RE: Trazodone/gabapentin & LDDST testing

Mayank Seth — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:04:59 GMT

Hi Holly

I suspect that you already know all that there is to know on the subject... studies have been done on healthy dogs with variable results but most of the data I'm aware of is looking at ACTH stimulation tests rather than LDDST. Of course the very good reason for this is that youc an't really test the effect on LDDST in health dogs as you are looking to see if the sedatives casue suppression and an LDDST in a healthy dog should suppress anyway!

Looking at the Brown et al study that did find a significant difference in healthy dogs given trazadone, the difference was 7nmol/L - statistically significant but I would suggest not often clincally significant! I would say that its preferable to be as "clean" as one can be when doing any endocrine testing but if you feel its clincally necessary to use these drugs and you ahve a strong clinical suspicion of Cushings the result is unlikely to be very different.

Of course, one could have a hoe discussion about the necessity of "proving" a dog has Cushings if you clincially suspect it and ahve excluded other causes of the clinical signs, but that is a much wider discussion!

RE: Trazodone/gabapentin & LDDST testing

Anthony Dennison — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 10:34:37 GMT

I would speak to the medics at RVC - Chris Scudder et al. They do a lot on Cushing's and other endocrine diseases so would be best placed to give an answer.