Hi Michelle,
My 19 yr old Inky is on pred for possible IBD..My vet wanted me to start him at 10mg a day for 3 weeks then taper to 5mg for another 3 wks...but I have started him on 5mg a day...He was vomiting and had the bouts of runny stool and straining...He hasn't seen the vet though as he has never been sick his entire life so I didn't want to stress him out if we can get it under control this way...so far so good...his stools have firmed up and doesn't seem to be straining...I am also going to do the ground turkey or chicken, too..Right now he is on sci diet I/D topped with a little tuna so he will eat the pill..I don't think it will hurt to leave yours on the pred at a low dose...I was told and have read that it may take a low dose to keep them regular.. You just have to find that right dose as you taper down.
I did have a kitty on 20 mg of pred for 3 yrs...as she had a tumor on the back side of her tongue and the pred was the only thing that would
keep the inflammation down enough for her to eat...I think it helped to shrink it some for quite awhile because she lived over 3 yrs with it...she was even able to eat dry food again and not choke..
Her skin did get very thin as people do when on long term steroids...but other than that, she didn't have any other problems..Bandy's doctor treated this kitties grandmother with high doses of pred for the rest of her life as she had lymphoma and after chemo was finished she remained on 20 mg of pred for 9 months...
Those of the only cases I have had to use such high doses of pred..I didn't like it either, but it seemed to give them a good quality of life for quite awhile..
Kerry and Bandy
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