Anyone have a dog on prednisone - long term usage?

[mamamary]

Hi. Well for the past 3 years we have been trying to get my dogs allergies under control. We've done so much - way too much to list. Anyway, Baxter is currently on Prednisone and my vet just suggested today that he may need to stay on it long term at a very low level.

So......if anyone has anything they can share with me I'd appreciate it. I know all about short term usage since he's been on it before but i don't know anyone with a pet that takes it for the long haul.

Thanks so much

 

[RachaelA]

One of my parents' dogs has been on it for I think close to 2 years. They occasionally have to adjust the levels (she has Addison's disease). She hasn't had any real issues that are related to the prednisone.

What exactly do you want to know?

 

[mamamary]

One of my parents' dogs has been on it for I think close to 2 years. They occasionally have to adjust the levels (she has Addison's disease). She hasn't had any real issues that are related to the prednisone.

What exactly do you want to know?

Thanks for responding. I guess I just want to know if being on the pred. long term caused any other problems. It seems it's good for a quick fix but has bad side effects. Sounds like your par. dog is doing well

 

[marie1203]

My really good friend dog is in prednisone for her allergies and it is currently on the shot allergy treatment. She is fairly young (4 years old) and hasn't seen any problems yet but, I know the vet is trying anything to get her off pednisone long term because of the side effects a small dose doesn't work for her.

 

[mamamary]

My really good friend dog is in prednisone for her allergies and it is currently on the shot allergy treatment. She is fairly young (4 years old) and hasn't seen any problems yet but, I know the vet is trying anything to get her off pednisone long term because of the side effects a small dose doesn't work for her.

Thanks so much for your response. My dog is almost 5 so I hate for him to be on it for many years.

 

[JessicaR]

My neighbors dog was on prednisone for many years - low dose. He was a bull mastiff and had no lasting effects and lived a nice long life for a mastiff.

My dog was on it at the end of his life for about 6 months and didn't notice anything negative. It greatly helped his breathing.
My female has terrible allergies and goes on bursts so far we've been OK doing it that way.

 

[clutter]

My dog is 11 and is on prednisone for the rest of her life. Before we put her on it for Irritiable Bowels, her nickname was Diarrhea Dog. So in her case, she really really needs to be on it. Co-incidentally, she also has horrible allergies. She's about 27 pounds, and take 5mg every other day, which is a very low dose. Unfortunately, it's too low to make a significant improvement on the allergies. The problem is that the allergies give her awful yeast problems and that is tough to control. If she goes on an anti-fungal, it has to be at the maximum dose, which is not so good. And the prednisone doesn't help the licking from the yeast problems.

 

[mamamary]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I am feeling a little bit better about things now. i can't believe how much water Baxter has been drinking. My vet says once the dosage gets lower that will let up. Last night I had to let him out 3 times during the night

 

[JessicaR]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I am feeling a little bit better about things now. i can't believe how much water Baxter has been drinking. My vet says once the dosage gets lower that will let up. Last night I had to let him out 3 times during the night

I also noticed my dogs appetite increase. He always seemed hungry. We had to limit him because he did put a few pounds on. He drank lots of water also.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I am feeling a little bit better about things now. i can't believe how much water Baxter has been drinking. My vet says once the dosage gets lower that will let up. Last night I had to let him out 3 times during the night

Our Boxer experienced the same, as well as an increase in appetite. She's been on a low dose regimen now for the better part of 5 years, all for severe allergies. She was chewing her paws raw, and itching non-stop. We just couldn't take seeing her that uncomfortable anymore.

We just had her in for surgery last week to remove a small mast cell tumor on her chest (fairly typical problem for the breed) and they did a blood test prior to see how the prednisone was effecting her liver. Thankfully, the tests all came back clean.

 

[mamamary]

Our Boxer experienced the same, as well as an increase in appetite. She's been on a low dose regimen now for the better part of 5 years, all for severe allergies. She was chewing her paws raw, and itching non-stop. We just couldn't take seeing her that uncomfortable anymore.

We just had her in for surgery last week to remove a small mast cell tumor on her chest (fairly typical problem for the breed) and they did a blood test prior to see how the prednisone was effecting her liver. Thankfully, the tests all came back clean.

Glad your Boxer's tests came back with good news!

 

[Pastamom]

We've had our Bichon-a-poo on it for a couple years. He's 14 now. It has helped with his allergies and his bad back. He also has diabetes - not because of the prednisone. We thought he was drinking more due to the pred, but it was actually because of the undiagnosed diabetes. He gets his blood checked yearly and all of his organs are ok. I think it can affect the liver and/or kidneys. Dogs on pred are also more prone to bladder infections.

When his back or alllergies get bad we have to bump it up, but (knock on wood) that hasn't happened for a while.

He's had multiple health issues...I think we have put the vet's children through college, but the pred has helped him a lot.

 

[mamamary]

We've had our Bichon-a-poo on it for a couple years. He's 14 now. It has helped with his allergies and his bad back. He also has diabetes - not because of the prednisone. We thought he was drinking more due to the pred, but it was actually because of the undiagnosed diabetes. He gets his blood checked yearly and all of his organs are ok. I think it can affect the liver and/or kidneys. Dogs on pred are also more prone to bladder infections.

When his back or alllergies get bad we have to bump it up, but (knock on wood) that hasn't happened for a while.

