when it comes to finding a dog painkiller that works what about trying
gabapentin for dogs and cats it's use is becoming more and more common is it a
valid treatment addition or replacement for the more commonly used non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drug painkillers like rmadyl or is it like tramadol which
works well in people but offers little pain relief for dogs I'm dr. Alex from
ourpetshealthcom helping you and your pet to live a healthier happier
life and living a pain-free life is something that I feel very strongly
about and I believe it's a right for every dog and cat so hit the subscribe and the
thumbs up button below if you agree with this I'd also love to know what
painkillers you've given to your pet in the comments down below so gabapentin is a
human drug that is used to treat some seizures and nerve related pain it is in
the treatment of this neuropathic pain in dogs as well as cats that we'll be
looking at today if we start with how gabapentin works the simple answer is
that we don't know completely although it's appears to reduce the release of
excitatory neurotransmitters now these are chemicals that are released to
stimulate the nerves to pass on a specific signal if a pain signal is
blocked from reaching the brain then the result will be a reduction in pain
gabapentin acts on the nerves themselves unlike some other pain killers like the
non-steroidal anti-inflammatories you won't then be surprised to hear that
because it acts differently and has no anti-inflammatory effect then the effect
that we see in dogs and cats is also different this is why we refer to it as
a treatment for neuropathic pain so neuropathic pain is essentially pain that
is generated by the nerves themselves and results in two main conditions the
first of these is known as hyperalgesia which is an increased sensitivity to
pain practically speaking this means that if something was going to hurt a
little bit then it now hurts an awful lot the second condition is known as
allodynia and is where something that's not normally painful becomes painful so
sunburn would be an example of this in us where a warm shower suddenly feels
like it's really scolding and very painful so both of these conditions
that's hyperalgesia and allodynia developing chronic pain conditions such
as arthritis the nerves become so used to feeling pain coming from an affected
joint that they start to effectively over-interpret
any signals coming from that area a gentle touch becomes painful and a mild
sprain becomes excruciating to your pet the good news is that this pain
windup is reversible though it can take several months to reverse these
changes our standard painkillers in dogs and cats than non-steroidals will help
with this gabapentin though can also be used to
help your dog or cat become pain-free faster or where our non-steroidals are
not enough by themselves we need to be aware that there are not many studies
looking into the true benefit of gabapentin and so as with any treatment
we should always be assessing each individual pet to make sure that they
are as comfortable as possible using a pain monitoring chart really helps in
the case of our pets on pain killing medication and I've got a link down
below if you'd like to download a pain killing chart that I've done for you
so gabapentin is a useful treatment of chronic pain but what about acute or
sudden pain after an injury or surgery well here the evidence suggests that it
is not so beneficial in the studies that have been done there's been no
difference in pain score between those dogs given gabapentin and those not
treated with this drug interestingly interestingly though despite this some
studies have seen that a lower dose of any additional painkiller given is
needed so gabapentin may well play a useful role here in helping keep our
pets comfortable after surgery or injury but it should probably not be used by
itself so now that we know gabapentin for dogs and cats can be a valid
additional painkiller to any treatment plan but especially in the
management of chronic pain conditions like arthritis the next question to
answer is what are the side effects of gabapentin in dogs and cats well
thankfully gabapentin is a very safe drug with very few side effects to be
concerned about the most common side effects of gabapentin in dogs and cats
are sedation and wobbliness some animals may also develop vomiting
now these side-effects are generally not too severe and tend to be fairly
short-lived and resolved once a pet has been on the drug for a short period of
time so in some cases this might not always be the case and the drug may need
to be changed humans can experience dizziness and fluid buildup although
this is not really recognized in our pets to my knowledge the biggest danger
with giving gabapentin is using a human liquid formulation that contains xylitol
now xylitol it's an artificial sweetener that is also a rapidly
fatal poison to our pets it causes a potentially fatal drop in blood sugar
levels and higher doses and in those animals that survive for long enough it
can also cause severe liver damage which in itself can also be deadly so make
sure you check out my dedicated video all about their dangers of xylitol if
you want to learn more which I'll link up here and down in the description
below as far as overdose goes it appears that it is really difficult to cause any
significant problems apart from the side effects that I've just discussed and
even with extremely high doses being given
gabapentin is removed to a large degree by the kidneys and so if your dog or cat
has advanced kidney disease and the dose may need to be reduced a little bit
however it's quite probable and quite likely that this is more of a
theoretical risk rather than a real-life danger of course your vet will discuss
with you the most appropriate dose of the your pet so that's all about the use
of gabapentin for dogs and cats it is definitely a worthy addition to the
tools that we have to keep our pets as comfortable and as pain-free as possible
if used by itself it might not provide enough of an effect especially after an
injury or surgery but when used with other drugs like the non-steroidal
painkillers and when used in chronic pain situations like arthritis
gabapentin is likely to provide an extra pain-killing boost that might just make
all the difference to your dog or cat remember to subscribe and also follow
that link in the description down below for your free pain monitoring chart to
help you detect any deterioration in your pets comfort levels and until next
time i'm dr. alex from our pets health because they're family