Cat lethargic on prednisone for stomatitis. Is it safe to cut dose?

Hello. This is a reasonable thing to do, but please discuss this with your veterinarian first. Your vet has all the particulars on your cat's condition, so for me just to say its OK to start cutting back on a medication without having any information on why the medication was started in the first place would not be right & may be harmful to your pet. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

If he was on 12mg of prednisolone for 10 days straight and then it was suddenly stopped, then yes that could be part of the problem, but its also possible that he is still ill from the original disease. I would strongly recommend that you take to your veterinarian; it would be useful to recheck a physical exam and some blood tests. They may recommend running a baseline cortisol to ensure that stopping the pred is not the cause of current symptoms. Thank you for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

We are not in a position to change or reduce dosage prescribed by your treating vet and you should contact your vets office to advise. It is likely they will half the frequency every few weeks until he is more stable but this must only be done under direction from your vet

Cats are normally very resistant to the side effects of Prednisone, so the signs you are describing are very usual to see in cats. Was Elliot started on any other medications that may be causing these symptoms? I would definitely discuss any changes in his Prednisone dosing with his veterinarian. Sometimes we can get away with lower doses, but need to decrease the amounts carefully. We normally do not recommend decreasing the amount by more than 50% at a time, so decreasing from 1 mL twice daily to 0.5 mL once daily would be decreasing the dose by four times, which might be too extreme for Elliot (even after only 6 days on the steroid). The good news is that we do not tend to see heart problems with oral steroids (only injectible steroids), so you do not need to worry about heart problems with oral steroids. I hope that answered your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Unfortunately, by law it is illegal for the experts at Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to recommend using any drug without seeing the animal in person first. That's because doing so requires a veterinary client patient relationship which cannot be achieved via an internet forum. In addition, the experts cannot say for certain if a specific drug is safe for Rudy. I strongly urge you not to give him the prednisone, as they can only be given to cats under specific situations and if they are heathy. Give his vet a call to let them know he is in pain, and you can see if they can prescribe some pain medication for him. Best of luck.

You have a very valid question. Here is the problem, your kitty does not have a diagnosis for why the cell counts were low. This makes it difficult to know how to taper meds like pred nor how long to provide treatment. Has your kitty been tested for feline leukemia/FIV? Was there any additonal testing done other than a CBC? It really would be important for you to discuss your concerns with your family vet who should be open to a discussion about a med that can have long term side effects. We typically do slowly taper drugs like pred for several reasons and your vet will be able to tell you why he or she picked that particular tapering schedule. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Hello, thank you for your question about Mitchell. Prednisone is a steroid medication and can cause a variety of side effects depending on the individual patient, so it is possible that the lethargy you are seeing could be secondary to this. It is also possible that Mitchell is experiencing mild exercise intolerance secondary to his asthma. I would recommend continuing to monitor Mitchell for the next 24 hours. If these symptoms continue or you notice any other concerning signs I would recommend having Mitchell seen by your veterinarian so that they can perform an examination and discuss the need for additional diagnostics. Hope this helps, good luck!