vet gave us gabapentin for future vet visits and i'm skeptical.

[cat7bird]

Hi all,

So at our last wellness appointment, vet left me with a bottle of gabapentin to give my 2 cats prior to subsequent visits.
I struggle overall with many aspects of veterinary & western medical practices. There is strain involved in working with our current vet and getting through these visits with our different communication styles -- I didn't challenge her at the time, figured I'd look it up and deal with it in a year and was focused on what needed to be managed in the present. Well, now here we are coming up on the next visit. I have done some research, including on here, and while this rec doesn't seem at all out of bounds for cats who cannot/will not submit to an exam without some sedation, my cats aren't that terrible about it. They're not totally docile but they're able to be worked on and restrained and haven't had any aggressive fits that I've seen even if they might express displeasure at something like a vet exam or while I cut their nails-- this is normal/expected to me. At the last visit she barely examined them because she deemed them not subdued enough, and even her veterinary asst seemed to side-eye this and suggested that she could examine them for xyz and the vet was snappy (she is snappy -- this was not news to me and is one of the issues in working with her, I've just deemed her my best of available current options). I know she doesn't know my cats like I do, and I surely am not comfortable handling unfamiliar cats as I am with my own, but expert cat handling isn't fundamental to my work.
Just interested in experiences of others, and whether it is more commonplace then I'm aware to manage pet exams with anti-anxiety meds versus reserving it for extreme cases. I will add that one of my cats was recently examined by a different vet, and I had to wait outside the clinic due to COVID so I couldn't be present as a comfort or to actually verify this, but reportedly the vet did all the aspects of the exam without issue, and the feedback given when I asked was that he hissed at one point after having his teeth examined, and after having his belly palpated, but they still got through these experiences, and got through everything else without complaints. Thanks.

 

[Twylasmom]

I used gabapentin for the first time for Twyla's most recent vet visit. She needed a nail trim and blood draw and it is difficult to do those on her under normal circumstances. Overall they were able to do a more thorough and less stressful exam than her previous exams. The gabapentin made her much more relaxed for both the visit and the car ride. She was pretty sleepy for about 12 hours but that was the only lasting effect. I don't know that it is necessary for every cat, but our experience was positive.

 

[cat7bird]

Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your experience

 

[LTS3]

One of my cats has to take gabepetin before cardiology exams. It's a lot easier to do an echo on the heart on a sedated cat than one that is all claws and teeth and worked up. I don't think my cat liked that vet, though ( I didn't care for the vet either), which is why it's in my cat's records to take gabapetin before cardiology exams. I requested a different vet for the next exam and everything went fine although I still gave gabapetin just in case. I gave the dose a little late so my cat wasn't completelely sedated by the time of the exam but she was calm. My cat is fine for the regular vet.

The effects of gabapetin lasts at least a couple of hours so your cat may be lethargic or stumble around like a drunk after the vet visit.

 

[neely]

I can understand your apprehension to sedate the cats for a routine exam. Maybe your vet is not as comfortable working with cats as she is with dogs. I've always felt it's important to feel comfortable with the person taking care of your cats and trust their expertise. We used to go to a practice that treated both cats and dogs so I asked which vet has more experience with felines. Now we got to a feline only practice which I would recommend but not sure if there is one available in your area.

 

[cat7bird]

Thanks, guys. Yes I'd understand if we were talking about them needing something like the cardiology exam or even a blood draw -- but this is just about the routine physical for my cats -- no blood, I reject the boosters for the vaccines so no shots. My sense of our vet was that she was comfortable with cats and dogs (I believe she has both as pets, she definitely has a cat). Medically I trust her compared to the ones at our local clinic who are "nice" but have provided some fairly incompetent care. The cats are definitely more scared of her than of anyone else they've ever met and I figured that's because she's worked on them far more than anyone else, she neutered them, they remember. She did a beautiful job with that, which means a lot to me. It didn't occur to me that they could not like her like how I don't like her or just as a preference. Anyway, I'm weighing our options. I had decided she was the best choice for us and that I needed to suck up what was difficult about it for me without considering that it could be possible for the cats to like or not be terrified of their doctor hmmmmm

 

[aurorabee]

I used gabapentin on my cats when I had to travel with them by car for over 3000 miles. Also for air travel. And for grooming. It's not actually too sedating.

My one cat didn't really need it because she was the chillest cat ever (I ended up giving it to her just because she was so extra happy and I thought it would make the unpleasant car ride nicer for her), but my tortie DEFINITLEY needed it. It wore off after about 8 hours of driving. For my tortie it actually wasn't strong enough. Because she's a big girl and intense, the vet gave the ok to give two pills for her. My only complaint is the size of the pills - and I think if you open up the capsule the powder must taste awful because I could only ever get them to take it by giving the whole pill (and nope, the pill pockets did NOT work).

