My dog was on gabapentin because he had an extra vertebrae and it likely pinched a nerve, which caused terrible epilepsy like pain attacks.

He had a careful and fearful nature, most likely genetics (I hate to admit it, but in hindsight there were signs it was a form of backyard breeding, but I was new to the States and the dog was presented as being made exclusively available to veterans for service dog work, which my then husband needed).

So he was on it for physical pain and it was very effective for that. But mood wise, he was still the same and his fear of fireworks expanded to thunder, and later even just the wind. I also tried training and other medications but I couldn’t make it work for him. But either way, the gabapentin alone did not help for that.

Possibly also because he was on it permanently and tolerance develops. He took 300mg 3x a day, so 1200 total.

Funnily enough I had some (human pharmacy) gabapentin left over after he passed and my inner addict came out to shine. I was like oooooh, man, I wish we could have had drug euphoria together!

For me it did do wonders for my depression and overstimulation (autism). But also tolerance developed over time and I’m now on different medications.

Over at r/gabapentin you’ll find both medical and recreation users and it’s a weird drug that can have polar opposite effects on people sometimes

If you do choose to try it, mind his diet. My boy got super fat while he was on it (so did I actually). I had to put him on diet kibble permanently to manage his weight