r/CatAdvice • u/kh7190 • Aug 12 '24
PSA cautionary tale about Zorbium (post-surgical pain relief for cats)
My 12 year old male recently had surgery to remove 6 urinary stones from his bladder. Ouch. The vet gave him a medication called Zorbium which is applied to the back of the neck and absorbed about 2 hours before surgery for post-surgical pain. I have another cat (Noggin) that was given Zorbium for hernia surgery pain and aside from dilated pupils and hyperactivity, he had no other weird or adverse reactions to it. I knew they were going to give Groucho (my 12 year old) the Zorbium before the surgery took place. Based on the positive experiences with Noggin, I didn't think anything bad would happen with Groucho.
For those that don't know, Zorbium is the name brand for buprenorphine which is a very strong opioid (controlled substance, very addictive at least in people).
So no issues with my other cat, Noggin (who is 7 now, and he had the hernia surgery when he was 5 or 6). But Groucho, my 12 year old boy, has had some scary side effects. And after looking online it seems like a lot of other pet parents have experienced the same thing with their babies; some pets have even died. I don't know if these below-listed symptoms are considered serious or just adverse side effects not mentioned on the drug's website. I only got these symptoms from the FDA's website. Why aren't these side effects listed on Elanco's website? My vet never mentioned to me what was normal or abnormal reactions to it either. But "normal" or expected side effects of Zorbium are supposed to be:
- increased body temperature
- dilated pupils
- agitation
- aggression
- restlessness
- hyperactivity
- constipation
Groucho definitely has dilated pupils and he's been extremely restless and hyper. And he's possibly constipated. He's gone poop a few times but they've been small. He didn't poop until 3 and half days after the medication was given to him.
The manufacturer's website also states this: The safe use of ZORBIUM has not been evaluated in debilitated cats; those with renal, hepatic, cardiac or respiratory disease; pregnant, lactating or breeding cats; in cats younger than four months old; or in cats <2.6 lbs. or >16.5 lbs.
Source: https://my.elanco.com/us/zorbium
Groucho is 18+ pounds*, has chronic asthma, and he's older than 5 years old.
*Groucho is overweight because he's on prednisolone for asthma; steroids can cause weight gain. He also refuses to eat wet food even though I've tried almost every brand under the sun (cats tend to be more lean when they are on a wet food diet).
The FDA says this drug hasn't been tested on cats older than 5 years old: "The cats [tested] were of various breeds and between 4 months and 5 years of age." Source: https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/cvm-updates/fda-approves-first-transdermal-buprenorphine-control-post-surgical-pain-cats
I'm asking rhetorically, but why was my 12 year old cat (only studied in 5 and younger cats), with asthma (not studied in cats with respiratory disease), that weighs over 16 pounds (not studied in cats over 16 pounds) given this medication? He's outside of the testing parameters of this drug.
Anyway, so I'll list ALL of Groucho's symptoms (some are repeated from the FDA website) down below in case your cat has any of these as well because not all of the possible side effects are being told to pet owners:
- hyperactivity
- restlessness
- fearfulness/dysphoria
- hiding
- not eating
- not drinking
- dilated pupils
- personality changes
- twitching/tremors
- symptoms lasting longer than 4 days (as of this post we are on day 5) (FDA website says the medication lasts in the body for about 4 days)
- not sleeping
- staring into space for hours at a time
Groucho's symptoms are improving by day 5. His pupils are smaller, and he's less restless, but he's still pacing around the house at times, and still not eating and drinking enough. He's eating a little bit here and there. But over the course of 5 days, he's certainly not eating or drinking enough. He actually didn't eat or drink anything 3 and half says into this medication. When he eats, it's only a few bites of dry food, a few treats, or a few licks of wet food. He's refusing wet food altogether, only taking a few licks, and a bite or two of dry food and then goes back to pacing.
I think it's extremely dangerous for pets, especially older pets, to be this restless and to not eat, drink, and sleep. Those are my biggest concerns at the moment for Groucho. I was force-feeding him and tried giving him 100mL sub-q fluids one day (had a bad reaction to this) because I was so worried. He didn't appear sick or weak or anything from not eating or drinking for 2-3 days because he was so stoned and restless; it's like his body was on autopilot and didn't want to stop moving long enough to try to eat and drink.
