my poor boy has old man knees. he's 16 years and I have realized he's not going to be around for a lot longer. my goal is to make him comfortable in his latter years.vet recommended solensia, is there a good alternative? he hates the vet and it costs like 100 bucks each injection which is wild.
>>5163738can you order the vials and do the shots yourself? it would at least save you a trip to the vet.
>>5163756unfortunately it doesn't seem so. they won't sign off on the meds unless they or a licensed vet does the injection. liability issues. I was thinking of looking for it in aftermarket and doing it myself.. but I haven't given him injections myself before and would have to learn
>>5163757subq is pretty easy, it might be worth looking into if it’s between that or having him go without. you could also find a mobile vet to come by. hopefully there are cheaper alternatives but really pets just become expensive once they’re old
>>5163738I strongly advise against solensia. we gave it to our 20 year old diabetic fat fuck and it improved his symptoms for ~2 months before it suddenly wrecked him. He went from slow standing up to total hindleg paralysis. His diabetes was well managed and our vet visits before getting him on it showed excellent bloodwork and vitals.After we watched him crash on it we did the research and discovered it was originally trialed in humans and was judged to cause too many negative side effects and trials were cancelled. But I guess it's fine for cats and dogs even if it kills them sometimes.
>>5163776and yes also I know>perfectly healthy obese diabetic geriatric catbut it was obvious. He went from a modest improvement to total failure and death very quickly. His brother died from kidney issues a few years prior so there wasn't a 1:1 comparison but having owned multiple cats and dogs that have lived beyond average life expectancy it's very rare that something other than something acute takes an animal from arthritic slow standing up to complete inability to stand in that short of a timeframe. He was not *that* slow to stand up. He was my third 20+ year old cat and none of the others crashed like that.
>>5163738I've heard that colloidal silver (diluted in water) can help with degenerative bone diseases. But the most important thing is diet. Avoiding kibble, giving him real food like meat.
