My cat missed a steroid dose on Sunday. Can she wait for a refill?

When a cat is on steroids, they are getting corticosteroids from this medication and as a result, the adrenal glands stop producing them. When a cat suddenly stops steroids, the adrenal glands won't simply start making these hormones immediately. Without these hormones in his system or a way to make them, he can go into shock or die without emergency medical attention. Do not let him miss days of it.

Steroids can be indicating is allergic dermatitis but have extreme side effects when used at high doses or long term. I would not recommend this as a long term course. Any steroid over time leads to a resistance where it just won't work anymore and can lead to liver problems and diabetes in cats. Prednisolone is better tolerated and seems to work better in generally in cats compared to dexamethasone. There is a medicine called Atopica or Apoquel that is made for allergic skin disease and does what the steroids do just without the side effects and resistance, so you may be better trying one of those instead. All are prescription medicines so you will have to call your vet to see if they can fill this since they already have a medical report on her. I would stay on the hypoallergenic diet as this can take 2-3 months for max affect and treats count as far as food allergy go, so make sure those are hypoallergenic or don't give any. I would consider a treatment for mange and fleas also. It is not common in cats but causes them to be itchy and it is hard to prove and super easy to just treat to be safe.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Rilke. I typically wait two weeks, but this can vary based on the length and dose of the prednisolone course. I would her ask her veterinarian to know what is best for her specific case. I hope this information helps!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The real answer is- it depends on why they were prescribed and for how long. If this is for an auto-immune disease, your pet’s life may depend on the steroids. Same for severe asthma or allergic reaction. If however, it is for itching or minor swelling/inflammation, or allergies, a shorter course or even a single injection may be safe. In general steroids do not tend to cause serious side effects unless they are used at high doses or for long courses of treatment. Long story short, it may be perfectly fine to skip the oral medication but definitely ask your doctor first.

Pets can be weaned off steroids but it will need to be very slow since she has been on the steroids for so long. I don't recommend to begin weaning Lady Purr until you speak with your veterinarian about the protocol they want for Lady. You may ask if email is an option. It might be faster for you to talk with the vet. I hope this helps.

In a twelve year old cat with a neurologic condition, unless you are planning on moving forward with advanced diagnostics such as MRI / CT / Nerve conduction I would encourage you to keep Cali on whatever medication is working effectively for as long as you need. While there are certainly side effects for long term use of steroid drugs, they pale in comparison to the result of not having the treatment at all. Overall, there is no set or agreed upon amount of time that a cat can or cannot stay on these drugs. Long term use should certain be monitored with semi regular blood work to monitor changes in the cell counts and the liver / kidney values. Hope this answers your question.

Given her age, steroid side effects from long term use tend to become less of a risk if the benefits are clearly improving her quality of life. Depending on the nature of the growth, low level chemotherapy medications may provide an opportunity to halt growth or even reduce the mass but this would require assessment by a specialist