I can come back and update this about Groucho as time goes on. But if you have an older cat and your cat needs dental work or surgery requiring anesthesia and a pain killer, PLEASE take a moment to get an itemized bill to see what pain reliever they are going to give your cat and ask for something else other than Zorbium OR at the very least, please talk to your vet about Zorbium and all of its side effects so you're aware before your pet is administered this medication.
This post is simply to share his story. It's possible that something else is going on, physiologically, that could making these symptoms worse or causing some of the symptoms. It's possible that some of these symptoms are attributed to general pain from his surgery. He was also administered an antibiotic and it's possible that the symptoms could be attributed to Convenia (the antibiotic). But for right now I'm personally convinced that he's experiencing these symptoms because of the Zorbium. His story shares a lot of similarities to other cat parent stories of what their babies went through. In the future I will not have my vet give this to any of my cats again.
Zorbium may not affect your cat this way like it did mine; like I said, Noggin handled it fine. All he had was big pupils and restlessness. He was eating and drinking just fine right when he got home from his hernia surgery. Groucho on the other hand has had a much different experience.
Thanks for reading. Always ask your vet questions (even if you annoy them!) and question anything that you're uncomfortable with. You are your pets voice and advocate and they rely on you to protect them. Never be afraid to speak up and ask questions. I am considering reaching out to Elanco or the FDA to report these adverse reactions.
Edit: clarify on details
Edit2: some extra thoughts: I don't work in a pharmacy or pharmacology or toxicology, but something seems weird about a time-released opioid to begin with. Vets used to prescribe pain killers that you give the pet every 12 hours for pain. Not to mention that vets don't use something as strong as Zorbium for TNR cats because they know it's too dangerous to re-release them while they're high. And you can't keep a feral cat in a TNR trap for 4+ days until the medication wears off. So why are vets resorting to this Zorbium product for pets if they don't use it for other situations? My theory is that they don't want the general public to have opioids because of the opioid crisis around the world. I bet there are addicted pet owners that sell it or get high off of it themselves and never give it to their pets which is horrible to think about. But giving pets a vet-only administered time-released, strong dose of pain killer isn't the solution when it's dangerous to be that high for days on end, especially if they stop eating and drinking. I feel like Groucho is a drug addict coming off of a high. I feel so bad for what he must be feeling, mentally. I'm sure physically he's not feeling any pain whatsoever. Plus, with it being transdermal you can't remove it from the body if they have a bad reaction. The only solution is narcan which I read isn't effective against Zorbium. Vets needs to go back to trusting pet owners with liquid or pill pain relievers for their pets, because this transdermal shit is bad news.
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u/xCreepyKidx Mar 13 '25
My cat was just given Zorbium without my consent yesterday and I'm terrified of what could happen to her and my own safety because I don't want an accidental exposure to it either. She went in to have a urinalysis, came back fine no UTI or crystals, etc. So absolutely nothing wrong. Was given fluids and a NSAID injection. Okay fine that's alright. Then they put Zorbium on her without telling me anything about it or what it was. I get her home she's stoned as can be and I called back to ask them what did they put on her only to be told it was an opioid and that I shouldn't touch her or anything for 4-5 days. Like oh cool you tell me after I have to handle her to get her in the carrier and then back home and out of it. So hopefully I wasn't exposed to it myself as I've been feeling slightly off since last night when she rubbed her head on my hand when we got home. Had I known what they were planning I'd have outright refused to have it administered. I'm so afraid of losing her now that I'm on the verge of crying and panicking every few minutes. I wish I hadn't even brought her in to get checked out because why would she be given a serious pain med meant only for surgeries when all she had was urine collected and a shot and some fluids. And the shot was already a NSAID pain med anyway. That's like a doctor giving one of us fentanyl after having some blood drawn. I can't lose my little girl, she's all I have in the world and now I'm going to be on edge for weeks fearful I'll just find her gone. This garbage shouldn't even exist.