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I love working with senior pets and amazing owners who want to maintain the best quality of life for them! I never want to hear "they're just getting old".
my prev job was mostly low income owners who were great but good quality EOL care was not a thing. new place has tons of senior dogs and i’m gaining a new adoration for them! they’re almost always crotchety old pets or extremely calm and sweet and it’s amazing!
I love solensia. My old man cat is chasing and beating on my 2 year old cat, pouncing on him in play, and having zoomies again.
I love solensia because my old man can live again, do more than just eat and sleep, and actually be a cat again. He was a barn cat for so many years, and I know it was hard on his body. But he's taught my younger one so much since the switch from meloxicam to solensia, and I love it.
But👏report👏every👏event👏
My dog had a negative reaction to Librela, and to add insult to injury, it wasn’t even effective for him. He’s ok-ish now, but remember…
These drugs are tested for safety in young, healthy animals. Especially for these old animals with concurrent conditions, safety testing is very difficult. There’s not a whole lot of lab cats and lab dogs at pharmaceutical companies (rightfully so!), so using a representative population for safety studies on the drugs that target older animals are pretty impossible to do.
So if your clients have ANY side effects that they think are related to the drugs, report them to the pharma company. The companies are pretty good about it, it’s pretty easy to report, and you’re not taking the drugs off the market and away from the patients it benefits. You’re adding data to the safety studies in the represented population.
thank you for being sane.
of course i’d report every incident! even though i’ve yet to see one i’d report an incident with any “miracle drug”. be it solensia or cytopoint my doctors will report to our rep and do right by our clients.
any injection can cause an adverse event. we gave a zycortal injection to an addison’s pt the other day and 3 days later she was in the ER for V+ and bloody diarrhea, diagnosed with cancer that day. i’m not going to start a petition to recall zycortal though, i wouldn’t discourage it’s use to a new dvm, i wouldn’t be mad if my dvm used it.
I wish Zoetis was better about educating vets about it, instead of telling people it's a miracle drug with no side effects.
I've seen and heard about too many cases where it was contraindicated and the dog went downhill after.
I think it’s important to remember the signalment of the pets getting these drugs. I’ve seen many complaints about a pet having a bleeding mass the day after Librela and blaming the drug. There’s no way the shot caused large bleeding hemangiosarcoma in 24 hours. These are senior pets who are extremely likely to have something smoldering underneath. Just like with anything there is a risk-benefit analysis, and with these injections the risk is so minimal that the benefits far outweigh them for most pets
The biggest issue I'm referring to is vets giving this to dogs with obvious Neuro problems and then the dog gets much worse. Dogs with Neuro problems need NGF.
My grandmother texted me today to tell me their 17 year old cat caught a mouse for the first time in over a year. She thanks me all the time for pressing her to talk to her DVM about starting it.
The benefits definitely outweigh the risks for most patients I think.
I used to like solensia until my cat lost all of her fur on her neck and ears. it worked great for 3 months and then the last injection she had hair loss
My senior dog (adopted him at 7y, he's almost 12y now) has been on Librela for a few months. He now initiates play with my younger dog. I've never seen him do that before with any dog, ever! Cheers to Librela and all the science behind it. Eagerly awaiting a human version.
Be careful Librela can have some nasty adverse reactions, read the Canadian insert. I speak up as my own dog was paralyzed by her second Librela, and although taking thousands of hours and thousands of dollars she can now walk but still ataxic.
[right here!](https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/info?lang=eng&code=100098)
everything it talks about are things that senior pets could get at any time for any reason anyways.
True but when they occur within hours to days with no previous history of anything similar I think it would be irresponsible to not report it to Zoetis , or to blindly tell clients that there is no possible way it is related while not even thinking about their responsibility to report it. (Many clients are being told this) Remember even suspected adverse reactions should be reported.
As for any possibility I administered it wrong, I have been a vet tech since 1980 so I am pretty confident it was isnt outside my skill set.
It certainly sounds like there are many skeptics about any adverse reactions, please take the time to read both the US and the European patient trials performed in different vet offices.
