Solensia: Adverse Reactions

[beowulf]

I’m sitting at the ER this AM, brought my old lady in because of some cumulative symptoms and my vet couldn’t fit me in until next week.

These symptoms coincide with when she was started on Solensia. I can’t decide if they are derivative of the Solensia, or just normal senescence, or if we are looking at early state kidney disease that wasn’t present two months ago.

Here are the symptoms:

• inappetence - which is really unlike her
• did not eat her breakfast this AM (hence ER visit)
• very bad reaction / skin dermatitis from the Solensia
• increased drinking
• lethargy (this predated the Solensia by a few months, but did not improve)
• mild disorientation
• behavior change - she used to sleep on the bed, now she’s sleeping in dark corners of the house

Her last shot was May 8th - the next day she had skin reactions on her head and neck, that over the span of a week turned into skin dermatitis. My vet said this is a common side effect of the Solensia but it has not gotten better.

The Solensia did improve her gait, and she did not react badly to the first shot but she also didn’t get the full dose (bad patient).

To me this all reads as indicative of kidney failure, hence the ER - but she had a senior panel pulled in March that was WNL. Could the Solensia contribute to this?

She’s due for another shot in two weeks. I’ll keep you guys updated with what the ER finds.

[NaturallyHappy]

I have no useful information…just hugs and jingles.

[NaturallyHappy]

Actually…I might. I’d forgotten- my sister’s dog became very ill w a UTI while on it. She did recover.

[Rackonteur]

Please do. My old girl has been on Solensia once a month for over a year. I haven’t thought about Solensia being the cause of some of her changes; just old age.
We are sending purrs and jingles for your girl and you and I will be reading this thread with interest.

[cilla1]

My Max developed a UTI too when he was on Librela but I didn’t connect it to the shorts, it went away with a few days of antibiotics. He was quite inappetent too but he was more picky than lacking appetite

[beowulf]

Thank you guys. We’re home. HC is okay, all tests were WNL, no kidney failure that we can tell. The best the ER can think of is that she is having a horrible over-the-top immunological response to the Solensia. Nothing definitive on urology but they prescribed an ABX that helps with brewing UTIs. They advised I discontinue Solensia. She was sent home with a week’s worth of prednisolone and ABX.

[MunchingonHay]

Thanks for the update, I am glad you guys are home with all tests WNL.

I hope kitty’s skin dermatitis clears up quickly.

[OzarksRider]

That’s great news that your cat doesn’t have kidney failure, but disappointing that Solensia may have caused the problems. I don’t know if you remember, but some months ago I started a thread asking if anyone had experience with Solensia. Most people reported positive experiences, but a couple of posters (including me) were a little leery because the drug has been on the market only a short time. For me, the biggest red flag was the fact that the FDA and its European counterpart declined to approve the human version of the drug because of side effects and limited benefit. I’ll be very interested to know if your cat improves after stopping the drug.

[going_gray]

Our cat Tinkerbelle has had arthritic symptoms for several years. She is a senior cat of unknown age. (Was a gift from my brother-in-law who did not know much about her.)

At first the injections seemed to be a godsend because they helped her a lot. She started back with jumping up on our bed and doing some zoomies up and down the steps leading into our bedroom.

After talking to our vet (Solensia was heavily advertised in the vet clinic), we went ahead with the Solensia injections. She has had three shots this year (started this spring) and the last one led to her having skin reactions on her neck, around her mouth, and just behind her head. These areas were made worse from the cat scratching her neck.

We’ve had the cat back into the vet clinic for advice and treatment; we will not be going forward with the injections. Our vet was absolutely horrified by the dermatitis. They have not had any cats so far who had reactions such as what our cat has experienced.

Our last visit our vet gave her a steroid shot, and we took home an oral antibiotic which we give her twice a day and then a solution that we dab on her affected areas. She actually likes this a lot. Must feel good!

Our vet called the company that produces Solensia and talked to one of the vets who told her that these skin reactions are/were very uncommon but that they had published a study on those cats in their control group who developed dermatitis. Five in all.

Four cats had the conditions resolve with treatment and one cat had to have its skin resectioned with surgery. Hopefully our little senior kitty will not have to go through surgery.

