r/OneOrangeBraincell • u/Azsnee09 • Mar 26 '26

searching for service 📶 Trapped inside the chamber of extra braincells

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u/Frozefoots Mar 26 '26

I wish my cat would understand this with her Solensia injections.

But, no. She’s incredibly cantankerous even with a double dosage of gabapentin. A 19 year old cat marked as spicy despite drugs helping her.

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u/PlainBread Mar 26 '26

There's nothing more reassuring as an elderly pet owner than knowing they still have a strong will to live/fight.

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u/CartoonistAny4349 Mar 26 '26

I lost my old man dog last year. He was 13ish (shelter dog, so never entirely sure), and I feel somewhat fortunate that I never really had to deal with a slow decline in health.

He certainly didn't move like he did when he was younger, but he didn't really have chronic conditions that I had to manage. He just had a stroke one night and that was it. It hurt, but that's the tradeoff for the 11 years of love.

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u/urethrascreams Mar 26 '26

Wish mine had gone out like that. I lost my 13 year old dog last month. The dumbass swallowed a rope toy unbeknownst to me. Spent $4k for surgery plus a month of cleaning his incision daily because part of it got infected. Then 3 months after the surgery he starts having bloody bowl movements on and off for two weeks, then started vomiting everywhere. The amount of diarrhea and vomit that I had to clean up was insane. Decided to put him down cause I'm pretty sure they messed up his surgery somehow and I knew he wouldn't be able to handle being cut open again. Sadly he went catatonic, face in a pool of his own vomit on the floor an hour before the appointment, rushed him to the vet, and he died in my arms right as we reached the vet.

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u/StefaniRS Mar 26 '26

I’m sorry you had to go through that, and I shed a little tear reading it. You are a good dog parent.

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u/urethrascreams Mar 26 '26

Thank you. Part of me is glad he died naturally and I didn't have to have him put down at human discretion, but the other part is just in sorrow that he had to go out the way he did. Seeing his eyes in the morning when I woke up was the worst. He was breathing heavy but eyes were open, glassed over from lack of blinking, and he was a rag doll on the floor and in my arms.

I got that little bastard at 8 weeks old. Words cannot express how much that bastard pissed me off over the course of 13 years but he was my bastard. Up until he was 8 years old we'd fall asleep cuddling every night but then his hips started getting bad and that stopped.

I've got his ashes. I loved that dog more than anything else in the world.

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u/Frozefoots Mar 26 '26

100%!

She’s 8.5lb and holding steady. Thyroid is okay with medication, when she gets her Solensia she’s back to doing poop zoomies, kidney is all good, still wanting 3 sachets/cans of food a day.

And she’s very spicy and sassy at the vet. 🤣

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u/Competitive-Ebb-117 Mar 26 '26

Yes I had two cats that’s needed medicine growing up. One cat just laid down like here I am. And the other every single day if he thought you were going to do it was racing around full speed knocking over things face ripping. I loved that guy by man. He took it every day for like 7 years and it was still a fight every day.

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u/evelyn_tucci Mar 26 '26 edited Mar 26 '26

My roommate has a 20 year old and her monthly Solensia injections are a riot. It's a 5 min tech appointment - my friend literally sits up front while they take her kitty back for just a few mins to do the injection.

Old lady is ~spicy~ and has to be given gabapentin beforehand because that 5 minutes is the worst thing in existence and she will fight like hell against everyone who comes near her. It makes me laugh that a 6lb cat can cause so much mischief. I'm glad she's still got all of her wits about her at her age, but it's honestly ridiculous.

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u/Ajishly Mar 26 '26

I have a 16 year old cat who gets Solensia - he takes it pretty well, but I have a lot of experience from giving his now deceased brother insulin shots. I do his 1ml dose in two 0.5ml insulin syringes, the needle is tiny and of I'm quick enough he doesn't know what I'm doing before I'm done - sometimes I wait for him to calm down/sleep again for the second 0.5ml syringe.

Doing it in two doses helps me, as he can get wiggly and losing the full dose on his fur ...isn't something I want to deal with. Plus, the insulin needle is extremely fine, he barely notices it puncturing his skin.

That said, he is an honorary one-braincell-club-member, and for the most part, extremely chill.

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u/DiggerBee2606 Mar 26 '26

They let you do the injections? That would be easier on my girl. I still might use gabapentin first, but not putting her through the vet visit would be easier.

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u/Ajishly Mar 26 '26

Yeah, it's just subcutaneous, like an insulin shot.