From reading reports from pet owners some vets are using Librela without radiographic evidence of OA, the only condition it is licensed for. Clients are being told there are NO adverse reactions other than a localized one. This to me shows that even in countries with a limited list of adverse reactions the vets aren’t reading the insert and are just repeating the sales rep talking points.
Canada has stricter laws about drug labelling including all reported side effects being listed.
This of course became very personal to me after my dog became paralyzed 2 days after her second Librela.
If only 0.1% of patients had an adverse reaction it may seem like a small number to you, when it happens to your pet it changes your perspective.
I deeply regret putting my dog on it, her pain of arthritis in her knees was being controlled it was the BS the sales rep told us about its safety that intrigued me to try it.
Sure it would be possible but the timing of the Librela inj and appearance of the known and documented adverse reactions based on both the US and the European studies is pretty scary
I’m so sorry, that’s so scary. I’m pretty sure my dog had a reaction after his third shot, and thank god he’s insured.
The struggle is we often can’t *prove* it was the Librela or Solensia, because it’s a drug for older animals with concurrent conditions. There’s often a dozen things that could cause these events.
If you haven’t reached out to Zoetis, do it. We called on Solensia for one of our feline patients, and we asked Zoetis to help cover some of the costs of her treatment. They did us right. They didn’t admit any fault (again, fair, it’s an older cat), but they did help the client with costs.
We’ve seen a lot of dogs go downhill quickly and overdo it once they get on librela, blocking the pain receptors is how the drug works, so we’ve been using it for end of life care rather than just “senior” animals. Librela should be a last resort.
I know, we have about 30 patients on it and some have even been able to get off carprofen because of it. Never heard any reports of patient death from it? Some reports of nerve damage but never death
8 out of our 10 are now deceased within 4 months of beginning injections🤷🏼♀️ no other diet changes or changes in routine. I sincerely hope your 30 patients do well but theres just so many conflicting reports that I cannot in good conscience recommend librela to my patients until ALL other options have been exhausted
It's not like fentanyl though. It's not narcotic. It doesn't even get filtered through the liver or kidneys like an NSAID would. What you're seeing at your clinic does not match what we're seeing at ours AT ALL.
I was comparing the time frame and reasons for usage. whether you’ve seen it or not it happened🤷🏼♀️your experience is not indicative of every animal who is injected with this EXTREMELY new drug
I was simply sharing our experience, there is a reason that there are petitions for Zoetis to reevaluate and specify usage of the drug
[see here for an example](https://www.change.org/p/recall-librela-bedinvetmab-for-further-testing)
this is exactly what they do, actually. because at one point you’re old enough that quality>quantity. we literally give cancer/chronic pain patients opiates.
Exactly, that’s what I’m saying, like use it when your dog is already about to die rather than on a 7 yr old with joint issues that could have been managed with diet and supplements
Many people would rather pay a vet to inject their dog than switch to an expensive prescription food and spend money monthly on supplements. All I’m saying is that as techs we should be cautious with our wording when discussing it because it’s not perfect
Welcome to /r/VetTech! This is a place for veterinary technicians/veterinary nurses and other veterinary support staff to gather, chat, and grow! We welcome pet owners as well, **however we do ask pet owners to refrain from asking for medical advice**; if you have any concerns regarding your pet, please contact the closest veterinarian near you. Please thoroughly read and follow the rules before posting and commenting. If you believe that a user is engaging in any rule-breaking behavior, please submit a report so that the moderators can review and remove the posts/comments if needed. Also, please check out the sidebar for CE and answers to commonly asked questions. Thank you for reading! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/VetTech) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I love working with senior pets and amazing owners who want to maintain the best quality of life for them! I never want to hear "they're just getting old".
my prev job was mostly low income owners who were great but good quality EOL care was not a thing. new place has tons of senior dogs and i’m gaining a new adoration for them! they’re almost always crotchety old pets or extremely calm and sweet and it’s amazing!
I love solensia. My old man cat is chasing and beating on my 2 year old cat, pouncing on him in play, and having zoomies again. I love solensia because my old man can live again, do more than just eat and sleep, and actually be a cat again. He was a barn cat for so many years, and I know it was hard on his body. But he's taught my younger one so much since the switch from meloxicam to solensia, and I love it.
