Gabapentin dosage - how many times per day works best?

Jeszel, my 6 year old, has been on Gabapentin for over a year now, which has helped her scratching and other SM symptoms. She started at 100mg every 8 hours (300mg per day), but still had symptoms. My neurologist has her up to 600mg per day for the past 6 months, but recently said that we can increase it to 900mg per day as she is still having a scratch episode 1-3 times per day. He said that it can be divided up per day any way I wish. I tried adding in a diuretic, prilosec and tagament, but none of these improved her situation or had a side effect.

I was giving Jeszel 200mg of Gabapentin every 8 hours, but she still had symptoms, so I'm currently giving her 100mg every 4 hours as I feared that it did not last in her system long enough. There was a little improvement. I do this by using pill pockets and a auto timer feeder that opens in the middle of the night or while I'm at work, etc. Jeszel actually found the pill timer feeder fun and makes sure to sleep near it in my bedroom so that she does not miss it opening at 3am.

As she is still scratching at her head and neck every day, my neurologist said to up her to 300mg every 8 hours, but I worry that it will wear off before the next dosage. I'm considering giving her 200mg every 6 hours instead, which he said is fine as well. 300mg capsules do cost the same as the 100mg capsules, so it would be 1/3 cheaper.

Any experience with how long the Gabapentin dosage lasts in your dogs and whether every 6 or 8 hours matters?

I really would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!

Hi there

I havent much experience with Gabapentin- Ruby was put on it strait away after she was diagnosed with SM a year ago. I noiced no change in her whatsoever so i went back and asked to try Pregabalin instead and noticed a vast improvement with in a day!

That seems like such alot for a little body to take and might it be worth trying something else?
I wouldnt want to be piling so many drugs in to Ruby, I know in humans that having the same drug on continous use makes the drug become less effective due to the body getting used to it...maybe the same applies to dogs??

I hope someone can be of help to you!

There was such a great improvement when Jeszel went on Gabapentin last year. The change in playing only was amazing... she chewed up her toys again. I would love to try Lycria (Pregabalin), but it is so expensive. I only pay $9 for 30 Gabapentin capsules. Her main symptoms now are neck scratching episodes a couple times a day, but I try to avoid most triggers and she is never on a collar anymore. If her symptoms get worse, I'll pay for the Pregabalin.

Thanks!

I do a cocktail of Gabapentin, Prilosec, and Previcox for my girl and it helps a lot. We tried taking her off the Previcox and she didn't do very well, so we put her back on it. I get the largest size (I think they are 227 mg) and cut them into 8 pieces, so it's cost-effective. Previcox is usually used for dogs with arthritis-- it's an anti-inflammatory and pain medication.