Doses - DANTROLENE SODIUM

Dogs:

For treatment of functional urethral obstruction due to increased external urethral tone:
a) 1 - 5 mg/kg PO q8h (Polzin and Osborne 1985), (Chew, DiBartola, and Fenner 1986)
b) 3 - 15 mg/kg PO divided bid-tid (Morgan 1988)
For adjunctive treatment of Black Widow Spider bite:
a) 1 mg/kg IV; followed by 1 mg/kg PO q4h (Bailey 1986a)

Cats:

For treatment of functional urethral obstruction due to increased external urethral tone:
a) 0.5 - 2 mg/kg PO q8h (Polzin and Osborne 1985)

Horses:

For treatment of acute rhabdomyolosis:
a) 15 - 25 mg/kg slow IV qid (Robinson 1987)
For prevention of rhabdomyolysis:
a) 2 mg/kg PO once daily (Robinson 1987)
For prevention of post-anesthetic myositis (PAM):
a) 10 mg/kg PO (intragastric) 1.5 hours before surgery. This should give peak levels at thetime surgery begins and maintain postulated therapeutic levels for an additional 2 hours.
The intragastric preparation was made by dissolving/suspending the contents of oralcapsules into 500 ml of normal saline. Should further doses be warranted, additionaldoses of 2.5 mg/kg PO (intragastric) q60 minutes can be given.
Alternatively, IV doses of 1.9 mg/kg loading will give therapeutic levels but will onlypersist for about 20 minutes. An IV dose of 4 mg/kg will maintain therapeutic levels forabout 2 hours but peak levels will be quite high. (Court et al. 1987)

Swine:

Prevention or treatment of malignant hyperthermia:
a) 3.5 mg/kg IV (Booth 1988a)
Monitoring Parameters -
Depending on the reason for use:

1) Baseline and periodic liver function tests (ALT, AST, Alk Phos, etc) if projecting to beused chronically or using high dosages

2) Body temperature (malignant hyperthermia)

3) Urine volume, frequency, continence
Client Information - This drug should only be used by professionals familiar with its use.
Dosage Forms/Preparations/FDA Approval Status/Withholding Times - Veterinary-Approved Products: None

Human-Approved Products:

Dantrolene Sodium 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg capsules; Dantrium® (Procter & Gamble Pharm.)(Rx)
Dantrolene Sodium for Injection 20 mg per vial (with mannitol 3 g.); Dantrium® Intravenous(Procter & Gamble Pharm.) (Rx)
Note: Because of the expense, minimum order quantity, and non-returnable nature of the commercially available intravenous product, it is not well suited for veterinary use.