Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Pain relief in cats after spay surgery with gabapentin
By Steagall, Paulo V et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2018·1 Department of Clinical Sciences, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Analgesic effects of gabapentin and buprenorphine in cats undergoing ovariohysterectomy using two pain-scoring systems: a randomized clinical trial.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 52 adult cats undergoing spay surgery were given different pain relief combinations to see which worked best. Some cats received gabapentin and buprenorphine, while others got meloxicam and buprenorphine, or just buprenorphine alone. After surgery, the cats were monitored for pain levels, and while there wasn't a significant difference in pain relief among the treatments, those on gabapentin and buprenorphine had fewer instances of needing extra pain relief compared to those on just buprenorphine. Overall, the study suggests that gabapentin may help improve pain management in cats after surgery.
People also search for: cat spay surgery pain relief · gabapentin for cats · buprenorphine for cat pain
Abstract
Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the analgesic efficacy of gabapentin-buprenorphine in comparison with meloxicam-buprenorphine or buprenorphine alone, and the correlation between two pain-scoring systems in cats. Methods Fifty-two adult cats were included in a randomized, controlled, blinded study. Anesthetic protocol included acepromazine-buprenorphine-propofol-isoflurane. The gabapentin-buprenorphine group (GBG, n = 19) received gabapentin capsules (50 mg PO) and buprenorphine (0.02 mg/kg IM). The meloxicam-buprenorphine group (MBG, n = 15) received meloxicam (0.2 mg/kg SC), buprenorphine and placebo capsules (PO). The buprenorphine group (BG, n = 18) received buprenorphine and placebo capsules (PO). Gabapentin (GBG) and placebo (MBG and BG) capsules were administered 12 h and 1 h before surgery. Postoperative pain was evaluated up to 8 h after ovariohysterectomy using a multidimensional composite pain scale (MCPS) and the Glasgow pain scale (rCMPS-F). A dynamic interactive visual analog scale (DIVAS) was used to evaluate sedation. Rescue analgesia included buprenorphine and/or meloxicam if the MCPS ⩾6. A repeated measures linear model was used for statistical analysis ( P <0.05). Spearman's rank correlation between the MCPS and rCMPS-F was evaluated. Results The prevalence of rescue analgesia with a MCPS was not different ( P = 0.08; GBG, n = 5 [26%]; MBG, n = 2 [13%]; BG, n = 9 [50%]), but it would have been significantly higher in the BG (n = 14 [78%]) than GBG ( P = 0.003; n = 5 [26%]) and MBG ( P = 0.005; n = 4 [27%]) if intervention was based on the rCMPS-F. DIVAS and MCPS/rCMPS-F scores were not different among treatments. A strong correlation was observed between scoring systems ( P <0.0001). Conclusions and relevance Analgesia was not significantly different among treatments using an MCPS. Despite a strong correlation between scoring systems, GBG/MBG would have been superior to the BG with the rCMPS-F demonstrating a potential type II error with an MCPS due to small sample size.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28920534/