Can steroids affect my dog's biopsy for inflamed intestines?

Aw I am so sorry to hear this about her. Her illness is likely what is causing the decrease in appetite. The steroid usually helps to decrease the inflammation and increase the appetite. A few things I would talk to your vet about is whether a daily probiotic and a long term appetite stimulant would help her. I would also talk to your vet about starting her on weekly Vitamin B12 injections. Most dogs with GI cancer or IBD have low Vitamin B12. Your vet should be able to give her one injection a week for 4-6 weeks then decrease the injections to once a month if she is doing well. Vitamin B12 is also a natural appetite stimulant. I would also talk to them about whether an oral steroid daily would be better than the occasional steroid injection. I obviously do not know what type of steroid injection they are giving. Some steroid injections stay in the system for 6-8 weeks where others only stay in the system for 48 hours. I would also consider putting her on a hypoallergenic diet if she would be willing to eat it. If she prefers human food, you may consider making her own diet at home. If you do, I would visit balanceit.com for recipes and also talk to you vet about which type of foods would be safe for her. I hope this helps!

IBD and GI lymphoma can look identical on lab work and ultrasound - the only way to distinguish the two for certain is to do an intestinal biopsy. Steroids can decrease the number of inflammatory cells and make diagnosis more difficult. Both can be difficult to manage, and each cat may need a different treatment plan. Often pain medications, nausea medications, anti-inflammatories, hypoallergenic diets, probiotics, antibiotics, etc are needed.

Poor Kitty! Since she is already 17 years old and she is having such a tough time with her inflammation in her GI tract, I think steroids will be the best choice for her. If her blood work looks okay now, then I think she can tolerate the steroids. Unfortunately, if you don't put her on steroids the lymphoma or IBD may continue to get worse. It is true the steroids will not CURE lymphoma, but it certainly give her a better quality of life right now. It could keep the IBD under control and eventually you may be able to decrease her steroid dose to a lower dose. The concerns of long term steroids are much lower since she is already geriatric. If she was 4 or 7 years old, then I would be much more worried with starting her on long term steroids at that time. At the age of 17, our goal is to give Kitty are good quality of life. If you want more options about the lymphoma and interested in seeing an oncologist, I would ask your vet for a referral for a oncology consult. I hope this helps!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Blood can definitely be seen with cases of IBD. For IBD, immunosuppression is typically the treatment of choice in severe cases. Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant drug that is commonly used along with changing the diet to something such as Royal Canin Ultamino. I would discuss this with your veterinarian for starting something such as Azathioprine in place of steroids to see if this helps more. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than willing to help you further. I would also recommend adding in a probiotic such as Purina Fortiflora, which can be purchased online or at your local pet store quite easily.

That sounds like a very difficult situation. If the steroids are not helping Abby within about 72 hours, I would call your veterinarian to let me know, so they can decide what to do next based on the results they have so far. It sounds like your next option would be to do intestinal biopsies to try to figure out exactly what is going on in Abby's gut. Other options would be a consultation with a veterinary internal medicine specialist if one is available in your area.

You definitely seem to have done plenty of research for Zise. Well, nobody likes putting their pets or themselves on corticosteroids. As you already know, there is a long list of side effects and they can sometimes outweigh the benefits of the drugs. In this case, if IBD has been diagnosed definitively, prednisone is typically the best course of action (in combination with dietary change to a low fat, high quality protein formulation). One of the theories behind using corticosteroids in the treatment of IBD isn't only to reduce inflammation. Many researchers believe there is an autoimmune component to the disease process. Prednisone is an immunosuppressive drug, and will therefore help with this condition. I would suggest following the advise of your vet for now and seeing how things go. You can always take Zise off the drug if you feel the benefits are not outweighing the side effects. Often times, some cats will not experience any sides effect and simply benefit from the drug's effects. In terms of stem cell therapy, I don't know much about this as a treatment option for IBD. Regenerative medicine is fantastic and I have seen it work miracles on many orthopedic patients. I am sure there is definitely a way to make if work for IBD patients as well, but you would have to speak with a person who specializes in this area to find out the details. I wish the best for you and Zise. Let me know if you require any more consultation on IBD and how to manage the disease.

Typically cats get really bad vomiting episodes with IBD and occasional diarrhea. The prednisone likely is treating for inflammation or an immune mediated condition of the gut, which can include lymphoma, IBD, or a condition called lymphocytic plasmocytic colitis. At any rate, if the prednisone is helping, then I would continue with therapy as indicated. A lot of the times you can only get a final diagnosis with gut diseases by having a surgical biopsy taken of the intesines. As you can imagine this is a very invasive procedure, so response to therapy is typically the route we taken when making suspected diagnoses. I would also highly consider getting Beau on a hypoallergenic diet to help make it easy for her gut to digest food. My top picks here are Royal Canin hypoallergeic hydrolyzed protein, Hill's Z/D, OR Royal Canin Selected protein (rabbit/potato). Ask your vet for a prescription if interested! I hope this helps and best wishes with your pet Beau and her chronic loose stools. Take care.