I'm worried for my girl, Mia (13)
What about it?
Mia is learning how to cat on 3 legs. She's adjusting very well from the surgery, but the biopsy results however, have me crushed. They thought it was a localized cancer, & amputating the leg might cure her entirely, but instead it came back as multiple myeloma & she's in need of chemo. We have an appt. next Friday with an oncologist, 1 of only 2 available in the area & the other has pretty bad reviews. We tapped our insurance coverage for the year, & I don't know how we'll handle it once we understand the best next steps. Right now, she seems so happy, purring like mad & generally unfazed. I can't imagine losing her after 13 years together, & I'm not ready. I knew you all would understand why I'm so scared. Hug your beautiful babies tight 💜
Max is 16 - Arthritis/Gabapentin/Solensia
What about it?
This is Max. Our handsome man is 16 now and has had a limp in his left leg for a few months. Last month we took him in and they did x-rays, and diagnosed him with arthritis. They said he has it in both elbows and actually the one that’s worse on imaging isn’t the one he’s limping on. They said they don’t see any signs of any sort of tumor or infection in the imaging.
We tried a Solensia shot last month and saw no improvement, and it’s even gotten a bit worse. On Thursday he went back for a checkup (he’s also hyperthyroid, so we were running his routine blood work). After consulting with the vet, we decided to give Solensia another try for month 2 to see if it helps. Additionally, we are trialing Gabapentin for pain.
The vet is also sending his x-rays out to a radiologist to be read to see if they see something they didn’t. We don’t have the report back yet.
It’s only been about 24 hours since the first dose of Gabapentin and the Solensia shot, but there’s been no change other than the Gabapentin knocking him out. Lol. (We are lowering his dose at his vet’s direction to help with that).
Has anyone had luck with Solensia and/or Gabapentin for pain? And how long did it take to see results?
He’s not showing outward signs of pain (holding up the leg, crying) but you can tell he’s not wanting to put a ton of weight on it. He’s jumping up on the counters and couch still even though we’ve tried to stop that, but old habits die hard.
We’ve raised his food dishes up off the floor to a more manageable height for him and also have gotten an orthopedic bed for him which he seems to enjoy.
Any insight or experiences would be helpful.
6 years ago, I decided to adopt a cat after losing my heart dog to cancer. I chose a super friendly 6 year old gray tabby named Smokey. Today is Smokey’s 6 year gotcha anniversary and 12th birthday. He’s the best cat I could ever ask for, and he’s turned me into a cat person for life.