How long to wait for my cat to switch from prednisolone to meloxicam?

Hello, & thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I would not recommend just stopping the prednisone. It is best to decrease the dose by 1/2 every 3-5 days until Nugget is receiving 0.5 mg every other day for at least 3 doses. In the mean time, Nugget might do well with Buprenorphine, another pain medication that is safe to use while decreasing the prednisolone. Please discuss this with Nugget's veterinarian, but do not stop the pred. cold turkey.

It would help to know what medical condition she is taking the steroid for - if she has a life-threatening auto-immune disease, for example, then I would definitely not want to skip any doses since this could cause a relapse of her disease. But if she is taking the steroid for allergies or some other condition that is not as serious, then it would probably not cause any harm if she misses a dose or two - you might see some recurrence of her symptoms, but this would not seriously jeopardize her health. It would also help to know specifically what steroid she was taking (prednisolone, dexamethasone, etc) since different medications stay in the system longer than others. If you want to post again with more details, we can try to give a more specific answer.

I definitely agree that prednisone tapering should take much longer but if you have already switched him to Rimadyl you cannot give him the prednisone anymore. if you have not switched him yest you should do a much slower tapering over a period of at least 2 weeks, reducing gradually every 5-7 days.

While a washout period is recommended between NSAIDs like Rimadyl and corticosteroids like prednisone the actual number of days to wait has not been determined by a research study. I typically recommend a 7 day washout but there are many times I have started prednisone right away when I thought it necessary. You could ask your vet about using gastroprotectant medications like antacids to help lessen the likelihood of side effects.

I would wait until you return to start the course of prednisolone for Mistoffelees. It's better to do the full course than start it and stop it before returning to it when you get back. Best of luck, I hope this helps and enjoy your vacation!

Meloxicam (eloxioral) can be given to cats as a single dose but prolonged used is not recommended. It is best to contact your vet if you have questions about the medications but personally, I would not use it in cats unless it was my only option since there are much better cat specific medications to use like Onsior.

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