Cat Arthritis with Gabepentin

[foxxycat]

Well I wondered about this as I know that gaba has some side effects. Thats why I want to see what dr B has to say.

Last night she seems loopy happy. She was purring away and being friendly. She slept beside me on the couch for most of the night. I didn't sleep well for some reason. Probably because Honeybee didn't sleep on me. it was kind of muggy but I kept the air on 73 so pumps wouldn't be cold. She likes it warmer.

She ate tons of treats and I think ate some kibble because the bowl in the living room was empty as they both eat out of that bowl instead of the kitchen one.

She used the box both #1 and #2 this morning so I know everything is still moving. She didn't want her tuna-I added too much water and she proceeded to cover it up with invisible litter. :lol3:

 

[foxxycat]

well we are not seeing any improvement with dasquin. I have been giving her the steroids every other day to taper off. I saw that she feels better on it but I only did the full dose for 4 days. I was scared of her getting diabetes etc so I cut it to 2.5mg for 2 weeks. now we are at every other day.

I think she has another stupid bladder infection. She has been hiding at night and seems uncomfortable when I pick her up. We have a vet appointment tomorrow afternoon. I can't get her in today. I am working third tonight. So then I will come home. sleep a few hours. then take her in.

I also hope to start up her laser therapy when the money starts coming in but for now I am not getting enough overtime.

Pumps has had a few accidents on the carpet but I don't know if its because honeybee peed/poop and she got mad-I set up 2 more cat boxes and put cardboard down on the floor. She seems to be making smaller urine balls like before and does her pain purr when I rub her stomach-we have been using miralax to help the constipation-so I  don't know if its: constipation, urine issues or hip pain. I will ask the vet if he/she thinks we should up the steroids.

And fluids-I need another bag of fluids and needles. They gave me these cheaper needles and Pumps hisses when I do fluids. I gave her some the other day when I noticed she was hiding. She didn't appear dehydrated but she was licking at her belly and not peeing normally so I figured give some fluids to help flush it out. the dasquin is supposed to help the bladder lining as well so hoping its just stress but something tells me she has had this brewing for abit. she hides it so well. The only signs-hiding-purring when rub her tummy=she NEVER does this. Floey used to purr like this when I rub painful areas..so maybe its bladder or??

She looks bright and alert. the lysine is keeping her eyes clear. no more gummy eyes. so appetite is good-still won't eat wet food. I have given up for now. We tried a new type 3 times a day for a month. I give her tuna water in the morning. a cup of water and she drinks it all. I put her lysine and miralax in it-then she gets pilled every morning with two dasquin capsules with pred stuffed inside one of them. then at night she gets liquid gabapentin which I think is helping her painwise.

She gets stressed easily. I have been emptying my house of books and moving things around. Jon went away for a week in August and that upset her. Then people have come over which upsets her..so hopefully its nothing serious. I will discuss if we should do fluids 3 times a week to help flush the bladder if this is a chronic issue. She got a kidney infection in April but she wasn't peeing on the floor. I missed the signs.

She still goes outside every day and loves laying in the sun on the deck. She has walked around a bit more since last week. It takes a bit for dasquin to kick in. its been since July 30. Hopefully its helping. I will keep giving to her. She is starting to fight me in the morning for pilling. I may go back to doing just one every 12 hours but I don't want to stress her out.

oh and I have to point out that darn tooth that is chipped and ask about dental cleaning. So mad that I couldn't make this bladder issue go away. At least I trust the vets at Broadview. But I am nervous. Someone has been passing around a petition about a bad vet in Canada who has been caught abusing animals...tomorrow I will ask that they please treat Pumps with dignity and don't give me any reasons to fear something bad will happen. I know its hard to unearth these bad people. Only wish they let me go out back with them. I always worry now about our fur friends.

 

[foxxycat]

We had a long appointment with the ER vet. She didn't feel any pain from squeezing the bladder. They were going to send her home and I said please get some urine because I think that something is wrong. They got some urine and she brought it back to show me and it looks cloudy. Its good and concentrated but she wasn't sure if it was crystals or other. When it got done spinning and whatever they do to it she said that there was red blood cells but no white cells so she didn't think its an infection but we are doing 2 weeks of clavamox anyways.

