Can I stop my cat's Prednisolone cold turkey for pain medication?

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!

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.

Hello, prednisone is a steroid that although beneficial for some things it also has alot of side effects and needs to be used carefully and under the instructions from your veterinarian. The dose Kitkat is getting now is higher than most other doses prednisone is used for. It should be fine to stop the medication now after today but monitor her drinking habits and overall activity. If she seems lethargic, not drinking or drinking too much, not eating, then she needs to be seen by her veterinarian immediately. Back injuries can recur, so in the future, before starting medications consult with your veterinarian first. Additionally. even though Kitkat is feeling a lot better, she needs to continue strict rest for at least 2 weeks to allow her back to heal. That is no running, jumping, or rough playing with other dogs. Hope this helps and best of luck.

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.

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.

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.

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.