety of the two together. At this point, I think the best approach is to ask your vet why (s)he combines the two together instead of either one separately. If your relationship with your vet is one of a partnership (which is what we all want!) he or she won't feel challenged by your interest in learning more about your cat's health. I wish I could be of more help!
 
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