When gabapentin is used as an anticonvulsant in epileptic animals it is given for the lifetime of the patient.
You are a good Cat Person™ for making these efforts. I’ve been one my whole life and lived with them almost nonstop from 1962 to 2007.
I’ve lived with two violent biters. The first was a purebred Siamese. Got it from my aunt, who had her cat bred. Cocoa was, well, insane. He’d suddenly leap at my Mom and claw at her legs. Mom had pretty bad varicose veins and after enough attacks, Cocoa had to go. I do not believe he was euthanized, just rehomed.
Lucia had been horribly traumatized at one point. I met her years after. She was a good lap cat and tolerated a bit of head rubbbing but anything else in terms of petting and she’s turn and violently bite and claw. Okay, I learned.
Problem was, she could not be touched or handled without the risk of violence. We had to move to a rental unit where pets were flatly not permitted. We had 4 cats and had to rehome all of them. Which just killed us. But, it was kind of what we had to do. We found great homes for the other 3 but the truth was that Lucia was dangerous. I took her to the local shelter up in Orange County, NY where we were moving. They asked me if she was of a temperament to be handled and played with by middle school girls every day. That was a hard no.
I had no choice but to have her euthanized. I took VERY thick leather work gloves with me to the vet up there. Explained the situation. They were very kind about it. The Vet asked me about the gloves and I said, I’d rather hold her when this happens. The Vet said I probably didn’t need the gloves.
We tried to wrap her in a towel to both restrain her and protect us. She got a leg loose and tore right through the thick leather and into the heel of my hand. It was heartbreaking to lose her.
All of this said, you are doing your diligence with heart and soul and I sure do respect it.
The deep weals can really do damage. Especially because of the litterbox-fecal-urine-clawing cycle.
Keep us posted.
It does not really matter whether an animal can be “touched or handled without the risk of violence” because it is not a toy. It matters not whether you feel like petting the cat, only what she is comfortable with.
If the cat is dangerously attacking people with no provocation, that is a different story, and cats can have genuine psychiatric and/or psychological issues, same as humans.
Yeah, we have an old cat who is probably arthritic and can tolerate gentle petting, but really dislikes being held, and will bite and scratch to let you know. We only hold her when we really need to. (To give her pills, take her up the vet, that kind of thing.) But she’s never attacked a person who was leaving her alone. Well, when she wants attention (she likes to have you watch while she eats, for instance) she might poke you with a claw, but that’s just because she’s a little arthritic, and has poor control. She’s just trying to get your attention, not hurt, and she doesn’t stick her claws into you, just sort of tap you with her clawed paw.
Anyway, i consider her to be a social cat who gets along well with people.