? Steroids?

Hi Everyone and their kitties,
Just wondering how many of your cats are taking steroids?
How many prednisolone and how much?
How many budenoside and how much?

Tribby is taking 25 mg of prednisolone daily and I'm hoping to reduce down to every other day soon. I am very tempted to try budenoside after I'm out of pred. I've read it works more directly on the bowel lining reducing inflammation there.

Thanks,
Cass and Tribby

 

We try to wean our diabetics off steroids as soon as possible because they raise the blood glucose levels.

The budesonide is supposed to be better because it doesn't get into the bloodstream like prednisolone does. We've had lots of IBD kitties on it here and it seems to work pretty well, as well as finding the right diet

 

Sorry. I'm on 25 mg of pred. Tribby is on 5 mg.

 

Lily takes 2.5mg prednisolone twice a day for her IBD. She's been on that dose since February, vet says we may be able to reduce the dose at some point, but she will likely be on it for life.

 

The standard dose of budesonide is 1 mg one a day. I have used, with vet recommendation, 1 1/2 mg/day.
When stopping prednesolone one should taper down. like to 2.5 mg daily for a couple of days and then 2.5 mg every other day for more than a couple of days.

 

Leo just started prednisolone. He also starts chemo (Chlorambucil) today. The pred has raised his BG. Are there any general guidelines for extra dosing to accompany the prednisolone?

thx....Jeff (and Leo)

 

Not really, just slowly increase dose as necessary to get BGs back down

 

I totally do this, lol. Ahh the joys of sharing meds with your cat...

Big (((Hugs))) Jeff and Leo! May the chemo do it's job quickly and with minimal side effects!

 

Thanks Larry and Alphacat. Details are in Leo's condo in my sig. Darned chemo didn't get here today, so now it will wait until Wed.

 

I do not think they are sharing meds. The human (Cass?) is on prednisone while the cat, Tribby, is on Prednisolone.

 

Yes, but I don't know anyone on a regular dose of steroids that says, "gotta go take my prednisone". We say, "gotta take these necessary evil steroids".
I also don't think they are swapping meds, just sharing the horrible journey of the 'roids...
(I am generally on a dose of 20-40, because who doesn't want moon face, weight gain, and unsatisfied food cravings, oh and eventually osteoporosis... Go team 'roids!)

 

Jones is currently on 2.5mg BID of prednisolone. His IM vet has increased it in hopes of getting rid of the other drugs he is on and hopefully avoid using Leakeran (chemo). His case ended up being very severe as we kept treating for pancreatitis and not IBD. So I am not sure we will ever get into a recovery state.

We tried both the chemo and budenoside and he didn't do well on either unfortunately. I so wanted to try raw but he was not interested at all. So I have started doing a homemade cook diet. He is liking some of what I made, so I hope to switch him over to something that doesn't have all the fruit & veggies and no gums! With IBD everything is slow and steady. I just hope I don't get another flair as he goes off of whatever food he is eating when that happens.

From experience on going down in dosage and now back up - it is easier to control the BG's if you give it every day - not every other day. Jones was down to just 1.25mg SID at night (as I knew it would keep his numbers up).

 

I am sorry to hear about Jones. What issues did Jones have with the Leukeran?

For Leo, he will do the chemo as we have confirmed lymphoma thru biopsy. Leo wasn't eating and just started prednisolone 2 days ago. Now he is free feeding and almost ravenous again. The hunger be a good side effect of the pred. I hope it persists. Leo has an e-tube installed, and we want it out soon. (and Leo does too!)

 

HI....
We had a whirlwind of happenings with steroids-
My non diabetic cat Rico (19) had a dental and liquid poo for almost a year after that.
We tried pred(5 mg 2x a day) and it did help -he had normal poo in a day or 2 but by the end of the week he was in heart failure from the pred-
After the ER in oxygen overnight and them recommending euthanasia in the morning if not better we went right to the cardiologist and we began budesonide shortly after (1mg a day)
and nowwwww he has steroid induced diabetes from the budesonide.
So I am weaning him off the budesonide and have him on the fecal pills which are helping tremendously.
Not only his poo but his whole being-he is happy and playing again leaping 2 stairs at a time wanting to play!
Here is the site I used...many vets are beginning to be a advocate for this treatment.
https://www.animalbiome.com

 

He stopped eating and drinking. The diarrhea got worse. He was on it every other day - it was terrible as he felt like **** every second day. It just didn't work for him. The vet wanted to go to a dose of once a week but that isn't a protocol. So I just stopped. He began to feel better and interact again. I did hear about the pulse dosing and did bring that up with his new IM, but he didn't feel we were there yet. He never had the biopsy either to confirm lymphoma - he was so sick and he had lost about 1kg of weight and had no fat or muscle left. Skin and bones! Again the IM doesn't feel we are there yet to do the biopsy, as he can gain weight if all the stars are aligned.

So we up the prednisolone and I adjust his insulin to keep him in is controlled status. I have accepted that. Not as scary from when I first started.

 

Sonny is on 5mg of prednisolone daily for his asthma.

 

Sorry to hear about Jones. I hope the new treatment regimen is successful.