Last night we got some of it on her white bib and had to chase her with a wash clothe to clean it up. She didn't vomit after. I fed her a handful of treats before I gave it. then she got gabapentin afterwards per vets recommendation. She slept most of the night on the floor in the other room. Then this morning she had some loose stools so I have to back off on miralax. She ate some of her breakfast. I gave her the dasquin/pred this morning. After she ate-another of clavamox. She was pretty mad at me then. But a minute later she purred when I pet her.

They sent us home with expensive food so I put a few pieces in her food dish and the regular kibble-honeybee seemed to not mind. So we will see if Pumps will eat it. The vet thinks its stress related. We have had a few changes this past few months. So we shall see. The vet also said because we cut back on the dose of pred then the amount of urine will decrease as well. So this morning she only gave a small amount. At least she is still eating and going outside. I tried to get them to do the shot of convenia but they insisted that the clavamox works better as it goes into the tissue better. If Pumps gets too sick from the oral meds I will ask that they do the shot. She had no issues with convenia. But has had issues with oral meds. And I am concerned that we are putting too many chemicals in her body but I will do what they say and give it 5 days. If she doesn't stop with the yuckies and not eating then we will reevaluate.

Pumps let me wash her bib this morning=there was still some residue left on her white fur from last night. She didn't like getting syringes of water after the liquid meds but I figured it would help rinse her mouth so she doesn't have to taste it. Poor pumps getting stressed out. So this tells me that we won't be able to add another cat into the mix as I hate to see her get this stressed out unless I can locate a submissive kitty. I wonder if she misses Floey? Floey was like a mom to her. Floey was very pushy but not aggressive. Honeybee is very dominate. And I think she wouldn't mind a submissive playful mate. My hope is to find a mate for Honeybee so those two can play and leave Pumps alone BUT the other night Pumps was playing in the kitchen with her toy fuzzy mice.

Oh and the tooth is fine. I asked if it has to be pulled=she said no=its not showing any of the dental material. So looks like that other vet may have exaggerated. And that other vet wanted $1500 to fix said tooth. That was such bull. He claimed it was to pay for evaluation of mouth with dental xyays. not even pulling any teeth or anything. I felt it was excessive. Whatever.

 

[foxxycat]

It's been a week since started the antibiotics and she seems more comfortable. keep us in your thoughts. I also bought some feliway so hopefully this helps..she is eating well..but doesn't care for the script food..oh and it is LOADED with corn products which I detest with all my guts. Honeybee doesn't mind it-she eats anything. So hopefully this clears up...

 

[Geoffrey]

 
I have only started it daily 3 days ago. I was afraid of her getting too dependent on it but my vet told me its safe to use daily. yes she walks around more and I caught her eating last night.

I too have tried Gabapentin for arthritis and I didn't like the effects so I quit it. I have heard that the side effects wear off. I don't know how long it takes but having my cat being painfree to me is better than in pain. just try the best you can.

As a human doctor, I have considerable experience with gabapentin.  It is mainly prescribed for neuropathic pain and is effective for that, albeit there are side effects of drowsiness, unsteadiness and a number of other psychiatric disturbances, including forgetfulness.  It was originally prescribed only for epilepsy but it was found that it also helped neuropathic pain.  In Australia a similar drug, Lyrica, (Pregabalin) was accepted this year by the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme and is now used for neuropathic pain including shingles.  Neither drugs are recommended for arthritis in humans as it is not an analgesic nor an NSAID. 

Gabapentin is widely used  by veterinarians for feline arthritic pain but the difficulty with feline pain is that there are no consistent criteria for measuring it.   In 2009 an article was put up at http://zimmer-foundation.org/sch/cbe.html  dealing with chronic pain in geriatric cats and this states that "The mechanism of the drug is currently unknown, however it has been shown to be an effective option for long-term pain management in cats, especially for managing pain from intervertebral disc disease". However the author gave no authorities to support his statement that gabapentin is an effective option for long term pain.  

I have no experience with feline medicine so I cannot say whether gabapentin is effective in feline arthritic pain, however, based on human experience it is possible that the main effect could only be due to the side effect of sedation.  Whatever - in 2013, B KuKanich - Veterinary Clinics of North America, wrote "Some data support further studies of gabapentin, pregabalin, hydrocodone, codeine, amitriptyline, and venlafaxine as analgesics in dogs and cats, but none of these drugs have shown efficacy in controlled clinical trials".  (My italics) 

With best wishes,

Geoffrey

 

 

[foxxycat]

Thank you for your help!

