Lisa and Angel
Member Since 2023
My oldest non-diabetic cat is struggling a lot with arthritis. We've exhausted pretty much every option, right now he's on a strong NSAID but it's not doing enough.
He's been on Solensia in the past, it works really well for him at first but then starts to become less effective after a few months time. This happens with every pain med he's been on for some reason. Usually we'd take a break and switch to a different drug for a few months to reset him and then start the cycle again.
From his last shot in november, he had an allergic reaction/side effect of severe itchiness that caused him to scratch his face bloody. This was right after his horrific (pee via cystocentesis looked like pus) bacterial UTI + kidney infection, so corticosteroids were not an option at the time. The bacteria he was suffering from was a super resistant e. coli bacteria. It was resistant to all antibiotics except amoxicillin/clavulanate. E. coli can burrow into the bladder walls and hide, so recurrance is a possibility.
As of today, he has: arthritis, hypertension, eosinophilic keratitis from a herpes flareup from weakened immune system during the kidney infection (this guy literally CAN NOT catch a break), presumed CKD stage 2 (not 100% sure, values are still dropping after the acute kidney injury), constipation. His meds are: twice daily tolfenamic acid, twice daily miralax in food, once daily cisapride (just started, still working out effective dose/frequency), once daily amlodipine, once daily eye drops that contain gentamicin and dexamethasone (still titrating down), once daily pregabalin in food.
In general he's a happy camper. He's a champ about taking his meds, eating well, still playful and sassy. But he's hurting a lot, especially his wrists/elbows where the arthritis is worst. He eats some dry food and lots of wet food, and he gets a can of cat drink (100-140ml) a day.
He's had a couple repeat urinalyses at the vet which showed a pH of 6.0, no sign of infection or blood, and dropping proteinuria values. I home test using human urine dip sticks as well which show the same. Recently they've shown no protein loss at all anymore, no blood, pH of 6-6.5 and specific gravity of 1.025. Weird thing is that on my human dip sticks, he always shows a trace amount of glucose in his urine. I've home tested his blood a few times and he's never above normal healthy cat blood sugar numbers, same when getting tested at the vet. I've told my vet who isn't concerned since blood glucose is normal.
Right now, I'm considering Solensia again due to a lack of other options. The benefits are starting to outweigh the risks in my mind. We have a vet appointment next week to measure his blood pressure again, where I'll discuss it with my vet. I'll get another urinalysis done to make sure there's no UTI present.
I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do to PREVENT diabetes from occurring if he does get Solensia again and he does get so itchy again that he'll need steroids? Are there "safer" and "less safe" steroids or do they all carry the same risks?
Angel got diabetes after 1 shot of subq methylprednisolone. But she was obese. On the other hand, my other cat Bella has been on a pretty high dose of oral prednisolone for IBD going on 7 years with little side effects (but she's always been borderline underweight).
He's a tad underweight at 10.2 lbs, still reasonably active, male 14 year old Maine Coon.
He's been on Solensia in the past, it works really well for him at first but then starts to become less effective after a few months time. This happens with every pain med he's been on for some reason. Usually we'd take a break and switch to a different drug for a few months to reset him and then start the cycle again.
From his last shot in november, he had an allergic reaction/side effect of severe itchiness that caused him to scratch his face bloody. This was right after his horrific (pee via cystocentesis looked like pus) bacterial UTI + kidney infection, so corticosteroids were not an option at the time. The bacteria he was suffering from was a super resistant e. coli bacteria. It was resistant to all antibiotics except amoxicillin/clavulanate. E. coli can burrow into the bladder walls and hide, so recurrance is a possibility.
As of today, he has: arthritis, hypertension, eosinophilic keratitis from a herpes flareup from weakened immune system during the kidney infection (this guy literally CAN NOT catch a break), presumed CKD stage 2 (not 100% sure, values are still dropping after the acute kidney injury), constipation. His meds are: twice daily tolfenamic acid, twice daily miralax in food, once daily cisapride (just started, still working out effective dose/frequency), once daily amlodipine, once daily eye drops that contain gentamicin and dexamethasone (still titrating down), once daily pregabalin in food.
In general he's a happy camper. He's a champ about taking his meds, eating well, still playful and sassy. But he's hurting a lot, especially his wrists/elbows where the arthritis is worst. He eats some dry food and lots of wet food, and he gets a can of cat drink (100-140ml) a day.
He's had a couple repeat urinalyses at the vet which showed a pH of 6.0, no sign of infection or blood, and dropping proteinuria values. I home test using human urine dip sticks as well which show the same. Recently they've shown no protein loss at all anymore, no blood, pH of 6-6.5 and specific gravity of 1.025. Weird thing is that on my human dip sticks, he always shows a trace amount of glucose in his urine. I've home tested his blood a few times and he's never above normal healthy cat blood sugar numbers, same when getting tested at the vet. I've told my vet who isn't concerned since blood glucose is normal.
Right now, I'm considering Solensia again due to a lack of other options. The benefits are starting to outweigh the risks in my mind. We have a vet appointment next week to measure his blood pressure again, where I'll discuss it with my vet. I'll get another urinalysis done to make sure there's no UTI present.
I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do to PREVENT diabetes from occurring if he does get Solensia again and he does get so itchy again that he'll need steroids? Are there "safer" and "less safe" steroids or do they all carry the same risks?
Angel got diabetes after 1 shot of subq methylprednisolone. But she was obese. On the other hand, my other cat Bella has been on a pretty high dose of oral prednisolone for IBD going on 7 years with little side effects (but she's always been borderline underweight).
He's a tad underweight at 10.2 lbs, still reasonably active, male 14 year old Maine Coon.
