Re: steroids and moods

[Dudes]

Agreed, I have heard it IS different in cats.  And for cats, I'm very glad.  I would hate to wake up in the middle of the night to find my kitty glaring down at me from the nightstand with a tiny knife.  (boo, hiss~I'll be here all week!)   Eh-hem, anyways, I did not realize that dogs also get GI upset, but it's good info to know, since I do have dogs in my little fuzzy family as well.    Often something like Zantac is prescribed to human patients along with steroids to combat this unpleasant side effect.    But perhaps since steroids have been longer prescribed for humans, and is considered rather non traditional therapy for cats, I wonder if cats do experience other side effects that are unreported or more subtle.  Might be something good to ask the vet, should my Cotton need to be on steroids.  Sandy       think it is really different in cats. They actually have a way, way higher tolerance for steroids than humans or dogs do.  The amount of steroids I gave my cats with lymphoma would not be possible, proportionally, to give a human or a dog.  Cats just have a phenomenally high tolerance for them for some reason.  When Simon's oncologist was hesitant at first to do the kind of shots I wanted (dex and dep together), he did some research on how much steroids cats can get and told me that he was astounded at what studies have shown they can handle, like dex shots every day fairly long-term for bad skin conditions.  After reading these studies he said he did not think the dex and dep shots could hurt and gave them, and Simon responded really well. The other thing that happens with humans and dogs, but not cats, from steroids is GI problems like ulcers.  Cats do not tend to get GI reactions to steroids, due to their high tolerance.