[Dailydrool] Prednisone

[L.K. Metzler]

Yeppers,  Jasmine has been on it for long periods of time, and you do have to wean very, very slowly.  This time around, we're doing 20 mg's down to 10's, down to 5's, then every other day on the 5's for a while, and then every two days...etc.  It's a long process, and it's different for each dog and each time you give it.  Sometimes we can go a little faster, sometimes a lot slower.  

My Mom is on prednisone for her temporal arteritis.  She has been up and down with the stuff (it's wicked at best), starting in January with 60's.  She is finally down to 5's, and hopefully by November when she goes back to the doc, down to 1's.  Too much prednisone in higher doses for her asthma caused her to have a complete cardio-pulmonary shut down brought on by her colon literally disintegrating.  She ended up with an ileostomy.  (Mom has a weird sense of humor and named it Leonard....)  Her GP had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but kept feeding her the prednisone for her asthma.  (If ever there was a case for malpractice....)  She was one very sick lady.  We weren't sure she would even make it at times, but she spent 4 months in the hospital and 2 more in a rehab learning how to walk, write, feed herself, etc. all over again.  That was 12 years ago, and she is still having problems.  The prednisone has also caused her to have
 problems with her bones and teeth...so she's on Boniva, too.   But you can't always repair that much damage 

Ask your vet to work with you very closely on the tapering schedule so that you get only what you need to the dog.  It can have some effect on Basset bones, too...

Good luck!

Lisa Metzler

L.K. Metzler
San Marcos, TX   toppogigio at yahoo.com     "A dog wags its tail with its heart." - Martin Buxbaum     "If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one." -- Andy Rooney 
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