Dantrolene

IMPORTANT: If your cat is in any distress or discomfort, please consult your own vet as your first priority.
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Didi
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Dantrolene

Post by Didi »

I thought I would start a new thread to see if anyone had any experience of this drug, Bilbo my 4 year old has had a bladder blockage story http://www.catchat.org/felineforum/view ... =13&t=5628 and today was taken back in less than 24 hours after coming home with spasm of the wrethra which prevented him from weeing again. He is home again now after having his bladder washed out again this time there was no visible crystals or blood so the vet has sent him home with some pills of Dantrolene sodium to take for a few days. Apparently it is a muscle relaxant and one of the side effects can be being a bit unsteady on thier feet I just wondered if anyone has had any experience of it
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Jan
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Re: Dantrolene

Post by Jan »

Hello Didi

Our cat, Blackie, was prescribed Dantrolene tablets after his 2nd bout of cystitis (caused by stress, not stones/crystals) back in June 2014. I can't remember that the tablets had any adverse effect on him. The only thing I recall is that as Blackie is nigh on impossible to pill, I called the vet hospital asking whether it was ok to crush the tablets into his food. They said it was but due to the taste, Blackie probably wouldn't eat the food but he did (much to my relief!). Only other thing I recall is that after finishing the course (maybe 5 or 7 days), the medication seemed to have worked.

Blackie also had various other medications - too many for my liking - but he survived and was then prescribed Cystophan for the rest of his life, along with the Hills urinary stress diet - which he refused to eat after 2 or 3 weeks. Another vet then told me to feed him his usual food but with plenty of added warm water to it - and definitely no dry). So far ... so good - no repeat episodes of stress related cystitis ... though a change of environment is coming up in a few weeks, so will be watching him like a hawk!

Hope this helps ... and really hope Bilbo makes the full recovery that Blackie did.
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Didi
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Re: Dantrolene

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Thank you, Bilbo is a nightmare to pill and as the advice is to keep his stress levels down until he gets over this it's not really what I want to do so I asked about crushing them and vet said it was ok he didn't say anything about the taste though so thank you he also said that putting them inside a treat would be ok if it meant he got them he ate half of one before rumbling it. I'm just trying to keep everything relaxed here and keep my own stress levels down so they don't effect him and just hope the metacam starts to make him more comfortable soon. There were no crystals in his urine today so at least I can be fairly sure if he stops weeing it's more likely to be due to muscle spasm than anything else, they said as soon as they sedated him to put the catheter in his bladder emptied
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Didi
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Re: Dantrolene

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Well the little blighter is not having it !! I have tried hiding them in food nope eats around it, putting it in a treat worked twice then he was having non of it hiding it in tuna worked once then nope, hiding it in furball paste - which he usually wolfs down no way. I have only ever managed to get 1 of the 2 down him in a day, the last resort will be pilling him but I really don't want to do that as it will just ramp up his stress. He is getting better and is weeing if only in drips and drops over the day it's a respectable amount. I think the metacam is starting to help and that the inflammation in his bladder is reducing and I really don't want to stress him by pilling him and possibly causing it to flare again. I think I may ring the vet on Monday and see what they think
He takes the metacam no trouble but he really doesn't want this pill
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