I lost two of my fur babies in 2025.
Rocky
My dog Rocky passed away due to complications with his canine dementia in July 2025. He was about 15 years and nine months at the time of his death. It was a slow and protracted decline once his canine dementia started to get worse in June 2024.
It started with him losing control of his bowels. That by itself was inconvenient, but it was not the end of the world. Things got a lot more complicated after he lost control of his bladder. Then he started to have chronic yeast infection and the occasional bacterial infection because he was urinating on himself. He required at least two showers a week to keep himself clean and smelling fresh.
He started getting a blank look on his face and would get lost in the house and the backyard. He lost interest in things he used to enjoy, such as trying to steal food off the dining table and barking at other dogs who walked past the front of the house.
As dementia was slowly destroying his brain cells, all the non-essential functions of his body started to shut down. He became blind towards the end, and I had to create a safe zone for him on my property so that he would not find himself in an unsafe situation. He started losing his sense of night and day, and would pace around my bedroom at night, making it very difficult for me to sleep in peace.
Amazingly, he kept his appetite all the way until the last few days of his life. I knew the end of his life was approaching once he ran out of non-essential functions to lose and one of his vital organs started to fail.
Despite going through all this with Rocky, I was very proud of him for lasting that long. He managed to avoid cancer, heart disease and diabetes. The problem with dementia is that once you get it, it is going to be the death of you because there is no known cure for it. It happens even to the best of people and dogs.
Coco
I lost Coco on 17 October 2025 due to complications with the Solensia arthritis jab that my vet gave her on 4 October 2025.
My vet was trying to address Coco’s inappropriate urination by treating her arthritis in an attempt to allow her to move better and squat in the litter box.
You may check out some of my recent Instagram posts about Coco.
I’ve had Coco since she was born in May 2008. She lived 17 years and four months. She was a very fussy but sweet cat. I believe she did not deserve to die in such an undignified way.
My vet told me the Solensia drug was safe and good. I expressed concerns about potential side effects, but he did not even tell me any of them. He kept insisting it was OK and was so confident that he even decided it was OK to skip a blood test before giving the drug to my cat.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Not checking Coco for any underlying issues that Solensia could cause complications with turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Solensia is not cheap. I was billed AUD $154 for a single jab. I saw the vet open a small packet containing two vials. I asked him what happens to the second vial that is not used; he told me it will be stored in the fridge. I cannot imagine the profit margin on these jabs if I were charged AUD $154 for a single jab from a packet of two vials that could provide two jabs in two months. I can understand his eagerness to push this drug based on the money-making potential of it for his clinic.
Solensia Side Effects According To Zoetis Themselves
This is a copy of the Solensia August 2021 insert of the drug that I was never given on the day Coco received the jab.
I was given this after my vet admitted in writing that renal insufficiency is listed as a rare side effect and that he was not aware of it. What that means is he most likely never bothered to read the insert of the Solensia drug and blindly believed it was safe and effective.
I would not have gone ahead with it if the vet showed me this and explained to me that 6.6% of the 182 cats tested on the Solensia drug experienced worsening of their kidney function. The risks outweigh the benefits. Arthritis by itself should not kill a cat, but kidney failure would 100% kill a cat.
What happened to informed consent?
In Canada, Solensia for cats has a warning that death is a possible side effect.
Yikes! Australia does not list this as a possible side effect yet, but the Canadians have raised the alarm about it.
Of all the adverse reactions (side effects) listed in Table 2 above, Coco experienced renal insufficiency, anorexia, lameness, weight loss and lethargy.
Unfortunately for Coco, Solensia not only did not make her arthritis better, but it made her arthritis worse by making her more lame than before, with a swollen and deformed right front paw.
I took her to the vet when she lost her appetite. She spent three days at the vet hospital while the vets tried to save her life. I was told on 16 October 2025 that there was nothing they could do for Coco because her kidneys were destroyed.
Coco died of kidney failure on 17 October 2025. She did not have any known history of kidney disease. She might have had kidney disease in the last months of her life, but it was never diagnosed before the Solensia jab. Her last blood test was in February 2025, and it showed no signs of kidney disease.
Her last moments were with me, comforting her and chanting my Buddhist mantra to her while she slowly slipped away at home.
The Moral of the Story
Doctors are authority figures in our society, and we are asked to place our trust in them.
Sometimes our trust is misplaced because they have allowed themselves to be corrupted by the greed of easy money and their blind faith in the drug companies.
My vet has written to apologise to me about what happened to Coco. He said he will recommend a full blood test before starting any cat on Solensia in the future. There was an error of judgment on the fateful day Coco received her first jab of Solensia.
I sincerely hope no one has to suffer the same trauma, shock and emotional distress this has caused me.
More Resources
- LFPCSA – Lots of information about the potential side effects of Solensia, a class action lawsuit against Zoetis in the UK and much more.
- LFPCSA YouTube channel dedicated to uncovering the hidden dangers of Solensia, a drug marketed as a revolutionary treatment for feline osteoarthritis. Behind the promise of relief lies a darker reality—one that has left countless cats suffering in silence.