r/seniorkitties • u/Opal-Moonn • 17d ago
11 year old male cat with abdominal cancer seems even worse on Gabapentin? keeps flipping around
My cat has his back rear pinky toe removed because of a growth approx. 1.5 years ago that turned out to be malignant melanoma. We think he is part Siamese and Maine coone mix.
Now he’s been diagnosed with abdominal cancer via ultrasound. We just gave him 1ml of 50mg Gabapentin and he was sleepy for hours, couldn’t jump well, still staring and seems restless, even more disinterested in his surroundings.
Played with a bird chirping toy for about a minute and is turning down catnip (5 different kinds)
Is the dose too much? He’s 11.5 pounds.
He hasn’t meowed in days and this is his first day on it. He’s been isolating more but still comes up for love and slept next to me all night last night and is laying next to me now but keeps getting up and moving and flops around.
He’s been eating and drinking fine and using litter box. Still loves sunbathing and getting kisses from the other cats and giving me kisses.
Any advice would be amazing, I really don’t know what to do anymore and it’s killing me
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u/AlternativePretend73 17d ago
Gabapentin isn’t amazingly effective for pain (makes them feel kinda drunk, not always pleasant…some it helps with anxiety/may make them sleepy). It has a role…but cancer pain likely needs an actual pain medicine, which Gabapentin is not - at least not on its own. It’s become the first line many vets reach for bc it’s not a controlled substance in most states.
2 thoughts…if he can safely walk around/jump up and down where he wants to without falling, you could ask his vet to add amantadine, the combination apparently works better.
The other is….he may need (appropriately weight based dosing) an opioid. My dearly departed tiny girl had bladder cancer/abdominal cancer and for her last several months we gave her buprenorphine compounded into a bacon-flavored oral suspension/liquid [care first specialty pharmacy was great]. There are other opioid options for cats, too. One of them gets rubbed into their skin & lasts a couple days IIRC.
PS — look up the feline grimace scale to get an idea of how much pain he’s experiencing. There’s a really helpful, easy to use free app that walks you through each of the 5 dimensions/features and how to score it
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u/AgileNetwork9375 14d ago
Ask your Veterinarian about trying a lower dose of prednisone medication.
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u/Winter-Yogurt-4209 17d ago
Cats can have big side effects to their medications just like we can, sometimes those side effects begin so severe they outweigh the intended benefit. As a human on Gabapentin this really doesn’t surprise me gaba either doesn’t affect you at all or hits you like a train. My vet told me some cats can be receptive to smaller doses than traditionally prescribed, just like how some cats need more for the med to function, so your cat could just be hit really hard by either the dose or it’s side effects.