Solensia for arthritic cat, has anyone tried it?

[Buggysleeper]

My 14 yr old cat has arthritis mostly in her 2 front legs. They seem to be bowing now too, which is very sad. Last week she tried to jump onto a fence and just didn’t make it which made her limp worse. Today I took her to the vets for her injections and she suggested a new treatment, Solensia. It’s a monthly injection which treats the pain. Has anyone else tried it? Or maybe the dog equivalent Librela? It looks like it will be around £50 a month.

Thank you @Runninggal3 . Our boy’s pupils are rhythmically flicking sideways, I realised, so it might be vestibular disease. But why?

Fingers crossed we can get a vet appointment today.

Update:
Cas has been having back trouble for 2 yrs now. He's had monthly Solencia injections for the past 20 months. I don't see a huge difference but my Mrs seem to think there is. As I said before, it is a slow downward spiral and I am aiming to stabilize rather than cure. He's slightly worse than last year but not a huge amount.

Yes after about the # 5 Solensia injection I saw hardly any change at all. I continued with his laser therapy weekly & had to give him some Gabapentyn as I could tell he was in pain as he couldn’t settle in a comfortable position. He was still eating drinking & going to the washroom fine. Then after the next 2 shots he was very constipated so started him on Restoralax which helped him a lot but he couldn’t or wouldn’t poop in his litter box as he couldn’t posture at all so he’d poop outside but it was like he couldn’t support his back legs afterwards he was rolling around trying to get up poor guy & he couldn’t. I cared for him for almost a year like this & stopped the shots after 7. He lived a few more months but like I said before it was all neurological at the end & he couldn’t get up the last day. I blame the Solensia as he never had issues pooping plus his back legs got way worse . I’m sorry your furrbaby isn’t we’ll prayers he can be helped 🐾❤️

Yes not impressed with Solensia.
they say if you don’t see any difference after the second or third shot it should be stopped.
my cat had a strange reaction after the 1st shot…

Yes my cat didn’t feel good at all after the first shot.
i did a second one and then I stopped as I didn’t see any difference…

Thank you.
My poor little chap is still struggling to balance, and the vet says it’s kinder to put him to sleep, so he’s booked in for tomorrow. She reckons the balance is just coincidental, not caused by the Solensia injection five days earlier, but I’m not convinced. I could kick myself for letting this happen.

He’s a beautiful boy, @BScottGould :)

I'm so sorry. We all do what we believe is the best for them. You can't blame yourself. I know that's easier said than done. My vet gave me literature to read and we had discussions before starting. I know this effected her neurologically. I will continue to spread the word to others and pray that everyone reports the side effects of this medication.
I am in the U.S. The Zoetis tele number in the U.S. is 888.963.8471. Ask to speak to a technical service rep to report an adverse drug event. Ask for the case number. This case number can then be provided to the FDA.

I’m so terribly sorry for the loss of your beautiful boy. I too blame myself for giving our boy Tooter the Solensia but the vet kept saying it’s working well for the arthritis. But the neurological came on fast & furious & I couldn’t watch him suffer anymore. So please don’t beat yourself up as I have been doing since February I’ve had to let it go the pain of his loss is too hard to bear. He did live a good long life the very best life as I’m sure your precious boy did too. I’ve made my peace & I hope you can too. Bless his beautiful precious heart & soul 🐾❤️🙏🏻🌈🐾

Thank you, both. He did make it to 20 which is a decent age, but if it hadn't been for the Metacam (for arthritis) speeding up his kidney wastage, leading to the Solensia, I think he could have kept going forever.

He was a tough little cat. We only adopted him in January (or rather he adopted us when he turned up in the garden stray and skinny and hung around for weeks). We found that he'd been missing for ten years when a vet scanned him for us! There's some comfort in knowing that his last months were spent in luxury and Dreamies, at least, though we'd all love to know where he went between getting lost from his first home and turning up at ours! He was a good cat. RIP Scruffbag.

Rest in peace your darling little Scruffbag! He looks so much almost identical to our Tooter boy! I see them running in fields of gold over the rainbow bridge mousing grooming themselves & catnapping in the sunshine. From one kindred furrpurr lover to another thank you for replying to me & easing my heart some knowing I wasn’t alone trying to find the best medication to keep them healthy & with us longer.
Bless 🐾❤️

I’ve had a while to reflect on my experiences after losing my girl in February. In hindsight she did have some neurological signs two years prior to starting Solensia and I am not sure how bad her arthritis was really. The X-rays suggested it was bad but she did still manage to jump and climb the stairs. But I tried the Solensia because she couldn’t tell me and if I thought it had eased some of her pain then it was worth it. A brain tumour took her in the end and I don’t think it was related to Solensia in all honesty.

