My cat on prednisolone has GI issues. Is it safe to lower his dose?

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!

Yes, that is a typical decreasing dosage program. While steroids are not recommended for long term use, cats have less problems with them than dogs. Also long term use generally means many months or years. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care get answers to your veterinary questions.

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.

It is not recommended that you change any medications without calling your vet first. It doesn't sound like the symptoms are related to the prednisone but anything is possible. She may have a concurrent infection and need some antibiotics. Please call you vet for advise before changing any doses. I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and Hoops. I hope she gets back to her normal self soon!

Is there a reason you want to stop the prednisone? I would recommend not stopping it and if you feel it is better to stop the prednisone then I would recommend weaning off of the prednisone. I would discuss how to wean the prednisone with your veterinarian. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center.

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.

It depends how long he was on it. If he was on it for less than a week, you can stop it cold turkey. If it was longer than that, you can respectfully tell the vet that you are concerned about iatrogenic (meaning medical treatment caused the issue) Addison's disease (underactive adrenal gland). Thanks for asking Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!