The gift/jab that keeps on giving

No, I am not talking about Covid, but about its cousin in the veterinary world, Librela (dogs) and Solensia (cats)

It’s been a tough week as a veterinarian. As many of you know, I have been writing about and warning you about a genetically engineered monoclonal product called Librela, which is labeled to treat arthritis in dogs.

You can read up on all my posts, including:

More on Librela

LIBRELA

I have had more than a few Librela cases come my way. Most of them find me by word of mouth referral, the way my practice has worked for over 25 years. I have a pattern of getting all the tough cases that other vets either just plain give up on, or that they simply cannot figure out. Librela cases fit that mold.

Dogs suffering from the side effects from Librela do not fit the physical exam parameters found with dogs suffering from arthritis, or neurological disease. The flow chart of a typical neurological exam and its findings, leading one to a diagnosis, gets thrown out the window.

On top of that, in most of these cases Librela was never a suspect in the cause behind the dogs strange symptoms. If clients ask their veterinarian if it could be the Librela, they are quickly told, “Liubrela has no side effects. It could not possibly be that. Zoetis told us so.” Exact words, not kidding.

When exactly did veterinarians come to trust pharmaceutical companies to the point of it being to their detriment?!? I chalk it up to Stockholm syndrome.

The only way I can make sense of many of these cases is to determine the Traditional Chinese Medicine pattern diagnosis and treat it. A common one I see in these cases is “Spleen Sinking” . This is when the proverbial rug gets pulled out from under you. The Qi, Life Force Energy, is so low, the patient cannot even stand up or hold themselves up in a standing position. It is often so low they do not have the energy to chew or even pick up food in their mouths.

As I said, I am seeing several of these dogs over the past 6-12 months. The 3 cases I will refer to in this post received anywhere from 1 -3 Librela injections last Fall, so 5-6 months ago. I managed to get all 3 of them to a stable position, up, walking, eating, doing some normal daily activities that are so important for quality of life. I even posted a video montage of the Labrador going for her evening walk.

Until this past week…

They have all crashed in one way or another. One began having severe vomiting issues, which we found out is from kidney failure setting in. It could not be the deposition of immune complexes formed by the Librela in the kidneys, could it?

The second is walking like a stiff old man, spine arched, yet no abnormalities like disk disease or spondylosis on radiographs.

The third, a precious mixed breed who survived the bad hurricane in the Bahamas, developed severe vestibular disease along with collapsing in the hind end.

As I scroll through the Librela Facebook groups, I cannot help but notice a pattern I do not want to see. Dogs that once recovered, at least to some extent, are regressing, many severe enough to lead to their euthanasia because their humans cannot bear to watch them suffer any more.

I get it.

The FDA required Zoetis to update the package insert for Librela, adding those items highlighted below:

The CMO, or Chief Medical Officer, from Zoetis, held zoom office hours for veterinarians concerning the new changes. I signed up because I wanted to hear what this man had to say directly from his own mouth.

He answered a question about mobility issues after receiving the injection. His suggestion for how veterinarians could handle this problem was to explain to the client that, just like dogs may eat more, drink more water, and urinate more after receiving prednisone, dogs receiving Librela may walk a little funny afterward. But don’t worry—they aren’t in pain.

I am left with praying that this medication gets removed from the market and that something is done to stop these companies from torturing our animals and brainwashing people who call themselves veterinarians.

Please help get the word out. There are several class action lawsuits ongoing.

We have a crowd-sourced web page with lots of resources, petadvocare.com

And if anyone has the ear of RFKjr please put in a word about this issue. It is creating far too much suffering for the animals and their families. There are plenty of other ways to treat arthritis that do not cause so much harm.

**I want to mention that the same thing is happening with Solensia, the feline equivalent. Every day, kitties are collapsing and experiencing horrible effects from the injection.

*** FOOTNOTE: Cases of ROPA, “Rapid Onset Progresive Arthritis”, a syndrome seen in human trials of these products, where joints disintegrate in real time, creating the need for emergency joint replacement surgery, are now showing up in dogs receiving Librela. There are some veterinary orthopedic surgeons warning about it.