RIP little man. What an amazing story to choose you after 10 years missing to be his guardian. Take care of yourself.

My Beautiful Boy turned 21 in June this year. He has really bad arthritis but otherwise healthy. Solensia gave me at least 12 extra months with him. He is still with me. He is also on subcutaneous pain injections per day.
He jumps on my lap, and furniture. My awesome vet keeps a close eye on him.

I'd just like to add in here that my cat has just had his third shot of Solensia a week ago and his back legs have gone wobbly and keep slipping away underneath him. This was absolutely not happening before the Solensia so I will be discontinuing the injections and just hope it's not too late. I hate that vets won't accept its the drug and just try to attribute it to something else.

So sorry to hear about your kitties back leg issue. I agree I would discontinue the Solensia and give them some time with a bit of nursing. I'd make sure it's not a blood clot with a vet.
I too wish vets would start attributing these responses to the drug. I am interested to hear from my old vet who does not give the injection when I take my two in for their yearly exams. I never did hear anything from the drug manufacturer or FDA after reporting. I guess I shouldn't have expected anything.
I hope your kitty feels better soon.

I have the vet give Solensia injections, 3 monthly, when she’s due her worming tablet and flea treatment, and I have noticed an improvement. I don’t take her monthly because having 2 cats it’s a struggle to get them to the vet.

On set of ataxia is definitely a known side effect of both solensia and librela although I have not yet seen an example I am aware of it and would file an adverse reaction report for it, but you as an owner can make your on adverse reaction report here .

Thank you for this; it has prompted me to submit an adverse reaction report for Scruffbag.

And I’m so sorry to hear about your cat, @Tryingsohardx . I hope he has started to recover. x

My vet has just suggested this for my old boy - he is moving so little he actually has bedsores on his back paws 😿
He is 16 and his kidneys aren't great so vet isn't keen on loxicom but said we could give Solensia a go.

I'm not sure now after reading this but I really don't want him to suffer. Just not ready to let him go yet, but it's about him and not us .

It's only my opinion, but found Solensia great.
No side effects, although it did take several months to see any improvement.
When I agreed to try it, I really had nothing to loose. Sultan was maxed out on pain relief .
I have been able to quarter the dose.
Getting through winter is the test.
As I'm in Australia, its still summer, and he is doing really well. He will be 22 in June.

Just BEWARE! The drug companys can't test on animals so they release it to vets to haphazardly test on our animals! There are no lab or double blind studies of any kind for Solensia!
I had a healthy, perfect blood tests, fat cat 4/23, went to new vet. Cat lost weight but was having problems walking 11/23. Went back to vet. Vet decided it was very mild arthritis and said there's new nsaid, NOT that it was a new barely tested mcab (solensia), no blood drawn b4 shot! Blood drawn after shot. I get a call 2 days later saying blood glucose up to 640! Cat magically, suddenly diabetic. 3 months of hell later, my cat diabetes is well managed, no limping, skin and coat are great again, he walks zooms & plays normally. Just BEWARE!

From our personal experience Solensia has been amazing for our cat (11). She was really struggling to sit/come downstairs comfortably and could no longer really jump up. Her back legs were really sore when the vet felt them. We decided to give Solensia a go and within 3-4 months had noticed a definite improvement. We used it for 1 year and then decided to take a break as she was so much better and had also been on a diet to lose some weight. We'll see how she goes but if things deteriorate again we would definitely go back to it.

This is not meant to diminish any of the horrible stories described above and I'm so sorry for all of you where the outcome was not good. Just wanted to share that for our cat it did have a very positive effect on her quality of life.

My old boy had his first injection a couple of weeks ago and definitely seems to have a bit more vim!

He hasn't had any side effects so far, and is occasionally asking to go outside.

I would love to give him one more summer - he is at his happiest sleeping in the sun in our garden 😻

Hi, my 18yr old cat has been on Solencia for 2 years. He is riddled with arthritis and has spondylitis. His front legs also are contorted.but apparently this is normal in older cats and nothing to worry abt even though it's hard to see. I am very pleased with how the drug has improved his life. It can take up to 3 months to get full effect but we noticed a positive difference from month one. It can take a few days for ea month's injection to kick in and it does drop off towards the end. When Solencia is working at its peak it is as if he has no symptoms and will jump up and do zoomies. Such a joy to see. Do I think the high cost is worth it - ABSOLUTELY as it has changed his life.