Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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CharlieBear's mom here. CharlieBear has acute forelimb lameness. UGA is working to diagnose but in the meantime CharlieBear is obviously in pain. We have Tramadol, Previcox, and Gabapentin at our disposal and are trying to come up with a pain management plan that helps. I can only dose before 6:30 a.m., at 4:30 -5:00 p.m., and then anytime before bed.
Tramadol is 50 mg. and he can take 150 mg. BID. It makes him a bit beady eyed.
Previcox is 227 mg. once a day.
Gabapentin is 600 mg. up to three times a day ( we just started on this Friday and did 600 mg. once a day so far as he seems pretty sedated.)
CharlieBear is a 115-120 pound WonderPyr. He has already had bloodwork, a CT scan, an MRI, and and EMG. Bloodwork high in eos due to infiltrative lipoma growing back. Other than that, all tests normal with MRI showing regrowth of his infiltrative lipoma- last surgery to debulking 2 years ago and it is about 50% grown back .
What would be the best schedule for his meds? I know he can safely take all three but do not know half-lives, etc. and hate to under or over dose given the margins of the prescriptions. But he is still in pain. The most I have given him so far is 150 Tramadol BID and 227 Previcox and then 600 Gaba with 227 Previcox. Help!
I'm not a vet, so ...
I believe that Tramadol can be given up to 3 times a day, or every 8 hours, instead of every 12 hours.
I take it the times you listed are because of your work schedule.
The Gabapentin is going to take a couple of days to build up, but once it does, it should help better. It usually takes a couple of doses to really kick in.
The absolute best thing would be if CharlieBear could get something in his system every couple of hours. Is there anyone, a neighbor maybe, that could come over & give him a pain pill during the day? That would really help.
Then you could give him something in the morning, someone could medicate at lunch, then when you get home, then at bedtime. You could even set an alarm for the middle of the night if you really had to.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Also not a vet, but my Otis (96 pounds post amp) got 3 Tramadol every 8 hours. I staggered the dose during the worst of it by giving 2 Tramadol and then 1 an hour later. We were not on the other two, so no idea on how dosages might interact (and some dogs do not tolerate Tramadol as well as Otis did, so increasing it might not be the best option if you are already seeing reactions).
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Ame:
Not a vet of course, but I did consult with vets plenty about dosage of Gabapentin and Tramadol for Pofi.
I think the Gabapentin will have a less sedating effect as he gets used to it - Pofi surely did and he took a lot of Gabapentin. About 2 days for his system to adjust and also for it to become most effective.
Prior to his amp and after, Pofi took Tramadol and Gabapentin every eight hours. He was 70 pounds and standard for the 2 weeks before and after was 100 mg of Tramadol and 300 of Gabapentin. In his final days, he was taking Gabapentin more frequently - there is a wide range of dosing depending on how acute the pain is and because he needed it, we were giving 300 mg more like every 5 hours. He also took 75 mg of Rimadyl just twice a day, so I staggered that timing a bit.
I would, since it will be a 10 hour stretch, perhaps give all 3 modalities of pain med at 6:30 AM and he may be very sedated, but that also means rest and that is good. Then at 4:30 repeat the Tramadol and Gabapentin and then again at 10:30 or so and maybe just 100 MG of Tramadol - are the Gabapentin 300 mg capsules? You could try just one for the late night dose, but I would probably do 600 mg till his pain seems more steadily controlled.
Lisa
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
I'm sorry that CharlieBear is feeling down and hope you and UGA can work together this weekend find that sweet spot of pain medication. Please let them know asap what you've described.
I hope you don't mind but I moved your post here. The reason is because although it's fine to share general experiences from members' own pain management protocols here in the Forums, we, not even our dedicated (and only) Fairy Vet Mother who checks in when she can, cannot legally give such specific medication advice in the Forums. Thanks for understanding.
Let us know what works for him OK? {{{hugs}}}}
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Whoops! I already put my foot in my proverbial posting mouth. Thank you for moving my post and apologies all around. The UGA on call vet was not helpful which is why I posted here. I appreciate everyone's help and suggestions as we muddle through this pain management part of our journey and will update when we find out more and when his pain is under control.Thank you again everyone! ( And a special shout out to " Doc" Lisa and Angel Pofi:you have made our journey all the much better through your hearts and generosity.)
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