# Prednisone side effects?



## Allan's Girl

Hi everyone. I am dog sitting for my neighbor. His dog is a 70 pound female Doberman. She is on prednisone twice a day. She is having some of the usual side effects.... Increased thirst, hunger and urination. Today while I was over there I noticed she was shivering and her teeth were chattering. It was not cold, about 65 degrees outside and I am sure warmer than that inside. She is an inside dog. It scared me so I called him and made hike call the vet. Vet said prednisone does strange things to dogs. Maybe she was just cold and to cover her in a blanket. Does this sound right? Has anyone else had to deal with shivering and teeth chattering when it's not that cold? I am worried for her.


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## SandyK

I don't have any answers for you. Just wanted to say I hope everything will be ok. That is weird chattering teeth and shivering. Did you try a blanket?


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## Allan's Girl

SandyK said:


> I don't have any answers for you. Just wanted to say I hope everything will be ok. That is weird chattering teeth and shivering. Did you try a blanket?


Yeah I did try. She didn't want to stay under. I was just over there again to feed and medicate her. Poor thing is just trembling and kind of whimpering. I'm really worried about her  she seems so miserable. I have to go over about ever hour or hour and a half because she has to pee so much. 

The dosage she is on is 30 mg twice daily. She had a pretty severe rash and no one seems to know why. I am afraid to bring her over here because they really don't know what's going on with her and I gotta keep my girls safe. 

It's killing me though. I just feel so bad for her


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## dborgers

Andy was on 60mg a day for awhile, but it was given three times daily. He was about 78 lbs at the time.

Maybe 30mg at a time is too much. Perhaps try 20mg 3X's and see if that makes any difference? I hope she feels better.


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## SandyK

Poor girl...I feel so bad for her and for you. Did the owners agree with their vet and think it is just a side effect? Does she seem to slow her trembling when you are there? How long has she been on the prednisone?


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## Allan's Girl

SandyK said:


> Poor girl...I feel so bad for her and for you. Did the owners agree with their vet and think it is just a side effect? Does she seem to slow her trembling when you are there? How long has she been on the prednisone?


Yes he agrees with the vet. No the trembling is not any better when I sit over there with her. She's been on it for about a week now.

His girlfriend should be home around midnight, but I get to do this again tomorrow and Sunday. It's really tough on me. Because to me, it seems like she's so miserable and unhappy, breaks my heart. We have been watching her since she was a puppy. So about 5 years now. Kind of attached to that girl.


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## Goldenssobeautiful

So sorry to hear this. Our collie mix was on prednisone, and had odd reactions. The vet made me pull her off right away! She started drinking more and not being able to hold her urine, coming from a dog that never went in the house...then throwing up and diarrhea...then out of the blew her ear swelled up. Her body was not having it. Then she went to t-pal, I think it was called....and did very well. Everything went back to normal. It was a real low dose steroid with an antihistamine in it. I hope the everything goes better for you!


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## KathyL

I didn't see a post from you so I am hoping the dog is better. 

I've never heard of shivering as a side effect of prednisone but I am not a vet. My first thought was is the dog scared or nervous and just shivering because it is nervous, teeth chattering is odd.

I've had two goldens on Pred. My first golden was on prednisone for awhile (I don't remember dosage, it was 30 years ago). The side effect was thirst and urination which is most common. Then Harley was on High dose prednisone (40 mg twice a day) and he was 89 lbs. He was prescribed high dose to suppress his immune system because his platelet count dropped to 40,000 in a very short timeframe, he also had lung tumors and other things going on. Prednisone is a tricky drug and you cannot just stop, it needs to be tapered. 60 mg a day for a 70 lb dog seems like a high dose to me for I think you said allergies. I do not like prednisone and it melted the muscle off Harley in about 6 weeks.


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## Allan's Girl

She seems to be doing better. They cut the dose in half last night. His vet said once they decreased the dose her side effects should decrease dramatically. He is back home with her today.


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## dborgers

Allan's Girl said:


> She seems to be doing better. They cut the dose in half last night. His vet said once they decreased the dose her side effects should decrease dramatically. He is back home with her today.


Glad to read the vet addressed this. 60mg a day is a BIG dose of Prednisone. 

She should feel better once the dose dies down in her body.


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## murphy1

Just remember you have to come off prednisone slowly.....I know this because I've taken it for years for asthma. Cutting it in half from a large dose is too quick. Your body has to pick of the slack because it stops making it when your're on a pill form. Slow and gradual is the proper way.


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## BajaOklahoma

I am quite a bit bigger than a Golden and I take 60mg/day for sinus infections, usually divided into three doses a day. 

Besides increased thirst, water retention and peeing frequently due to the first two, prednisone also increases the blood sugar. The half life of prednisone is 8-12 hrs, depending on who you ask. The shaking was probably a sign of the blood sugar dropping as the prednisone wore off.

Cutting the dose by a third was a pretty drastic change. The usual taper schedule would have been to 50gm/day for three days, then 40mg/days and so on.


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## Allan's Girl

BajaOklahoma said:


> I am quite a bit bigger than a Golden and I take 60mg/day for sinus infections, usually divided into three doses a day.
> 
> Besides increased thirst, water retention and peeing frequently due to the first two, prednisone also increases the blood sugar. The half life of prednisone is 8-12 hrs, depending on who you ask. The shaking was probably a sign of the blood sugar dropping as the prednisone wore off.
> 
> Cutting the dose by a third was a pretty drastic change. The usual taper schedule would have been to 50gm/day for three days, then 40mg/days and so on.


Wow, ok I'll tell my neighbor. Not sure if he'll listen to me. He seems to trust this vet.


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## SandyK

Hoping things continue to improve.


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## Allan's Girl

Well she is totally of the prednisone and seems to be doing ok


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## lgnutah

I, too, have been dealing with what may be the side effects of prednisone prescribed for my dog (interesting that someone said prednisone caused their dog to lose muscle mass when on it--my dog has lost weight/muscle when on it too---see my recent threads if you are interested to read about it)


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