Prednisone question

[Lernermichelle]

Hi.  Lucy had loose stool/diarrhea for about 2 months, which mostly cleared up when she went on 10 mg/day of prednisone, then cleared up entirely when she went to a raw turkey diet.  I slowly tapered her off the pred over  a few weeks.  When she had been off the pred for a week she stopped wanting her turkey diet, ate other food, and had a bout of vomiting. I put her back on pred for a short time and weaned her off again. She then stopped wanting her turkey diet again, ate other food, and got diarrhea.  So I put her back on again and started the tapering right away. She was doing great again until I got to 2.5 mg pred every other day, a few days ago, and then she stopped wanting her turkey diet again, eventually ate some other food (turkey baby food and a little bit of EVO dry) and her stools got a little loose again and her appetite decreased.   This is my question. I think she does really well when she is on 2.5 mg of pred per day.  My preference would be to keep her off pred entirely, since steroids can have side effects long-term.  My understanding, though, is that 2.5 mg/day is a fairly low dosage. I am thinking about just keeping her on it for at least a few weeks, maybe longer. She feels good, eats her turkey diet well, and has pretty normal bowels when she is on 2.5 mg/day, and she starts having some problems whenever I taper it lower than that.  I have read of cats being on much higher dosages for months.  Does anyone have any thoughts as to potential problems with 2.5 mg/day over weeks or months? Does it sound reasonable or problematic, or both? She weighs a little over 9 pounds.   There other thing I was thinking of trying is going to 1.25 mg/day and seeing if that works better than 2.5 mg every other day. Any thoughts?   The vet I am using now puts cats with IBD on 10 mg/day for months at a time, and does not think there is much of a problem.  I am asking you guys because I want a somewhat more nuanced opinion, and I know that some of you appreciate how helpful steroids can be, as I do, but also are wary of the side effects long-term, as I am.   Thanks, Michelle