My cat has bloody stool after starting prednisolone steroids?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Chlyo, this has been a tough week for him I recommend calling your Vet. Maalox is not my first choice to fix diarrhea and vomiting. Doxycycline is an antibiotic notorious for causing tummy upset, regardless if you accidentally gave too much. High doses of steroids can cause tummy upset. Prednisone can not be abruptly stopped and needs to be weaned and in Chlyo's case is likely needed to save his life if he has immune mediated hemolytic anemia. There are other antibiotic choices to rule out tick borne disease causing his immune disease. My recommendations is to call your Vet and have Chlyo seen again today. If he was my patient I would use cerenia, metronidazole and have him on prilosec or famotidine (pepcid). I would not stop or wean the prednisone unless his red blood cell count was normal. I would temporarily stop the doxycycline until he is eating and the stool is better and consider amoxicillin instead. We can not tell you want to do on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach because the laws in the US require a valid Veterinary Clinet Patient Relationship which means we have to actually touch and examine your dog. We can provide advice but your Vet needs to be the one to tell you what to do with the medications. In my opinion, and I have answered a lot of questions from you regarding Chlyo, is that he is a sick dog and he has been dealing with this diarrhea for 1-2 days and is now getting worse. It is in his best interest to be rechecked and examined by your Vet. I hope this helps and I wish you and Chlyo the very best!

Steroids can cause GI ulceration and this is a potential concern for dogs on steroids like dexamethasone. The bloody stool could also be due to some other cause. I would recommend a recheck with your veterinarian to determine the cause and consider whether or not an allergy drug like Apoquel might be more appropriate to treat GG's allergies.

Hi there. If Beau is on prednisolone to treat a chronic GI issue such as inflammatory bowel disease or something similar, then yes - lowering his dosage could certainly cause diarrhea or other symptoms to recur. If he was on it for something unrelated to this, then I would not expect decreasing his dosage to cause diarrhea "out of the blue" - so in that case, it's likely that there is some other cause.

Oh no, that isn't good. Prednisone can cause bleeding in the GI tract. This is very concerning, and you need to contact Milo's veterinarian immediately so they can advise you further, as they may want you start tapering down the medication. You can't just stop prednisone suddenly, it has to be tapered off, but pooping blood is serious. I would not give him anti-diarrhea medication, please either call his vet now or take him into his vet right away. I hope this helps.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. We do not typically see prednisolone cause an elevation of white blood cells, as this is an corticosteroid which is anti-inflammatory at most doses, and even immunosuppressive at higher doses. Elevated white blood cell counts can be due to inflammation alone, such as that from irritable or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Long term use of steroids can cause liver damage, which may result in inflammation and increased white blood cell counts. Generally cats with IBD will have thickened intestines on an abdominal ultrasound, but this can be subtle and hard to detect without a veterinary radiologist performing the ultrasound. I hope this is helpful - best of luck managing Trixie's IBD!

It is possible that this particular stool was difficult to pass and you helping to remove it may have caused a small amount of bleeding from the rectal tissue. Cats can become constipated, and if she has been passing less stool than usual, straining to defecate and had a decreased appetite I would recommend seeing a veterinarian. There are some other things that can cause blood in the stool as well including intestinal parasites, colitis or even inflammatory bowel disease. If the blood is persistent you should make an appointment to see your veterinarian as well.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Blood can definitely be seen with cases of IBD. For IBD, immunosuppression is typically the treatment of choice in severe cases. Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug that is commonly used along with changing the diet to something such as Royal Canin Ultamino. I would discuss this with your veterinarian for starting something such as Azathioprine in place of steroids to see if this helps more. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than willing to help you further. I would also recommend adding in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora, which can be purchased online or at your local pet store quite easily.