Since my horse was roughly 400 kilos, he was receiving almost 16 mg/kilo.
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Dose in this regard is per dose, not total given in a day. 3200 mg / 400 kg = 8 mg/kg. q12h signifies twice daily (every 12 hours) dosing.
Ok, thanks for the correction.
Still didnât do a thing for him. At over $100/month at this level of dose, nasty tasting, and ineffective, I probably wonât try it again, until substantive research comes out proving beyond a doubt that it helps, and is superior to alternatives.
I canât imagine attempting to get a horse to consume even more of it â we tried ramping the dose up slowly, adding favorite flavors, hiding the pills in treats, etc. And I personally am not going to syringe a medication daily forever (hand issues).
Others can do differently. Everything doesnât work for every individual.
Gabapentin is excreted by the kidneys in humans. I would think it would be the same mechanism in horses. Because of kidney failure, I am strictly limited in how much gabapentin I can take in a day. I was on 1800 mg/day before my kidneys failed; now my limit is 300 mg/day. What I donât know is if it contributed to my kidney failure.
This may not be useful, but just wanted to mention it in case it is a problem for your horse.
Rebecca
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For sure, gabapentin is kind of specific in the type of pain that it will help. It definitely doesnât help everything or every horse.
FWIW for anyone looking to use gabapentin, GoodRX will bring the price down. This dose for exampleâ3200 mg q12hâcan be had for just over $30 bucks for a month of treatment, using the 300 mg capsules.
So, hereâs my experience so far- this horse foundered a couple of years back, and had a stoke this Spring. I have been debating euthing him before the Winter closes in. The issue has been that he really is no quitter, and he is a pretty happy guy.
I started him on a significant dose of Gabapentin, and the change is remarkable. He is coming up from the paddock at breakfast, as opposed to me having to go and find him. He is also coming up for dinner. This is a drug that, according to my Vet, you can dial up fairly significantly without side effects. It has many applications, and I think that more will be found as time goes on.
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Good to hear it is working for your gelding! I will have to ask my vet about it. Did you discuss impact on the stomach, like NSAIDs? I have a senior who would benefit from a pain med that could be given for a longer period of time and that is stronger than Equioxx. I have been using both Equioxx and Tylenol in the meantime, which works reasonably well. I actually got turned onto using Tylenol for horses when Tufts had me use it for laminitis on a different horse. I believe itâs known to work well on laminitis pain. So something else to consider trying if the gabapentin stops working.
