My vet is suggesting trying Solensia for my arthritic cat, Zevon. I am wondering what experience others have had with it. It would be an additional financial burden for me since he is diabetic and insulin, special food, more frequent vet bills, testing and on and on is already a lot. Yet I feel guilty if there is something that would make him feel better and I am not taking advantage of it. He is about 8 years old and has had a limp since I adopted him, but he is not incapacitated. I'd be happy to know what you can share about this. Wish they had it for humans.
Hi Kristine,
Thanks for reaching out with your question.
Solensia is becoming very popular in veterinary clinics for the treatment of arthritis. Mostly because it avoids having to give daily medication and is relatively safe. It may be a good option for your cat Zevon as he's diabetic and it wouldn't interfere with this. It would also mean that you wouldn't need to worry about giving daily medication along with already injecting insulin, one less thing to do. However it can be expensive unfortunately.
It might be worth chatting to your vet about giving it a trial and trying one injection. It can last from 4 weeks up to 6 weeks in some cats so you should see some improvement in that period if it's going to work for Zevon. If not, you could discuss alternatives to Solensia, Gabapentin might be worth chatting to your vet about but it requires daily dosing.
I use it in practice a lot and I've definitely seen a lot of cats respond well 🙂
We have some more information on Solensia here;
https://cats.com/solensia-for-cats
I hope that helps and please reach out if you have any more questions,
Aisling
6 months into the monthly Solensia injections, and we’re still amazed at our 12-year-old kitty’s improved mobility! We saw an almost immediate change the day after she had her first injection— she walked quickly into the room instead of limping in, headed straight to the cat tree to scratch the post, then proceeded to chase after (running!—our other kitty who is new around here and was picking on her. (Payback time! 😼😹) We’ve been doing it on an every-28-days schedule, but to save money (ours costs $75), you might consider trying it once to see if it works for your kitty, then you could try stretching the next one out longer than a month. We’re super-happy she gained some serious quality of life back. She has CKD stage 3, and we were thrilled this isn’t contraindicated.