He's had multiple health issues...I think we have put the vet's children through college, but the pred has helped him a lot.

I know what you mean about putting the vets kids thru college. We've spent so much money on Baxter but i don't care i just want him to feel better and not constantly have skin infections. Thanks for sharing with me.

 

[chabs]

I appreciate everyone's responses. I am feeling a little bit better about things now. i can't believe how much water Baxter has been drinking. My vet says once the dosage gets lower that will let up. Last night I had to let him out 3 times during the night

Be very careful with the prednisone-especially if your dog is drinking a ton of water. My lab was put on pred. for allergies and ended up almost dying last summer. If your dogs looks lethargic, panting a lot or starts to vomit, discontinue use and take it to the vet ASAP. We ended up spending over $800 on a little hotspot that turned out was caused by food allergies.

What kind of food are you feeding? I ask because most allergies can be taken care of by changing food. It doesn't have to be expensive either. I now buy Purina One Lamb and Rice and haven't had a problem since.

And for the other poster-any dog with yeast in its ears has a food allergy problem. Try switching food and avoiding chicken as a main ingredient.

 

[mamamary]

Be very careful with the prednisone-especially if your dog is drinking a ton of water. My lab was put on pred. for allergies and ended up almost dying last summer. If your dogs looks lethargic, panting a lot or starts to vomit, discontinue use and take it to the vet ASAP. We ended up spending over $800 on a little hotspot that turned out was caused by food allergies.

What kind of food are you feeding? I ask because most allergies can be taken care of by changing food. It doesn't have to be expensive either. I now buy Purina One Lamb and Rice and haven't had a problem since.

And for the other poster-any dog with yeast in its ears has a food allergy problem. Try switching food and avoiding chicken as a main ingredient.

Baxter has been to a canine dermatologist and had all the food/allergy screenings. He has had his food changed but is also allergic to alot of environmental "stuff". So we really have done alot with him. He even went on Atopica for allergies ($200 a month) and he still went to the vet with skin sores. It is frustrating!!

 

[kacaju]

By any chance do you happen to know if there is a holistic Vet near you? Our 1 collie has had nasty skin problems (I have not shelled the money out for allergy testing) I took him to a holistic vetand she put him on some herbs..while not 100% better he is 90% better and he has not had to take any pred. Where before that is all the reg vet could do for him.

 

[Pembo]

Our golden retriever used to go in about every six weeks for his steriod shot. It really helped and he didn't have any side effects.

 

[maxiesmom]

Oh gosh, I have to be the voice of gloom and doom.

I had a German Shepard that had asthma, and was on prednisone. We tried to wean her off of it many times, but couldn't. Prednisone is hard on their whole system. My vet even had me going to GNC and buying suppliments in an attempt to protect her liver and keep her more healthy. As bad as her asthma was, we had no choice but to keep her on the prednisone. She was only 7yrs old when she went into carrdiac arrest and died. She started on pred when she wasn't quite 1yr old.

Prednisone will make them drink A TON. It was so bad that if someone wasn't home all day, we would have to leave piddle pads in the house. Do you know how much a 90lb German Shepard on prednisone pees? Towards the end, I was up twice a night to let her out. The drug also made her very hungry.

I have to say if there is anything else you can give your dog, or any way to wean him off, then you need to get him off the pred. It is a nasty drug.

 

[mamamary]

Oh gosh, I have to be the voice of gloom and doom.

I had a German Shepard that had asthma, and was on prednisone. We tried to wean her off of it many times, but couldn't. Prednisone is hard on their whole system. My vet even had me going to GNC and buying suppliments in an attempt to protect her liver and keep her more healthy. As bad as her asthma was, we had no choice but to keep her on the prednisone. She was only 7yrs old when she went into carrdiac arrest and died. She started on pred when she wasn't quite 1yr old.

Prednisone will make them drink A TON. It was so bad that if someone wasn't home all day, we would have to leave piddle pads in the house. Do you know how much a 90lb German Shepard on prednisone pees? Towards the end, I was up twice a night to let her out. The drug also made her very hungry.

I have to say if there is anything else you can give your dog, or any way to wean him off, then you need to get him off the pred. It is a nasty drug.

Sorry about your dog. I appreciate getting all opinions.

 

[rejmom]

I had a pekingese that had horrible allergies. Nothing worked ever. I put him on pred early on and he stayed on a low dose for the rest of his long life. Without the pred, he would be a miserable mess. I had another peke that didn't have any allergies at all.

Now I have a collie & a peke with similar skin allergies. Did the full-on allergy testing and it showed that the collie really is allergic to a lot of trees, weeds, grasses, environmental pollutants. In the summer she often gets very bad hotspots, which once turned into a bad bout of MRSA. I tried everything for her except for Atopica. The only thing that works is pred.

My vet told me that the use of pred in dogs is very controversial (hard to get most vets to even consider prescribing it) but that she actually went to a conference where they had a study based on the long term effects on canines taking low dose pred. The study basically reported that the pred didn't harm the dogs and that it helped as a preventative against some of the other diseases dogs get as they age. I would love to get a copy of that study but this vet has retired due to health issues.

Based on my experience, I think the fact that my dogs have a good quality of life far surmounts any of the potential issues surrounding the use of pred. It would just make me so worried to see them constantly miserably chewing on their feet and back. The allergies completely consumed their life.