Yes that is what my vet said. That they don't quite know how it works. I haven't given it in about 2 weeks as it seems the supplement is kicking in finally. She isn't shuffling along like she was 8 weeks ago. we give her 2 dasquin every morning plus 2.5mg pred every other day but if its rainy I give it daily. she got it yesterday and today. she seems more comfortable.

we have 6 days to go on her antibiotic and she has stopped licking at her tummy which someone on facebook said that's usually one of the giveaways-licking at the belly. she licked so much that her fur was gone. So we have to go back next week and get a urine sample. depending if it still has red blood cells I will have them culture it but if its all clear then we don't need anymore.

I also grabbed a thing of feliway and it's running but they don't put a large enough prong on it so it doesn't stay plugged in at a 90 degree angle due to the weight of the ball. I put a few books on its side to hold it perpendicular to the wall and so far no issues.

She is sleeping next to papa most of the night so she must be feeling better.

 

[foxxycat]

well we are doing well.

We only been doing the pred every other day and dasquin daily.

Last night restarted laser Therapy-this time we did half the time that we normally do-7 minutes total 3:30 each side. I was abit annoyed because usually each session is 4 parts at 3:30 each. But maybe less is more-so this morning Pumps looked like she was walking a bit better. We will do this once a week.Next appointment is next Friday.

She is the easiest cat to pill but I have to use a pill popper because she won't bend head back enough to jaw open and insert pill. I coat capsule in butter and give 2. Then a syringe of water. which she HATES. She hates this more than the pilling. Afterwards I wipe her face with a clothe and she goes to her room waiting for her tuna slurry. This is with miralax and lysine. These two items together really helps. She won't eat any wet food other than a lick or bite then buries said food.

Luckily she isn't too picky when it comes to kibble. We have her on 4Health and a mix of higher end dry kibble. She sleeps on the couch next to Jon and sometimes tolerates the blanket on her when it's cool out.

She enjoys walking around the back porch and our small yard. She watches birds and jumps after bugs. Mostly she just curls up and sleeps on the deck. She doesn't seem to miss Floey but at night when it's quiet she goes walking around looking for Honeybee. She doesn't like Honeybee but she goes looking for her.

Honeybee stole her fuzzy bed we made in between the couch and elliptical machine-we drape blankets over the couch and machine and it's a cave but now Honeybee has been stealing her bed.

 

[foxxycat]

It's interesting to look back on notes on Pumpkin face.

Tonight we are going to restart the laser therapy-money was an issue-but she's still walking hunched and the daily pred isn't doing anything although still a low dose.

Going to speak to the tech tonight to see if they will approve upping the dose of pred for 6 or 7 days then taper back down until the laser therapy starts working.

I found a vet in an area we will be next two weeks who also does laser therapy-my plan is to transfer records there=get that vet to examine her-and go from there=I just didn't have time to make an appointment down here with all the work hours and doctors appointments=I will be on vacation so will be easier to get her examined=they can transfer the records to my regular vet but we will be trying a new vet in my town next month-but Pumps doesn't seem comfortable.

She's eating food and drinking water=still jaunts outside in the back yard=in fact she screams if I don't let her out-she sleeps on the deck in the sun all day or the shade from the tree there-she just prefers it outside-sometimes she pokes around and finds a mouse but my goal is to reduce pain-if not then the hard decision is going to be made in the next 2 months-it's gone on long enough-Jon will be very angry but I have to do what's best for Pumpkin Face.

But right now she's showing interest in life=comes up on the couch with us, lets us pet her, brush her, treats and plays a bit. She was hiding last night but I gave her gabapentin and she really hates it. I have to put it in a capsule because it's just so nasty tasting-I only worry that it won't break down enough to be effective. The liquid meds allows it to work faster. we are giving her 15-18 mg at a time. the dose Is 20 mg but I wanted to work up to it from 10mg=incase of a reaction. Tonight she will get the full 20mg. It's been 3 days I have restarted the gaba. so with the laser therapy and steroids I hope to see an improvement next week.

The next 2 days is the 1 year anniversary of Floey's passing= first the horrible ultrasound where we discovered internal bleeding, then the next morning when she started shutting down and I waited too long. It was hard on both of us-she was in our life for our entire relationship. Pumpkin is the last piece that connects Jon and I. As he raised pumpkin as a baby kitten. she slept with him and sticks by his side.

At least vet medicine has come a LONG way.

There's still one more med called onisor (sp?) that I want to investigate but some vets won't prescribe it due to black box warning-due to kidney failure=so hard to find the right treatment and not cause undo stress on our companions.