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- Oct 31, 2022
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Dramatic title, I know, but it's true. I'm not here to bash on Cerenia or to say that everyone's experience will be the same; I imagine the drug has passed clinical trials, so was found to be safe and effective for a majority of cats. But safe it was not for Cayden, my 14 year old baby boy. This is not a request for help or guidance, this is sharing of an experience, since there are very few references online of Cerenia harming a cat.
Cayden was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma around April 2022 and we've been trying, desperately, to manage his disease and stabilize him on a cocktail of Chlorambucil, Prednisolone, Cerenia (8mg pill for assumed nausea due to lip-licking and periodic inappetence), Mirtazapine (to counteract inappetence), Lactulose (to attempt to resolve constipation), and a handful of other meds that did little to nothing to resolve the symptoms they were meant to target. Our oncologist (let's call him Dr. Bob) believed that Cerenia was the best option to resolve Cayden's nausea (even though it didn't seem to be having an effect), so Dr. Bob instructed us to start giving Cayden a daily dose of Cerenia, which we did, leaving out a few days here and there to give him a rest (since he hated being pilled). Over time we noticed his daily intake of calories was gradually reducing, but we assumed this was related to his lymphoma not being controlled well.
In August/September, we had a medical emergency - Cayden had mostly stopped eating - and rushed to the ER. The ER Vet provided a small supply of Omeprazole and Metoclopramide and instructed us to lay off the Cerenia for a few days since the Metoclopramide also acted as an antinauseant. Within a couple days, Cayden's appetite started to come back. I had a debate with Dr. Bob, insisting that the Cerenia was keeping Cayden from vomiting, but not dealing with his symptoms of nausea (Cerenia is advertised as an anti-emetic) and that we had more luck with Metoclopramide. Dr. Bob wouldn't hear it and insisted we continue with the Cerenia (would not provide more Metoclopramide). So we continue to give him the Cerenia.
October 20th, we start to see something scary: not only is Cayden's appetite extremely low, the Mirtazapine, which was giving him 3 day boosts to keep him eating, was doing nothing. Cayden was eating next to nothing and the only tools in our belt weren't helping. We moved up our appointment with Dr. Bob, but it was still a week away (the earliest he was available). We tried desperately to get some Metoclopramide from one of our vets, but no one would provide it. So we watched, day by day, as my sweet baby shriveled up on himself: he ate next to nothing, he did nothing but sleep, he had no interest in giving or receiving love. The only way he'd eat is to lick wet food off of our fingers and even that wasn't always successful. We took him to our primary vet on October 25th and had a very difficult talk about putting Cayden to sleep. We were devastated. We decided to schedule an in-home euthanasia for October 28th... and we grieved. We told the people around us what was happening and that we were going to need time to mourn.
On the morning of the 27th, when I was about to make the call to book the appointment, I was pouring through Cayden's health tracking sheet, trying to see any sort of pattern... and I spotted something. The loss of appetite in August/September and again in October, each coincided with a period of time when Cayden had Cerenia on a daily basis for over a week, with no rest days. I Googled like a madman and found a small handful of people online claiming that Cerenia was having an effect on their cats appetite and I decided: I needed to run one last experiment. Friday morning, Cayden did not receive a Cerenia and I went out to get as many different types of enticing wet foods as I could. Friday night, Cayden began eating, a little. Saturday morning, Cayden ate a bit on his own - the first time in days. Each day since Friday, Cayden has been eating a little bit more. This morning, I gave Cayden some Mirtazapine, again, and he's been eating like a champ now that the Cerenia isn't counteracting the Mirtazapine.
We're still on high-alert here. Through trial and error some months ago, we discovered Cayden requires roughly 110-130 calories a day to maintain his weight. For the past nine days, he's had below 100 calories, eating as little as 45 calories one day. But our tracking sheet shows that he's eating a little more every day since Friday. We're also seeing him slowly come back to his personality. He still sleeps a lot, as he should with his low caloric intake, but he's more interested and curious about the world and last night he snuggled with me for the first time in weeks. We're cautiously optimistic, but we know that there are so many ill effects that could come from the hardship his body just went through. We're getting him a little more stable, then we'll take him back to our primary vet for another assessment.
