Gabapentin

[Phaedra3]

My 93lb hound was put on gabapentin 300mg twice a day for neck pain along with meloxicam once a day and 750mg metacarbamol 2-3 times a day. We tried tramadol but it didn't seem to do much. I read that when starting gabapentin you should start off slowly and it's better to give it at a lower dose 3 times a day instead of twice a day. Has anyone had any bad experiences starting off at the higher dose? Faith

[MaryJane]

It can cause dogs to be clumsy and their legs get a bit intertwined. Also, can make them drowsy. Depending on the amount of pain, you may want to dose 3x a day rather than twice or dose it closer to when you are getting more of the pain.

[NeylasMom]

I think the number of doses depends a lot on the issue. Violet takes 200 mg AM and 300 PM and she's good with that. For my osteo dogs I have dosed 3 or 4 times per day, especially as they needed dose increases.

 

You might want to start with 100 mg twixe a day and then gradually increase to be safe, but honestly, youre likely to just see a bit of wooziness or tiredness, which again I worry abiut more in a dog with osteo where a fall would be potentially tragic.

[RaineysMom]

Larry has LS and neck issues too, and takes 300mg of Gabapentin 3 x day along with 100 mg Tramadols 3 x day (well, the night dose we sometimes just give 50mg if he's doing ok) and on 3.75 mg meloxicam. Larry had zero issues with the Gaba, even right at the beginning, but our Rainey (who was on it for seizures, she had a brain tumor) got pretty wonky on it until she got used to it. Larry is 82# (was a chunky monkey at 86 when he first started taking it!) and Rainey was about 65# so her weighing less might have had something to do with it.

 

The meloxicam is tough to get the right amount since it depends on weight. Fortunately, at 82 1/2 of the 7.5 mg pill is perfect.

 

how old is your pup?

[Phaedra3]

She just turned 6, very large and deep chested for a female so she tends to be front end heavy. She always runs then jumps the last 3 steps going down into our den and I knew that would catch up to her eventually. The meloxicam dosage she is on is only 1.5mg, I think the vet is conservative due to the side effects the drug can have.

How long does it take for them to adjust to the gabapentin before I can increase the dose?

[RaineysMom]

She just turned 6, very large and deep chested for a female so she tends to be front end heavy. She always runs then jumps the last 3 steps going down into our den and I knew that would catch up to her eventually. The meloxicam dosage she is on is only 1.5mg, I think the vet is conservative due to the side effects the drug can have.

How long does it take for them to adjust to the gabapentin before I can increase the dose?

I think the time it takes just depends on the dog. I would give it when you will be home so you can monitor her, especially with how she does the stairs (our angel Nube and current Zeke do the same thing to get up the stairs, scary...). Being 93# (it's a SHE??? WOWZA. ) 100 or 200 mg might not even phase her but it's hard to know. For example, our angel Rainey had a SUPER bad reaction to any kind of opioid-based (not Gaba obviously!) drug, and all of our other 3 are fine with them -- just depends on the dog..

 

ETA I spelled "dog" "god". Twice. Had to come back and correct

Edited July 15, 2018 by RaineysMom

[XTRAWLD]

Not one issue here with gaba (10 yrs experience administering it). It is said that lower dosage, i.e. 300 three times a day is better than two. It has a wide range for dosage amount. 300 is a great place to start but might be too low for a 93 lbs girl (I do 300x2 for boys between 60-75 lbs) Might want to consider 400 2x a day. My experience has been you start higher to alleviate pain asap and then start bringing it down. Metho doesnt seem to work very much here, and tramadol seems to make them more spacy and pretty quiet, not necessarily addressing the pain, just making him not really be with it. Gaba should start working rather quickly. A day or two should be all you need to assess the pain. Because she's on a bunch of different meds though, you wont really know which one is working better and play with the dosages.

 

Also with neck issues, try to not let her jump down off beds and couches and stairs or in and out of cars...easier said than done but it's that type of movement that hurts the discs in the neck as you have already mentioned.

Edited July 15, 2018 by XTRAWLD

[cleptogrey]

chiropractor? have you considered it?

 

just wondering: is she an AKC greyhound?

 

how tall is she at the shoulders(stand her next to a wall, mark the spot where her shoulders are, move her then measure the wall). her confirmation with the very deep chest sounds like a non-track dog. if she is non-track have you spoken to her breeder? this could be genetic. at 6 the goofiness of running and jumping shouldn't affect her yet. that's why i was wondering about her background.

[Phaedra3]

Thanks for all the advice. I gave her 200mg gabapentin this morning and that worked way better than tramadol. She was less restless, a few small yelps but better than the last 2 days. We only started gabapentin last night, so this morning was only her 2nd dose. I'm hoping to see more relief by tomorrow.

She doesn't go on the couch or bed, it's the steps that are her enemy. At 93lbs it takes the 2 of us to carry her down the steps. Lol

She is an AKC rescue greyhound? She actually won several races in her day. I was thinking it might be an old racing injury coming to the surface.