If possible, I will try and add in some pictures I took this morning as my husband held her in a towel before I gave her the antibiotic. I will update later as we see how things go.

[beowulf]

Keep us updated on Tinkerbelle’s condition. I’m sorry to hear the same happening to you. Your vets sound wonderful and like they have gone above and beyond to get to the root of this.

So far my kitty healed up ok - there are still a lot of missing patches of fur. I have not gone for another shot.

My clinic has been texting / emailing me about coordinating another appointment for the Solensia slash discussing what happened. I told them I wasn’t interested in another shot. From the tone of the emails I’m not entirely sure they believe her reaction was from the Solensia. I’m irritated with this practice, actually – this is the fifth or sixth critical (but not outright emergency) event that they have not been able to squeeze my cat[s] in for. They offer emergency services. I’m not sure what the point is of having a client relationship with them if I cant get them to see my cats when I need them.

[going_gray]

Thanks, beowulf! I hope your kitty continues to heal. I think our cat will heal but, like yours, she may end up with some hairless areas. I just want her to stop scratching. Because our cat is an indoor only cat, we hadn’t ever treated her for fleas but we have now done that.

Our vet is excellent (as are the others in this small animal clinic); we were really impressed that she got on the phone and called the company.

The clinic offers walk in appointments from 8:00 to 9:30 every morning and we’ve taken advantage of this. Husband is an early riser! He gets there before the vets come in sometimes.

I wonder how many cats have had skin reactions and these reactions have not been reported. I wonder now how the vets will go forward with offering these shots. With caveats I hope!

Oh, apparently we are going to get some reimbursement for treatments and visits. That will be nice!

[Ghazzu]

@going_gray

I wonder how many cats have had skin reactions and these reactions have not been reported.

Just guessing, but probably not a high number of these reactions–yet.
The clinical trials number of cats was likely relatively small, so an uncommon side effect might not show up in any significant numbers.
Now that the drug is in wide distribution, with much higher numbers of cats, we’ll probably see a more accurate picture of the incidence.

[beowulf]

@going_gray

Oh, apparently we are going to get some reimbursement for treatments and visits.

Oh nice! Did your vets arrange this? I would love to learn more… I’m guessing it gets arranged through the manufacturer? My trip to the ER was in the four digits…I wouldn’t say no to getting some of that money back but I really don’t think this unfortunate situation was the fault of any of the vets/techs.

[going_gray]

Hi, beowulf! At this time I have no idea how this transpired regarding reimbursement. Or if we will really get any recompense. I think the vet/researcher offered and our vet said yes, please send something to our clients. We will see if anything happens.

I can’t imagine having your costs! That’s astounding! Do you think your vet might contact the company as ours did? I would think they need to know that cats are having some nasty skin reactions to Solensia.

Maybe inquire and hope for the best? I’m so sorry you’ve spent such an incredible amount of money. Gotta hurt big time.

[OzarksRider]

Last year I started a thread on Solensia asking about client experiences. In post #11 I included two links to a blog and article written by a veterinarian that discusses possible side effects. Here’s a link to the thread:
https://forum.chronofhorse.com/t/monoclonal-antibody-treatment-for-arthritis-in-cats/

[beowulf]

@going_gray

Hi, beowulf! At this time I have no idea how this transpired regarding reimbursement. Or if we will really get any recompense. I think the vet/researcher offered and our vet said yes, please send something to our clients. We will see if anything happens.

I can’t imagine having your costs! That’s astounding! Do you think your vet might contact the company as ours did? I would think they need to know that cats are having some nasty skin reactions to Solensia.

Maybe inquire and hope for the best? I’m so sorry you’ve spent such an incredible amount of money. Gotta hurt big time.

I just wanted to update and thank you for suggesting I inquire. I heard back from Zoetis almost immediately. They took the whole thing very seriously. This AM I just got informed that my entire ER visit will be refunded by check ( ). I’m beyond grateful for that as it wasn’t cheap!

[Rackonteur]

Yay!

[Larbear]

I didn’t see this thread till now, glad you heard back from Zoetis! Did your vet practice ever contact Zoetis to alert them to what happened with your kitty? Glad you reached out to them!