I cannot imagine having to take my 16 year old grouch to the vet monthly - he stresses himself out so much that we basically have a routine with puppy pee pads to deal with his stress diarrhea. He's also upset with me personally for 2-3 days after going to the vet.

Again though, I had several years experience of giving insulin shots to my other cat, and we had to basically demand to be able to do it at home because after 3 monthly visits he was puking and being hit with diarrhea as soon as his carrier was brought out.

But giving the injection is easy if your cat is cool with you touching them. With your thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger, you kind of gently pinch their skin into a triangle/pyramid, and inject downwards into one of the sides - careful not to stab through the pyramid wall and out the other side.

With a fine syringe/needle, they really don't mind, but a bigger needle can ...cause disagreements. I've also accidentally stabbed myself ...through the cats' skin - the needle is so fine it didn't hurt, but I did notice I stabbed myself.

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u/DiggerBee2606 Mar 26 '26

I'll have to ask. I do subcut injections on myself weekly, so it's not like I don't know how. With gabapentin, I could also clip her nails myself as well. It would be worth it to not have her jumpy with me for a week every month.

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u/Ajishly Mar 26 '26

100% yes! My cat gets Solensia to have a better quality of life, going to the vet monthly directly contradicts that.

If you can, do a few practice runs with saline on your cat - she may not tolerate it, but from experience, it'll probably be a lot less stressful for her at home - but saline practice runs are much lower risk than accidentally injecting Solensia into the air/their fur.

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u/DiggerBee2606 Mar 26 '26

Oh, yeah, saline test runs are a great idea.

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u/MsMordanta Mar 28 '26

I get 31g insulin needles, and my cat doesn’t even notice he’s getting his shot if I give it when he’s distracted by his last bite or two of food.

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u/Ajishly Mar 28 '26

Thanks! I've only been able to find up to 1ml insulin syringes, and with a monthly dose, the 40 remaining older 0.5ml insulin syringes will potentially outlast my 16 year old man-cat (~20 months of syringes)

On googling, 31g insulin syringes have a volume of 0.3ml (3/10cc), so even smaller than the current syringes I'm using up!

My late diabetic cat didn't notice his insulin shots while he was eating either, but he was extremely food focused/motivated given... diabetes. Honestly, it was easier giving him insulin shots than giving him "yucky" pills - he had a few pills that were beef flavoured, and he thought they were treats.

As long as you have the injection technic down and a distracted or cooperative cat, it's really easy to do and painless for both cat and owner.

Testing the cats' blood sugar, though? Yikes - the more cooperative he was, the lower his blood sugar was ...the more aggressive he was? It was probably quite high.

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u/MsMordanta Mar 29 '26

Testing him is definitely not fun 😬 — I have to put his food bowl on the sofa , get everything set up, then poke his ear immediately as he starts to eat. The vet told me not to worry if he’s had a few bites before I can draw blood, but I still find it fairly nerve wracking.

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u/Ajishly Mar 29 '26

I... basically, but not literally sat on top of him. He learnt that he always got treats after blood sugar tests and was generally compliant, but not enough for me to believe he wouldn't yank away given the chance.

Being in Norway, his ears were often a bit too cold, a sock filled with rice, microwaved helped get blood flow back to his ears, but it also helped me stabilise his ear for the stabby thing - pricking ears is hard.

One morning, his other person gave him insulin before watching him eat... he then refused to eat and was severely hypoglycaemic that day. I can't remember his numbers exactly, but he was very close to being comatose. I had to use his toe beans because I couldn't get blood from his ears - that was literally the worst - he was non-responsive, and toe beans hurt more than ears. He got honey sublingually every 15 minutes... and blood sugar checks every 15 minutes until he was out of the danger zone.

That episode led to his blood always being checked before insulin, and titrating the insulin dose to his blood sugar.

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u/MsMordanta Mar 29 '26

Cold morning ears are an issue in SoCal—Norway is on a whole ‘nother level! I make rice bags, but never thought to use one to warm up his ears—thanks for the tip!

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u/PineappleExpress22 Mar 26 '26

Have you found the Solensia to be super helpful? I've been considering it for my older tortie, but have been on the fence. My vet offered it in lieu of cosequin for her.

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u/DiggerBee2606 Mar 26 '26

It's been a help with my girl, definite difference in activity levels. She needs gabapentin to get to the vet. She's an absolute angel when she's there, but so terrified she's tachycardic without the sedative. Also, she forgives me quicker.

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u/Frozefoots Mar 26 '26

Absolutely. When it gets near time for her to get the injection she’s moving much more gingerly, her wrists bowed etc. and she’s rather grumpy.

She gets the injection and it’s another month of zoomies after using the litter. Night and day.