[NeylasMom]

I didn't realize she was in acute pain. Just go for the full dose when she's next due. Acupuncture was a lifesaver for Violet when she had am acute issue with one of her discs. She gets ongoing meds and PT to manage it, but she did something playing to really exacerbate it once and could barely walk until she had the acupuncture.

[greysmom]

chiropractor? have you considered it?

 

just wondering: is she an AKC greyhound?

 

how tall is she at the shoulders(stand her next to a wall, mark the spot where her shoulders are, move her then measure the wall). her confirmation with the very deep chest sounds like a non-track dog. if she is non-track have you spoken to her breeder? this could be genetic. at 6 the goofiness of running and jumping shouldn't affect her yet. that's why i was wondering about her background.

 

//highjack//

My Lilly is a giant for a girl - she weighs 90 lbs and stands 33 inches at the shoulder. She's the same heighth as our smallest Great Dane. Her parents were Irish racers, imported into Canada to be coyote dogs on a farm. One of our neighbors happens to be a greyhound owner/breeder, and he's fascinated with Lilly's size.

//end highjack//

[cleptogrey]

The reason I asked if she was an AKC greyhound is thinking of the problems that Alicia had with Truman. Currently there is an active post in health about Truman. You sho Ulf look it up and past posts about his neck surgery,herniated disk I believe. AKC greys age very differently and seem to have other genetic predispositions. I would normally link this, but on my phone it's a pain.

 

OMG LILLY SOUNDS GINORMOUS! YOU NEED TO POST A PIC! And I thought I had a big whippet, Jamie is 49 lbs. But his height is the very top of the standard. He's built like a horse!

[Phaedra3]

I called my vet to ask if I could give her 300mg gabapentin 3 times a day instead of the prescribed two times a day but it was not recommended. However, I see that many hound owners do give it 3 times a day. So very confusing. She still has pain when getting up so I scheduled X-rays tomorrow. I'm worried because they said they will need to sedate her to get the X-rays.

[NeylasMom]

The more frequent dosing isn't to give more, its to lessen the chance of a dose wearing off before the next one because Gabapentin has been shown to have a short half life in greyhounds. So since your vet has prescribed 600 mg/day the suggestion would be to give 200 mg 3x/day. The dose not being high enough is a separate issue so I don't blame your vet for saying no.

 

A good ortho or Neuro should be able to get x-rays without sedation. Might be time to seek out a specialist.

Edited July 16, 2018 by NeylasMom

[MaryJane]

I would not want to have the vet sedate the greyhound to get x-rays - they should be able to do without sedation. Also, they would be more gentle if the dog is not sedated so that is another reason not to do it. With sedation, they may pull on the legs or head and hurt the dog and when the dog wakes up, worse problems ...

[XTRAWLD]

Most vets in my experience want sedation for x-rays because they can manipulate the dog better (and the dog will lay still) in order to take the images, however you will find some are happy to do them without. Depends on the vet. I feel however, that if you want to get a proper look at the neck and the discs that it would be better to do an MRI - just my two cents. Costly, but you can skip the multiple xray attempts and get to the heart of the problem quicker. Have you gone to see a neurologist? What kind of pain is she exhibiting? (just struggling, limping or whining?)

 

I can tell you I've been there, done that and more with Ryder. Gentle scritches for your girl!

[Phaedra3]

I have not gone to a neurologist yet. She has difficulty lowering her head to sniff the ground and when she is laying down on her side she will yelp when she lifts her head to get up.

[cleptogrey]

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/320503-truman-yelping-with-no-visible-injury/?hl=truman

[RaineysMom]

The more frequent dosing isn't to give more, its to lessen the chance of a dose wearing off before the next one because Gabapentin has been shown to have a short half life in greyhounds. So since your vet has prescribed 600 mg/day the suggestion would be to give 200 mg 3x/day. The dose not being high enough is a separate issue so I don't blame your vet for saying no.

 

A good ortho or Neuro should be able to get x-rays without sedation. Might be time to seek out a specialist.

yes -- 3 x a day is better than just 2 since the half-life of Gaba is only about 8 hours so it will be gone by the time you give the next one at every 12 hours

 

sending healing hugs for your girl.

[Hubcitypam]

In the human world I take my gabapentin three times a day.

 

Maybe a pinched nerve (????)

My vets have always said sedation for x rays totally depends on the dog. Some will lie stock still without it and some won't. .

[Guest kasidonis]

I called my vet to ask if I could give her 300mg gabapentin 3 times a day instead of the prescribed two times a day but it was not recommended. However, I see that many hound owners do give it 3 times a day. So very confusing. She still has pain when getting up so I scheduled X-rays tomorrow. I'm worried because they said they will need to sedate her to get the X-rays.

H

 

She just turned 6, very large and deep chested for a female so she tends to be front end heavy. She always runs then jumps the last 3 steps going down into our den and I knew that would catch up to her eventually. The meloxicam dosage she is on is only 1.5mg, I think the vet is conservative due to the side effects the drug can have.

How long does it take for them to adjust to the gabapentin before I can increase the dose?

Hi there, found this thread, dealing with the same issue as your girl and the way you description fits my Penney to a T (jumping down the stairs etc). How did you make out with your girl?