How Soon Do The Side Effects Of Prednisone Start?

[4My2Greys]

How has Lady been doing with the reduced dose of prednisone? Do the side effects she was experiencing seem to have lessened with the reduced dose?

[cello]

Yesterday was her first day with the half dose in the evening and still the full in the morning. So she went from 40mg daily to 30 mg daily. Not sure yet is this will make a difference. All I want right now is for her to eat. Last night I resorted to grinding kibble in the blender, and baking it into kibble cookies. Those she will eat! The kibble on its own - no way. So I really think that this is a stubbornness issue we are dealing with - not an inability to eat. She will also eat the boiled chicken without issues. Problem is that she is already so skinny I cannot afford the time to 'wait her out' like I would if she was healthy. I guess we will have another day of 'creative' eating again today. One thing I am doing is reducing her slowing off the tramadol. I did some research and found that tramadol can be a big appetite suppressant. She is only on a total of two 50mg tablets per day (one morning and one evening), but I reduced the evening dose last night to 25mg and will see if that helps with the eating.

 

Thank you for asking.

 

P.S. The baked Royal Canin Low Fat kibble smells WAY better then the Hills ID. When we baked the ID into kibble cookies last month my husband thought that he was going to vomit from the smell! Last nights batch actually smelled almost like real cookies!

[GreyPoopon]

Glad the blood results are so good. Hoping she'll eat better soon.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Glad the results came back with good levels! Hope her appetite will improve soon!

[MerlinsMum]

I did ask about why we were using pred rather then budesonide. There are very specific reasons why she is using pred, and they certainly made sense to me. She said that perhaps down the road that drug might be an option, but right now it is not. Since she is the board certified internal medicine specialist I think that she knows best!

 

This is what my vet told me too. She said that even if we ever did try budesonide it would only be after first trying pred.

 

I am so glad that Lady seems better!

[EllenEveBaz]

So glad to hear about the protein levels, and keeping paws crossed for an improved appetite.

[cello]

Thought that I would update everyone on Lady's progress. She had another blood test last week to see how her protein levels were on the 30 mg of pred per day. Yeah!! They were still in the normal range! So now we have reduced the morning pred by half as well, taking her to 20mg per day (10mg AM & 10mg PM). We will try her on this dose for three to four weeks then retest. She also gained back one pound. Overall, she is acting pretty much normal - occasional bouts of panting, but that is pretty short duration, pee accidents are few and far between.

 

Now we just need to get her to eat better. She is on mertazapine - in humans an anti-depressant and in dogs it stimulates appetite - but she is still very picky. She is now allowed rice as well as chicken and kibble, so that is helping. The main problem with food is that the low fat choices she is allowed are all very low in energy density, so even though she is eating about 5 cups of kibble, 2.5 cups of rice, 1.5 cups of boiled chicken each day, the total calories are still low and make for a very slow weight gain. The kibble she is allowed only has 256 calories compared to her normal kibble that had 380.

 

So we will just continue on with what we are doing and hope and pray that at the end of this Lady has a healed gut and an improved appetite!

[rascalsmom]

Glad to hear that she's doing so well!

[4My2Greys]

I've been thinking about Lady and wondering how things are going. It's great to read your positive update. Will she always be on a restricted diet or is it just until the gut heals?

[cello]

I've been thinking about Lady and wondering how things are going. It's great to read your positive update. Will she always be on a restricted diet or is it just until the gut heals?

 

At this point no one knows. Not even the specialist. She says that she has had some IBD/PLE dogs who do beautifully over time and others that cannot go without at least a small dose of pred on going. As for the food, I sure hope that she is able to transition back to a regular OTC kibble at some point. I am not sure if it is just the fat content that we need to be concerned about or the overall contents as well. I found the Kirkland Weight Management kibble that has the correct amount of fat content, and I bet it tastes a whole lot better then the prescription stuff she is on now. Food changes are still WAY down the road to even be thinking about.

