So, it is common to see innovation in term of dogs’ health. There are many vitamins and medicines created for the sake of dogs health. One of the medicines recommended for dogs is gabapentin. It is claimed that we can obtain the benefits of gabapentin for dogs health.
Gabapentin is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It is a medicine to treat seizures and many types of pain for human, especially the neuropathic pain. However, it is also widely used as medicine to treat chronic pain in animal such as horse, cat, and dog. It seems to be effective to use gabapentin for dogs and cats.
In addition, this fact is supported by a certain study which reports that the efficacy of gabapentin usage is raised as much as 50% of dogs studied. However, there are also contrary opinion about the use of gabapentin for dogs as it may stimulate some side effects to emerge.
The Ingredients of Gabapentin
Gabapentin is usually in a form of white solid which is soluble in water. Have you ever questioned what ingredients composed the beneficial gabapentin? Here are the ingredients of gabapentin which enable you to get the benefits of gabapentin for dogs health.
The Benefits of Gabapentin for Dogs Health
If you question about whether gabapentin is a pain killer, the answer might be yes or no. it is because the way gabapentin reduce pain is different from the other pain killers. Some pain killers reduce pain by directly give pain relieve impact on the pain. Especially when the pain is caused by inflammation.
The pain killers usually act as anti-inflammatory property which soothe the inflammation and reduce pain because of the inflamed part. In contrast, gabapentin reduce pain by controlling the nervous system. It uniquely affects the voltage-gated channels in the brain which blocks the connections responsible for pain. This way, gabapentin is effective to reduce pain in dogs.
Keeping dogs can also give benefits for human, for example the Benefits of Therapy Dogs for Autism Treatment. As dogs have been very beneficial for human, it is a responsible for human to maintain dogs’ health. One of the health problems that might be experienced by dogs is osteoarthritis.
This is a condition in which your dogs may feel bones and joints pain. It is mainly caused by inflammation. In this case, gabapentin can reduce pain caused by osteoarthritis and further improve dogs’ bones and joints health.
Different from human, your dogs will never complain about any health problem they get. But you should be very critical on your dogs’ condition. For example, when your dogs lose their appetite. It may indicate that they are not healthy.
The lack of appetite in dogs may be caused by pain or stressful condition. as we know, gabapentin is good to reduce the symptom of stress and anxiety in dogs. Therefore, you can deal with appetite problem if you are able to cure the anxiety problem in dogs by giving gabapentin.
Sometimes the use of gabapentin in dogs with chronic pain is combined with the other kinds of medicine. In this case, gabapentin can boost the effectiveness of other medication.
It is because gabapentin doesn’t completely block the delivery of pain signal to the brain. Instead, it quiet the nervous system and amplify the effects of other pain killer to give the optimum result.
The most well-known benefits of gabapentin for dogs health is the ability of this medicine to treat epilepsy. Through clinical studies, it is known that gabapentin is effective to prevent seizures in dogs due to epilepsy.
As we know, the scariest symptoms of epilepsy are seizures. It can affect many aspects of dogs’ health. So, gabapentin for dogs can give excellent solution to relief your worry about dogs’ epilepsy.
Dog is an animal which is prone to anxiety. The anxiety may be caused by many things such as surgery and vet visit. This is the reason why you should take our dogs for a walk regularly and always give good attention to your dog.
However, sometimes the anxiety in dogs is undeniable. If you are in this condition, it is better for you to give gabapentin as gabapentin can effectively calm the nervous system and suppress the anxiety in dogs. So, our relationship with dogs should be mutual, as dogs are also known to be able in preventing stress in human. This is also the reason why we can get the Health Benefits of Dogs in the Workplace.
It is true that gabapentin can give benefits of gabapentin for dogs health. However, you should also be aware of the minor to major side effects of gabapentin usage in dogs.
There are some side effects that might be experienced by your dogs after taking gabapentin, such as sedation, wobbliness, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, bulging eyes, and loss of coordination. Therefore, it is important for the dog owner to closely observe the dog after the treatment using gabapentin. If you see any of these effect on your dog, immediately speak to your vet to alleviate the effect.
The International Veterinary Academy for Pain Management recommends the right gabapentin dosage for dogs as 5 – 10 mg/kg. So, you should consider the dogs’ weight before you give the proper dosage of gabapentin for your dog. Besides weight, you should also pay attention to the reaction of your dog after taking the medicine. As it will also strongly related to the given dosage in the next treatment.
The medicine should be taken orally every 8 hours if it is used to reduce pain. Therefore, this medicine can be given two or maximum three times a day. However, if you use gabapentin for epilepsy, the dosage may be a little higher.
For the best result, visit and ask suggestion from your dog’s vet. As this is the prescribed medicine, you would not be able to get this medicine without the vet’s prescription. In addition, you should also take a good care of your dog nutrition. For example, you can give fish to present the Health Benefits of Consuming Fish for Dogs.