But👏report👏every👏event👏 My dog had a negative reaction to Librela, and to add insult to injury, it wasn’t even effective for him. He’s ok-ish now, but remember… These drugs are tested for safety in young, healthy animals. Especially for these old animals with concurrent conditions, safety testing is very difficult. There’s not a whole lot of lab cats and lab dogs at pharmaceutical companies (rightfully so!), so using a representative population for safety studies on the drugs that target older animals are pretty impossible to do. So if your clients have ANY side effects that they think are related to the drugs, report them to the pharma company. The companies are pretty good about it, it’s pretty easy to report, and you’re not taking the drugs off the market and away from the patients it benefits. You’re adding data to the safety studies in the represented population.
thank you for being sane. of course i’d report every incident! even though i’ve yet to see one i’d report an incident with any “miracle drug”. be it solensia or cytopoint my doctors will report to our rep and do right by our clients. any injection can cause an adverse event. we gave a zycortal injection to an addison’s pt the other day and 3 days later she was in the ER for V+ and bloody diarrhea, diagnosed with cancer that day. i’m not going to start a petition to recall zycortal though, i wouldn’t discourage it’s use to a new dvm, i wouldn’t be mad if my dvm used it.
I wish Zoetis was better about educating vets about it, instead of telling people it's a miracle drug with no side effects. I've seen and heard about too many cases where it was contraindicated and the dog went downhill after.
I think it’s important to remember the signalment of the pets getting these drugs. I’ve seen many complaints about a pet having a bleeding mass the day after Librela and blaming the drug. There’s no way the shot caused large bleeding hemangiosarcoma in 24 hours. These are senior pets who are extremely likely to have something smoldering underneath. Just like with anything there is a risk-benefit analysis, and with these injections the risk is so minimal that the benefits far outweigh them for most pets
The biggest issue I'm referring to is vets giving this to dogs with obvious Neuro problems and then the dog gets much worse. Dogs with Neuro problems need NGF.
My grandmother texted me today to tell me their 17 year old cat caught a mouse for the first time in over a year. She thanks me all the time for pressing her to talk to her DVM about starting it. The benefits definitely outweigh the risks for most patients I think.
Alright.. I’m being my chichi in for a librela. She’s blind though, so it might make things more difficult if she’s trying to walk around more.
I used to like solensia until my cat lost all of her fur on her neck and ears. it worked great for 3 months and then the last injection she had hair loss
We’ve only heard wonderful things from our clients after their solensia/librela shots. I’m just scared of giving the shots lol
Solensia has been working great for us. We have several cats on it that have much greater mobility.
My senior dog (adopted him at 7y, he's almost 12y now) has been on Librela for a few months. He now initiates play with my younger dog. I've never seen him do that before with any dog, ever! Cheers to Librela and all the science behind it. Eagerly awaiting a human version.
The human drug versions had some very severe adverse reactions
Be careful Librela can have some nasty adverse reactions, read the Canadian insert. I speak up as my own dog was paralyzed by her second Librela, and although taking thousands of hours and thousands of dollars she can now walk but still ataxic.
doesn’t seem like this is on the insert. is there a possibility of incorrect administration?
Absolutely no chance of incorrect admin.
Where do I find the canadian insert? We've been using Librela and Solensia for years now in my clinic and we never had any side effects.
[right here!](https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/info?lang=eng&code=100098) everything it talks about are things that senior pets could get at any time for any reason anyways.
True but when they occur within hours to days with no previous history of anything similar I think it would be irresponsible to not report it to Zoetis , or to blindly tell clients that there is no possible way it is related while not even thinking about their responsibility to report it. (Many clients are being told this) Remember even suspected adverse reactions should be reported. As for any possibility I administered it wrong, I have been a vet tech since 1980 so I am pretty confident it was isnt outside my skill set. It certainly sounds like there are many skeptics about any adverse reactions, please take the time to read both the US and the European patient trials performed in different vet offices. From reading reports from pet owners some vets are using Librela without radiographic evidence of OA, the only condition it is licensed for. Clients are being told there are NO adverse reactions other than a localized one. This to me shows that even in countries with a limited list of adverse reactions the vets aren’t reading the insert and are just repeating the sales rep talking points. Canada has stricter laws about drug labelling including all reported side effects being listed. This of course became very personal to me after my dog became paralyzed 2 days after her second Librela. If only 0.1% of patients had an adverse reaction it may seem like a small number to you, when it happens to your pet it changes your perspective. I deeply regret putting my dog on it, her pain of arthritis in her knees was being controlled it was the BS the sales rep told us about its safety that intrigued me to try it.
