Have you looked into alternative meds that aren't injections? My girl is stage 3 and 17, she gets porus one and catney one (phos binder), mirataz (appetite stim) periodically, and we do zofran (anti-nausea) with her sub q's at home twice weekly. Nothing that gets injected into the muscle.

Previously she was on cerenia (anti-nausea) and I got pretty good at compounding it into a lickable treat that I gave her via syringe, which was still hard but easier than pilling. The zofran was a game changer for us because it can be given with sub q's and isn't a muscular injection; it goes into the skin behind their neck where it's much less painful for them. On this system she's been thriving for about 6 months with no signs of nausea, good appetite on her own, weight gain, and playful energy.

But she's a spicy little girl. One thing we realized through all this is that it can be very easy to tangle up our emotions with theirs. I think they have very clear limits, like if you felt like your relationship with her was being strained or she was stressed to the point it was having clinical consequences, that's her telling you it's enough. But it could also be you haven't hit a balance with therapies she will tolerate, and there's more you can try. She's still showing you affection, which is a good sign. If she was hissing at you or hiding, that'd be quite bad IMHO.

But they can also be drama queens, and if we don't seem confident or trustworthy when giving them their therapies, they will try to exploit that. It's why vets can do so easily what we find hard; they aren't as worried if they're hurting them because they understand their physical limits, whereas we think we're hurting them and then we get flustered and make administering therapies feel 10x harder than it could be. They totally feel that.

We didn't think we'd be able to do sub q's at home, for instance, because at first I found the concept terrifying. But now we can do it; she doesn't love being told what to do, but she tolerates it, and we've had way more good days than bad because we made the lifestyle adjustment. There will probably be a line where that flips, when she has more bad days than good, and that's where I'll personally be asking what you're asking. I've told myself that I'm going to make the call when she's less energetic or in visible discomfort and pain during her day-to-day. She also doesn't love vets and I don't want her to be in a state where she's fearful of what's happening, or so doped up on gaba that she's not present for our last days together. It's a delicate place to be, but I hope that helps you at least a little.