What Is Therapuetic Dose Of Pred For A 64 Pound Dog?

[RobinM]

I am just curious.

 

Beau when he was flaring was put on 40 mg on Jan 22. Then we upped it to 50mg and 50 imuran. We lowered the pred back down to 40mg on March 7 because he was starting to gain weigh too quickly. One week later we lowered it to 30 mg and that's where we are at.

 

We have tapered his food intake a lot. He is getting 5 cups of z/d which only has 254 calories. We figure he needs about 1500.00. The rest of the calories he gets in wet z/d (very litte at a time, or tilpia and his cookies)

 

I keep track of everything that goes in his mouth and it's calorie content. We average about 1450 -1500 a day. When we were trying to get the weight back on him, he was eating between 1800 and 2200 calories a day.

 

Even with the 30mg this boy is ALWAYS looking for food, It is pathetic.

 

 

[pokealong]

Pred increases appetite, but does not necessarily put the weight on. It sounds like in Beau's case he is hungry and gaining the weight. My female was on 100mg a day and lost 10 pounds in a week, and that was after eating 5 cups of food a day. She is on 25mg now, the appetite is still there although not as great as it was and she is not losing weight anymore. In my case she is low platelets, so we have to balance the pred with the platelet count, taking into consideration the weight loss/gain. I wish my girl had your boy's problem with gaining the weight because she is way down on the weight.

 

Hopfully Beau will be able to go lower on the pred and you should see a difference in his appetite. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is to see them so hungry and you can't do anything about it.

[AngelWhispers]

Flippy is on 20 mg every other day and she thinks I'm starving her to death. She's constantly looking for food.

[RobinM]

Beau had gone done to 52.4 pounds. he was completely emaciated. it was so frighteneing. I heard people say things like "that's how my dog looked right before they passed". it was very bad. When he first started the pred he was not eating. Then it kicked in and we were feeding him every 3 hours. It didn't matter how much, we just kept feeding him every three hours as much as he would eat. The weight gaining was from the 1800-2200 calories a day!

 

Now, that he is where we want him at, we don't want him to gain anymore so we are very careful with the calories. We feed him 1 cup at 7:30 AM. 1 Cup at 12:30 PM. 1.5 at 5:50 and 1.5 @ 10:30 PM. We cut out the 3:30 PM and the 3:AM.

 

What is your girl on the pred for? Beau is also on the imuran. He eats the z/d which is low in calorie and fat for his IBD.

[brandimom]

Flippy is on 20 mg every other day and she thinks I'm starving her to death. She's constantly looking for food.

My Brandi is on 20 mg every other day also and thinks she is starving too. Do you give it to Flippy in the food or empty stomach? I drop it in Brandi's food.

 

[AngelWhispers]

Pred needs to be given with food so Flippy gets her's wrapped in a piece of cheese and put in her food. She gobbles her food and the cheese is there so I can see it and make sure she eats it. She gets most of her pills in cheese and thrown in her dish. She's a piggy but she sometimesl will politely set her pills aside.

[AngelWhispers]

Beau had gone done to 52.4 pounds. he was completely emaciated. it was so frighteneing. I heard people say things like "that's how my dog looked right before they passed". it was very bad. When he first started the pred he was not eating. Then it kicked in and we were feeding him every 3 hours. It didn't matter how much, we just kept feeding him every three hours as much as he would eat. The weight gaining was from the 1800-2200 calories a day!

 

Now, that he is where we want him at, we don't want him to gain anymore so we are very careful with the calories. We feed him 1 cup at 7:30 AM. 1 Cup at 12:30 PM. 1.5 at 5:50 and 1.5 @ 10:30 PM. We cut out the 3:30 PM and the 3:AM.

 

What is your girl on the pred for? Beau is also on the imuran. He eats the z/d which is low in calorie and fat for his IBD.

 

Sorry Robin, I didn't see this until today. Flippy gets pred for the cancer. It's suppose to help shrink the tumor and she's on a maintenance dose now. She initially lost weight in the form of muscle, but she's gaining weight back now though it's not muscle. I'm trying to keep her at a healthy weight so she can tolerate the chemo treatment.

[Guest KeesMom]

Kees was diagnosed with protein losing enteropathy in December and went from 77 to about 54 pounds pretty quick. Right at Christmas I believed he was going to have be put down as he, too, looked like a skeleton. He was on Imuran in the beginning along with Pred at 40 mg/day. The Imuran was phased out (can't remember the details at the moment; I'd have to look up my notes) and Doc has been slowly reducing the Pred at about 2-3 week intervals so as to keep stools firm and the PLE under control.

 

Currently, Kees is at 10 mg/ day and Doc believes he'll end up at 10 mg every other day. Before all this, we fed Kees about 1 1/2 cups twice a day. Now he gets twice a day feedings of 1 cup dry Royal Canin IVD Venison or Duck, 1 can of the same food, AND about 6-8 ounces total of salmon, tilapia, beef, chicken, cottage cheese, or scrambled eggs.

 

Kees is back up to 80 pounds, his ideal weight according to the Doc, and yes, still believes he is underfed. He is maintaining that weight so we are not adjusting his food and just seeing how the changes in Pred may affect either that or stools.

 

 

[Guest Cris_M]

Sorry Robin, I didn't see this until today. Flippy gets pred for the cancer. It's suppose to help shrink the tumor and she's on a maintenance dose now. She initially lost weight in the form of muscle, but she's gaining weight back now though it's not muscle. I'm trying to keep her at a healthy weight so she can tolerate the chemo treatment.

 

 

Very true about the change of weight from muscle to something else (fat?). It generally ends up in their abdomen.

 

Gabriel was on 20 mg/day for cancer. His appetite went up and we were thrilled about that. His weight never went up more than it should have.

 

You didn't mention what Beau's problem is. It may make a difference that Gabriel was going to die soon. The pred was to keep inflammation down and allow him more time. Because he was close to death, he may not have gained weight even though he was eating well.

[Chicocat]

Cutie isn't on pred., but needs food 3 times a day for the medication she is taking. I've always fed once a day and given treats a few times a day. I could tell that Cutie was hungry when her "main meal" was reduced and I figured out for her anyway it was an issue of volume. She wasn't getting enough at one time to satisfy her and make her feel full. I was able to fix it by adding green beans to make up for the lost volume. I know you can't do that Robin, because of Beau's IBD.

 

Cutie has been on these medications for a couple months now and I have been able to eliminate the green beans and she seems satisfied. It seems her body has gotten used to being fed in these volumes. She gets 1/2 cup in the morning, 1 1/2 cups in the evening and another 1/4 cup at night.

 

Hopefully, as you are able to reduce the amount of pred. you can get to a feeding schedule that will keep Beau satisfied.