It is a human medicine. A vet may still prescribe it for a dog or cat, which is legal and common, but it means no company has proved to the FDA that it works or is safe in that animal, and there is no approved animal dose to look up. Ask your vet what they expect it to do and what to watch for.
Gabapentin has no animal label, but it has been studied in dogs and cats. A 2023 review in the journal Animals goes through how it is used and how the body handles it in dogs, cats and horses. It says that in veterinary medicine gabapentin is used extra-label for seizures, nerve pain and anxiety. In a 2017 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, cats got gabapentin before one vet visit and a placebo before another, and neither the owners nor the vets knew which was which. The owners scored their cats as less stressed after gabapentin. Side effects were seen in 6 cats, and only after gabapentin: vomiting, drooling, muscle twitching and pupils of different sizes. A vet who prescribes gabapentin works from research like this and from veterinary drug references, not from the human label alone.
The label says, word for word:
Human label (Neurontin): "NEURONTIN® is indicated for: • Management of postherpetic neuralgia in adults • Adjunctive therapy in the treatment of partial onset seizures, with and without secondary generalization, in adults and pediatric patients 3 years and older with epilepsy". There is no FDA-approved animal label for gabapentin.
NEURONTIN is contraindicated in patients who have demonstrated hypersensitivity to the drug or its ingredients.
Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS), also known as multiorgan hypersensitivity, has occurred with NEURONTIN.
NEURONTIN can cause anaphylaxis and angioedema after the first dose or at any time during treatment.
Antiepileptic drugs should not be abruptly discontinued because of the possibility of increasing seizure frequency.
There is evidence from case reports, human studies, and animal studies associating gabapentin with serious, life-threatening, or fatal respiratory depression when coadministered with CNS depressants, including opioids, or in the setting of underlying respiratory impairment.
Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), including NEURONTIN, increase the risk of suicidal thoughts or behavior in patients taking these drugs for any indication.
Every approved medicine has a field study behind it, and the label prints what happened:
Human label: "The most common adverse reactions associated with the use of NEURONTIN in adults, not seen at an equivalent frequency among placebo-treated patients, were dizziness, somnolence, and peripheral edema." (label Table 3, postherpetic neuralgia: dizziness 28% vs 8% placebo; somnolence 21% vs 5%; peripheral edema 8% vs 2%). "The most common adverse reactions with NEURONTIN in combination with other antiepileptic drugs in patients >12 years of age, not seen at an equivalent frequency among placebo-treated patients, were somnolence, dizziness, ataxia, fatigue, and nystagmus."
Gabapentin is a human prescription drug; no FDA-approved animal drug containing gabapentin was found on DailyMed or fda.gov in this research. Veterinarians may prescribe it extra-label under AMDUCA. FDA: "Congress enacted the Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act (AMDUCA), adding provisions to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) that give veterinarians the legal ability - with certain restrictions - to use approved human and animal drugs in an extra-label manner." "The AMDUCA provisions of the FD&C Act allow extra-label drug use only on the lawful order of a licensed veterinarian in the context of a valid veterinarian-client-patient relationship."
The emergency page sorts the signs by how long you have, and the symptom checker asks what you are seeing. Reactions to a medicine can also be reported to the FDA yourself: how to report a problem.
These answers come from the approved label on DailyMed, read on 2 October 2026. Where the label does not say, the answer says so, and the vet or the pharmacist is the one to ask.
The approved use is quoted at the top of this page. The label read for these answers is the one for Neurontin capsules, tablets and oral solution, a human prescription medicine: it is approved for nerve pain after shingles and, alongside other medicines, for partial onset seizures in people, and it does not mention dogs or cats, so ask the vet what it has been prescribed for in your pet.
The label gives no time for a pet. Ask the vet what to expect and by when.
The label gives doses for people only, so the amount and the timing for your pet come from the vet. The Medication Guide that is part of the label says Neurontin can be taken with or without food, and that the capsules are swallowed whole with water. If a tablet is broken in half, it says to use the other half at the next dose and to throw away half tablets that are not used within 28 days. The label lists xylitol among the ingredients of the oral solution. Petipedia has a xylitol calculator for dogs, so ask the vet or the pharmacist which form your pet is getting before you give it.
The label does not say what to do about a missed dose. Call the clinic or the pharmacy before you give the next one. The Medication Guide does tell people not to stop Neurontin without talking to their healthcare provider first, because stopping suddenly can cause serious problems. Ask the vet before you stop it in a pet.
The warnings on the label are quoted above. This label is written for people. The label has nothing on dogs or cats, so ask the vet what to watch for and when to call.
The Medication Guide that is part of the label says to store the capsules and tablets at room temperature, between 68° and 77°F, and the oral solution in the refrigerator, between 36° and 46°F. It says to keep Neurontin and all medicines out of the reach of children.
The FDA says the best way to get rid of most unused or expired medicines is a take-back option: a drug take-back location, which can be at a pharmacy or a police station, or a prepaid mail-back envelope. If you cannot use one and the medicine is not on the FDA's flush list, the FDA says to mix it, uncrushed, with something unappealing such as dirt, cat litter or used coffee grounds and to seal the mixture in a plastic bag before throwing it away. Flushing is only for medicines on that list, such as opioids. Do not give leftovers to another pet. The Medication Guide makes the same point for people: it says not to give Neurontin to anyone else, even someone with the same symptoms.
Write the dose, the times and the stop date here, then print this page for the fridge.
Dose and times: _____________________________________________
Stop date: _____________________________________________