My 3 month experience with Gabapentin

17 yo DSH Male, Stage 2 CKD, Mild Spondylosis in his hips

Was put on Gabapentin (currently 150mg/day) for hip pain

It's been incredibly difficult to get him to take the Gabapentin. Hiding it in pill pockets only works like 50% of the time. Hiding it in his food was working for a while, but recently it's been a huge mistake. It clearly ruins the taste of his food as he has refused to eat anything over the last 10 days other than very small portions of Hills Prescription KD dry kibble. His current food is Royal Canin wet pate (kidney formulation) which he gladly ate every day until these last 10 days, where he would flat out refuse to eat it

When he was taking the gabapentin, his appetite was great, it clearly had an effect on his appetite but I never really knew to what extent until today.

He hasn't had a single dose of Gabapentin in the past 10 days. Couldn't get him to take it at all, not with a pill popper, not mixed into food, not with pill pockets (tried every brand including RC). Fast forward to now, I've got him back on the pill pockets (for some reason he can tolerate them again) by dividing up the gabapentin pills into 10mg slivers. And to my utter shock, he's back to eating the Royal Canin Wet food again. Not only is he eating it, he's picking the bowl clean.

The point of my post is, Gabapentin absolutely affects his appetite (not only appetite but his willingness to eat certain foods).

I'm going to talk to the vet and see if I can get him on a transdermal application that can be rubbed on his ears.

If your CKD kitty isn't eating, try having them put on Gabapentin or some other medication like Mirataz that will stimulate to their appetite