Prednisone & cats -- side effects?

Onyx (civie) was given Prednisone for his allegies, he has only been on it for 2 days, but has me concerned. They started him on 10mg (seems high for a 13 lb cat) for the first 4 days. The biggest change I have seen in him is he is drinking like a diabetic,(huge pee balls in the litter box) and isn't eating like his normal piggy self. He will ocassionally vomit, not much but some after eating, or shortly after taking his pill. Is there anything I should be watching in him or are these normal for the early stages of the drug? It doesn't seem to be helping his itchies much either, he is scratching less but still scratching. He is more social now, not hiding in dark places like before and is now back to joining us for cuddle time in the evenings on the couch.

He is very easy to test, he was my home testing teacher when Muse became ill so if I should be watching his BG that isn't gonna be a problem with him. He bleeds very well. Just the excessive drinking and lack of appetite has me worrying over him. Since I know it is a steroid and they can cause diabetes in kitties.

Mel & Muse (GA)

 

Yes, Pred can cause increased drinking and peeing on its own. It can also cause of form of transient diabetes, so start doing some random ear pokies and keep an eye on that. You have tested him before, which is great, because you know what his normal BG is!

I also suggest using Prednisolone and not Prednisone, because it's far easier on the liver. (Prednisone gets converted to Prednisolone by the liver, so you may as well give the Prednisolone in the first place and leave the liver out of it!)

All that aside - have you determined what he is allergic to?

 

Tucker started taking Prednisolone, but only 5mg. He weight close to 16 pounds. So far we've seen increased appetite and depressed immunity. Tucker takes for the circling he was doing, that's almost non existant. He has been able to jump onto counters again, so increased mobility would be on the plus side.

Being that he's already diabetic, in the beginning his BGs were harder to control, someone mentioned splitting his dose, so he's taking 2.5 MG BID and his BGs are much better, preshots were in the mid 100s a couple of days ago with a nadir in the 80s.

I would also suggest Pednisolone over Prednisone.

 

Prednisone usually increases the appetite, not decreases. It can cause nausea, vomiting, and ulcers. If Onyx's lack of appetite continues I would let his vet know. He/she may add Pepcid or some other medication to help with stomach upset. Are you giving it with food? That will also help.

 

He was found to be allergic to beef, fish but not shellfish, and eggs. they also said that to err of the side of caution and that he is an inside cat only to stop all vacinations since some can have an egg base, much like the human flu shot.

They check him for infection due to the skin trama, nothing, check him for ear mites, no mite but a small yeast infection, he is on meds for that as well. Don't have them right by me at the moment, but they are ear drops. They shaved his face and did a skin scraping from that as well to check for possible skin mites, also negative.

Onyx will do anything for cheese, its better than catnip in his book, so I have been hiding the pill in a little bit of cheese. Plus he is free fed (unfortantely cheap dry, since two of our ex-ferals refused to even try anything else. But is also fed as of now only Friskies chicken in gravy, turkey in gravy and Turkey and cheese in gravy. (still need to look those up on Binkie's List). But when feeding 10 and 3 still under the age of 1 you go what you can find around here, that comes in bulk, and well we have 2 choices the 32 pack of fish flavors (out) and the 32 pack in poultry. Onyx, gets 2 (5.5 oz) cans twice a day and 1 (5.5 oz) can inbetween. Normally he will lick it up almost before I can turn around. Now he is kind of grazing, to the point that the bottomless pits (Duvessa & Elektra) have no problem swooping in and helping their brother. Yesterday, he even backed off and let them have it. So don't think lack of food in tummy is a problem, but could be. Since he is backing away and letting the kittiens at it.

Yes, I do know his average BG he is a nice 41 to 55 depending on when I test of course. Haven't tested him since he started the Pred. but will here this evening right before I feed him. Hate pricking his poor ear right now because he has done so much damage to his face and ears since we started trying to figure out what was going on with him. But it sounds like a periodic check might be necessary because I if I'm running the risk of having another sugarbaby I want to catch it as soon as possible. That is kind of what concerned me when I saw the lack of appetite, because I had to take it a few years ago for a spider bite, and I ate like a horse.

The vet asked that I call back on Wednesday to let him know how Onyx was doing but I think I will give them a call on Monday when they open if he continues with a lack of appetite and see what they say, since they are closed on Tuesday, except for Emergency care. Tuesday they are out at the local no-kill shelter spaying and neutering so I can always reach them their as well, if I need to.