[Guest berkkila]

Thanks for posting all this. My girl Jolene was put on Pred a about a week and a half ago (suddenly blind, don't get me started). She is acting completely normal but looking a bit more bony than normal. Luckily she is a glutton for rice but any food suggestions would be appreciated.

[PatricksMom]

Berkkila,

 

My already underweight boy acts like he's starving on Prednisone. I checked w/the vet and she said a small lunch of lean protein and some vegetables would help--so he's getting a small serving of boiled chicken and cooked peas. He's still acting like he's really hungry at bed time (and not just dogs always wanting food hungry) so we're going to start adding another small serving of chicken and peas. He won't be with us long though, so perhaps the advice would be different for your girl--have you asked your vet?

 

If you need lean protein, boiled chicken is good and I've never seen a dog turn his nose up at it. If you need more fat, cooked ground beef, turkey, or chicken is good, just keep an eye to make sure it's not too lean.

[Guest berkkila]

We have started with the boiled chicken and rice and kibble and wet food. Honestly I just want to take wean her off the drug as soon as possible. She is 10+, had no other symptoms than the blindness (which I can deal with), she has not been this bony since I got her off the track. At least then she was huge muscles and bones, now she is just bones....and the greatest dog in the world.

[Guest chardae]

Cello, it is so good to see that Lady has had improved test results. Our precious grey Merrie was diagnosed in January with Lymphangiectasia, and despite specialists, low fat food, and every possible medication, she never had an improved protein level----not once. She lost her battle not long ago----can't describe the loss we feel.

 

We were able to get the budesonide at Taylor's Pharmacy in Winter Park, Fl. I don't remember the exact price but it was very reasonable. Taylor's is a compounding pharmacy, not sure where you are in Florida, but maybe there's a compounding pharmacy near you.

 

Keeping good thoughts for you and Lady!

[cello]

Lady Update: Blood chemistry tests this week were good - still maintaining a 2.8 albumin level, with a 5.0 protein over all. So we reduced her prednisone to 10mg once a day - a 50% reduction. That was on Tuesday. Today is Saturday, and Lady does not want to eat - pretty much at all. I am shoving two kibbles at a time into her mouth and she will eat that. She gets 1000 kibbles per meal. (Yes - I counted! Well, actually I counted out what was in half a cup and extrapolated!) This morning I have given in and am cooking up some chicken and rice, since she has to eat something. She had done so well on just plain kibble the past month or so. She is pretty much maintaining her weight of 64 pounds - five pounds below where she should be. I am so worried that she is not tolerating the reduction in prednisone. She is also very thunder phobic, so this weekend has not been fun for her.

 

Chardea - Lady has also been diagnosed with Lymphangiectasia in addition to the Protein Losing Enteropathy. I am so sorry about your Merrie.

[Guest bearanddingo]

Bear recently started on Pred for possible cancer. He was on 20mg/2x day and in about two weeks he started have suspected stomach ulcers from it. We knocked the dosage down to 10mg/1x day for a week and now are starting 10mg/ every other day. He hasn't had a severe increase in drinking and urination, however he will has started drinking a little more (which is good since he was dehydrated before). He is also losing muscle mass and beginning to look bony that possibly is contributed to the Pred.

Bear is an 80 lbs grey and losing weight but the 20mg/2x day was also used for my 70 lbs mutt for lymphoma.

So all-in-all Bear saw his side effects about 1-2 weeks after starting the meds.

[cello]

Good news for Lady! Her blood chemistry test this week showed an albumin level of 2.8 and globulin of 2.5 for a total blood protein level of 5.3!! Internal Medicine specialist was thrilled, and reduced Lady's prednisone dose from 10mg daily to 10mg every OTHER day!! YEAH! Only not so good news was that she has a sore on her leg in a very awkward spot that is concerning. We are changing her bandage twice a day, and hopefully it will heal on its own.

[GreyPoopon]

:yay

 

Hope the sore heals quickly.