I break a little, on the inside, thinking about how close I came to putting my baby to sleep because I didn't see this pattern sooner. But I finally have confirmation that Cerenia was killing my cat and it no longer has a place in this house.
Cayden was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma around April 2022 and we've been trying, desperately, to manage his disease and stabilize him on a cocktail of Chlorambucil, Prednisolone, Cerenia (8mg pill for assumed nausea due to lip-licking and periodic inappetence), Mirtazapine (to counteract inappetence), Lactulose (to attempt to resolve constipation), and a handful of other meds that did little to nothing to resolve the symptoms they were meant to target. Our oncologist (let's call him Dr. Bob) believed that Cerenia was the best option to resolve Cayden's nausea (even though it didn't seem to be having an effect), so Dr. Bob instructed us to start giving Cayden a daily dose of Cerenia, which we did, leaving out a few days here and there to give him a rest (since he hated being pilled). Over time we noticed his daily intake of calories was gradually reducing, but we assumed this was related to his lymphoma not being controlled well.
In August/September, we had a medical emergency - Cayden had mostly stopped eating - and rushed to the ER. The ER Vet provided a small supply of Omeprazole and Metoclopramide and instructed us to lay off the Cerenia for a few days since the Metoclopramide also acted as an antinauseant. Within a couple days, Cayden's appetite started to come back. I had a debate with Dr. Bob, insisting that the Cerenia was keeping Cayden from vomiting, but not dealing with his symptoms of nausea (Cerenia is advertised as an anti-emetic) and that we had more luck with Metoclopramide. Dr. Bob wouldn't hear it and insisted we continue with the Cerenia (would not provide more Metoclopramide). So we continue to give him the Cerenia.
October 20th, we start to see something scary: not only is Cayden's appetite extremely low, the Mirtazapine, which was giving him 3 day boosts to keep him eating, was doing nothing. Cayden was eating next to nothing and the only tools in our belt weren't helping. We moved up our appointment with Dr. Bob, but it was still a week away (the earliest he was available). We tried desperately to get some Metoclopramide from one of our vets, but no one would provide it. So we watched, day by day, as my sweet baby shriveled up on himself: he ate next to nothing, he did nothing but sleep, he had no interest in giving or receiving love. The only way he'd eat is to lick wet food off of our fingers and even that wasn't always successful. We took him to our primary vet on October 25th and had a very difficult talk about putting Cayden to sleep. We were devastated. We decided to schedule an in-home euthanasia for October 28th... and we grieved. We told the people around us what was happening and that we were going to need time to mourn.
On the morning of the 27th, when I was about to make the call to book the appointment, I was pouring through Cayden's health tracking sheet, trying to see any sort of pattern... and I spotted something. The loss of appetite in August/September and again in October, each coincided with a period of time when Cayden had Cerenia on a daily basis for over a week, with no rest days. I Googled like a madman and found a small handful of people online claiming that Cerenia was having an effect on their cats appetite and I decided: I needed to run one last experiment. Friday morning, Cayden did not receive a Cerenia and I went out to get as many different types of enticing wet foods as I could. Friday night, Cayden began eating, a little. Saturday morning, Cayden ate a bit on his own - the first time in days. Each day since Friday, Cayden has been eating a little bit more. This morning, I gave Cayden some Mirtazapine, again, and he's been eating like a champ now that the Cerenia isn't counteracting the Mirtazapine.
We're still on high-alert here. Through trial and error some months ago, we discovered Cayden requires roughly 110-130 calories a day to maintain his weight. For the past nine days, he's had below 100 calories, eating as little as 45 calories one day. But our tracking sheet shows that he's eating a little more every day since Friday. We're also seeing him slowly come back to his personality. He still sleeps a lot, as he should with his low caloric intake, but he's more interested and curious about the world and last night he snuggled with me for the first time in weeks. We're cautiously optimistic, but we know that there are so many ill effects that could come from the hardship his body just went through. We're getting him a little more stable, then we'll take him back to our primary vet for another assessment.
I break a little, on the inside, thinking about how close I came to putting my baby to sleep because I didn't see this pattern sooner. But I finally have confirmation that Cerenia was killing my cat and it no longer has a place in this house.