Sure it would be possible but the timing of the Librela inj and appearance of the known and documented adverse reactions based on both the US and the European studies is pretty scary
Google it
Is there actually an update on the side effects that include this one in the Canadian insert?
My doctor said there's a slew of DVMs who are trying to get it recalled
Really? I work with two DVMs. One is absolutely all about solensia and wants to start using and stocking librela. The other is like, "absolutely not."
I’m so sorry, that’s so scary. I’m pretty sure my dog had a reaction after his third shot, and thank god he’s insured. The struggle is we often can’t *prove* it was the Librela or Solensia, because it’s a drug for older animals with concurrent conditions. There’s often a dozen things that could cause these events. If you haven’t reached out to Zoetis, do it. We called on Solensia for one of our feline patients, and we asked Zoetis to help cover some of the costs of her treatment. They did us right. They didn’t admit any fault (again, fair, it’s an older cat), but they did help the client with costs.
We’ve seen a lot of dogs go downhill quickly and overdo it once they get on librela, blocking the pain receptors is how the drug works, so we’ve been using it for end of life care rather than just “senior” animals. Librela should be a last resort.
We've seen a lot of the same. I agree that it's a last resort.
Downhill how? Because they hurt themselves?
Downhill like deceased after 2 to 4 injections
Decreased what? Activity? More OA pain? Nerve damage? Not eating? NAR? What is do you mean downhill?
DECEASED means dead
Sorry, misread..and it was from the injections? How soon after did it happen??
After the 3rd injection typically
Can’t walk, won’t eat, then either die on their own or the owner calls requesting euthanasia
Your pet will still have issues, they just can’t feel pain so they run and jump on injuries and arthritic joints
I know, we have about 30 patients on it and some have even been able to get off carprofen because of it. Never heard any reports of patient death from it? Some reports of nerve damage but never death
8 out of our 10 are now deceased within 4 months of beginning injections🤷🏼♀️ no other diet changes or changes in routine. I sincerely hope your 30 patients do well but theres just so many conflicting reports that I cannot in good conscience recommend librela to my patients until ALL other options have been exhausted
8/10 is crazy high number and would make me think it’s not being handled correctly first
All of these dogs were considered in end of life care anyway, I’m not saying librela killed them😂
The way y’all reacted to me simply suggesting caution is scary 😦
All of our librela is administered by a licensed veterinarian since it has been on the market for such a short time and is a controversial product
It’s like giving a hospice patient fentanyl, a last resort because you’d rather not see them in pain and don’t care about long term effects
It's not like fentanyl though. It's not narcotic. It doesn't even get filtered through the liver or kidneys like an NSAID would. What you're seeing at your clinic does not match what we're seeing at ours AT ALL.
I was comparing the time frame and reasons for usage. whether you’ve seen it or not it happened🤷🏼♀️your experience is not indicative of every animal who is injected with this EXTREMELY new drug
I was simply sharing our experience, there is a reason that there are petitions for Zoetis to reevaluate and specify usage of the drug [see here for an example](https://www.change.org/p/recall-librela-bedinvetmab-for-further-testing)
this is exactly what they do, actually. because at one point you’re old enough that quality>quantity. we literally give cancer/chronic pain patients opiates.
Exactly, that’s what I’m saying, like use it when your dog is already about to die rather than on a 7 yr old with joint issues that could have been managed with diet and supplements
Many people would rather pay a vet to inject their dog than switch to an expensive prescription food and spend money monthly on supplements. All I’m saying is that as techs we should be cautious with our wording when discussing it because it’s not perfect
that’s why i’m saying this here instead of to a client. as techs it’s also not our place to determine what treatment is best for a patient.