Mel & Muse (GA)

 

yes, over the long term prednisone/prednisolone can cause a lot of changes.
i'm speaking from the perspective of someone whose cat has been on pred for over a year now. she's on 5mg daily.

cleo gets some GI bleeding from prednisolone. so injectable pepcid and other support becomes a lot more important.
her numbers are higher so we almost doubled her lantus dose. (keep monitoring, tho. harry's BGs went from around 50-52 to around 72-75 so he's still doing well).

it can cause some physical changes. cleo went from a very girly cat to a little butch (LOL. she's still girly but her face looks more boyish). harry too. i call him arnold shwartzenegger kitty nowadays. it can also cause bones to look more prominent on top (some of that on cleo is from her cancer for which pred is one of the treatments). she doesn't look bony per se, just run you run your hand over her head and back you feel them a little more, and you can feel the little bump on her head more (all cats have that bump a little).

but i'm a happy advocate of steroid use when it's appropriate. pred helped harry TREMENDOUSLY against flea contact dermatitis. he was scratching so much and stopped grooming well, he was so miserable. and it helps against inflammation, too, which affects both harry and cleo. and it got them both hungrier, which was such a blessing.

 

Thanks guys, I knew someone here had dealt with it before =)

He was hungerier tonight but then he didn't get his can at lunch, but still not his jump on the counter, try to climb my leg, screaming his head off that "Mommy, never feeds me...EVER!" self but at least he guarded his plate from the bottomless pit twins.

He is definitely not nearly as miserable as he was was, he has been very social today, hanging out on the couch, cuddling on Daddy's lap (He's a daddy's boy, mom is ok if there is no daddy). The only thing that seems to be making him miserable now is his buddy Amon Ra...lol. Who has turned into his velcro cat since the last trip to the Vet's, I kind of think Amon Ra remembers Muse coming home with those smells and then not being here anymore, so he's worried about his black buddy leaving too. Amon Ra took Muse's passing hard. I keep telling Onyx that Amon Ra will get over it once he figures out that he is okay and getting better not worse like Muse. It's either that for Amon Ra is jealous of Onyx's new hair cut.

Figure I will start watching his BG when I already have him burritoed for his pill in the evening, I can't see bothering him more than necessary.

And as far as the physical, well the nicest way to put it is Onyx is already "Fluffy" he is 13.8 lbs on about a 10 lbs cat frame. And super long hair, so him becoming a little more "fluffy" is gonna be hard to tell. :lol: I'm just happy to see him sleeping peacefully and being my best TV watching partner again, and not scratching his handsome face to pieces.

Thanks again for the info and answers.

Mel & Muse (GA)

 

Well Onyx made up for the skipped can of food at noon by demanding that he was starving before bed last night, even pulled his famous trick of meowing for food then falling over on his side and giving me "puss in boots" eyes. His way of saying he is so faint from hunger. Yay! That is my normal piggy boy. This morning I got to sleep all the way to 6am before Onyx was screaming to be fed again.Never thought I would be so happy to be rolled out of bed before dawn on a Sunday morning by a demanding cat...lol.

Last night when I gave him his pill and check his BG (up a little from normal but well with in his range, 56 +2 from eating). He actually seemed to enjoy being cuddled and having his cheeks and chin rubbed. He still looks pretty rough but much better than he was after the last trip to the vet's. I can at least now see visible signs of healing. Don't know if it is due to the fact that we changed his food so no more things he is allergic to, or if it is the Prednisone, whatever it is its working. Figures I would wind up with a cat that is allergic to the world...since both his beans are...lol. I think between DH and I were have every allergy out there except thankfully being allergic to fur. So hopefully we can get through this round of prednisone and now with the dietary switch not have to continue it but I'll discuss that with his vet on Wednesday when I call to give them a status report.

Apparently my furry kids decide this year to push mom into making the decision to follow a childhood dream of becoming a vet tech..lol Since we have dealt with so far this year... Diabetes, URI x2, eye infection, ear mites, fleas, allergies, round worms,a poisoned drooler and whatever else they decide to throw at me yet this year. Right now I think we have more animal meds in the refrigerator than human food. Which has got me thinking of putting together a home first aid kit for the critters, Has anyone ever put together a list of what should be in one?

Mel & Muse (GA)