It also takes about 2-3 hours to start to work, so keep that in mind. My tortie usually requires a dematting about once a year and one vet clinic would only do it by putting her under general anesthetic (more risks and over $400); another clinic was able to do a successful dematting with oral gabapentin and for a cost of $75.

 

[cat7bird]

Yeah I read that the taste is super bitter. I actually don't know how to pill cats .
I've had to give a cat sub-q fluids, draw blood from around the ears for glucose testing, feed through syringe. But never pills so I'd have to figure that out as well.
I appreciate getting more accounts and experiences from everyone. I think I do understand the relative safety and the effects, though more/continuing info & experiences are super welcome and appreciated. I'm more grappling with the idea that this doesn't seem necessary for my cats for these particular visits -- they are home visits, so the cats are not even having to withstand even minimal travel, and they are the barest of wellness checks. It seems like low enough stress that they can withstand, and from my pov they're not too aggro for the vet to work with.
I'm kind of likening it to like if I were to accept nitrous/sedation for routine cleaning stuff from a dentist who might offer it to patients with dental anxiety, when I don't need it to get through the visit (do I like the experience, no of course not). And I think it would be fine for me to choose the nitrous for myself, but I don't feel as good about choosing it for my cats, especially with the groggy after-effects. Like I don't think the balance in the cost/benefit scale of this choice is tipping enough toward benefit to start us on a pattern of using gabapentin for these particular visits or for the cats to be examined/worked on at all. For certain procedures should they need in the future, for travel, sure. Perhaps trying it this next time so I have my own experience to weigh would help too.

 

[LTS3]

Yeah I read that the taste is super bitter. I actually don't know how to pill cats .
I've had to give a cat sub-q fluids, draw blood from around the ears for glucose testing, feed through syringe. But never pills so I'd have to figure that out as well.

Use Pill Pockets or one of these TCS member suggestions:

Pilling Cats: Must-know Tips For Hiding Pills – Cat Articles
The Best Pill-taking Secret I Know...
Pilling Cats and Dogs Safely
How We Give Our Pill Hating Cat A Pill
Getting Cat To Take Pills... Post Tips Here.

Gabapetin is available in compounded forms such as chewable flavored treat and liquid. For a once a year routine vet visit, it's probably not worth the expense to have compounding done.

I actually just dry pill my cat because she doesn't eat treats so Pill Pockets and other things won't work I've tried opening the capsule and mixing the medication into canned food but that was a no go.

 

[aurorabee]

Yeah I read that the taste is super bitter. I actually don't know how to pill cats .
I've had to give a cat sub-q fluids, draw blood from around the ears for glucose testing, feed through syringe. But never pills so I'd have to figure that out as well.
I appreciate getting more accounts and experiences from everyone. I think I do understand the relative safety and the effects, though more/continuing info & experiences are super welcome and appreciated. I'm more grappling with the idea that this doesn't seem necessary for my cats for these particular visits -- they are home visits, so the cats are not even having to withstand even minimal travel, and they are the barest of wellness checks. It seems like low enough stress that they can withstand, and from my pov they're not too aggro for the vet to work with.
I'm kind of likening it to like if I were to accept nitrous/sedation for routine cleaning stuff from a dentist who might offer it to patients with dental anxiety, when I don't need it to get through the visit (do I like the experience, no of course not). And I think it would be fine for me to choose the nitrous for myself, but I don't feel as good about choosing it for my cats, especially with the groggy after-effects. Like I don't think the balance in the cost/benefit scale of this choice is tipping enough toward benefit to start us on a pattern of using gabapentin for these particular visits or for the cats to be examined/worked on at all. For certain procedures should they need in the future, for travel, sure. Perhaps trying it this next time so I have my own experience to weigh would help too.

I wouldn't think it would be necessary for general wellness visits - again, my tortie is super intense but I've never used it for general visits, only for the dematting/grooming. My concern would be that the gabapentin might mask symptoms that they would be examining for during clinical exam. I guess if it were to the point where poor kitty was so stressed just going to the vet that might be a different story. But you kind of want to see them in an unmedicated state to do an assessment would be my thinking...

Ugh, the pilling is not fun.

 

[cat7bird]

Thanks A aurorabee , that's a really good point about wanting to examine the cats in their typical state -- that's tipping me more clearly toward not giving it to them (and then at the same time, maybe moving away from our vet who suggested it / feels she needs it for their exams). And thanks for the pilling resources LTS3 !

 

[meb182]

I had gabapentin for my cat. She had it for pain, but the vet had also suggested that giving her an extra dose before coming in would keep her calmer. She wasn't difficult for the vet to work with but she was always very scared, shaking and hiding. Both the vet and I wanted to make the visit easier on my cat and it certainly did help. Going to the vet is stressful for any animal even if it is just a routine check up - they don't know it's routine after all, so I don't see anything wrong with using it. To get the right amount in her, I developed a method of mixing it with some water, putting it in a syringe and then squirting that in her mouth while I gave her her other pills.