# Side effects prednisone



## Wendy427 (Apr 4, 2009)

Lacey has been doing the exact same thing on pred as your Tess! The heavy panting, excessive drinking and peeing. She's been on pred since the end of this past April for IMHA. I actually took Lacey to the vet yesterday because I was concerned about the panting since it actually sounded like her breathing was labored. The vet listened to her heart & lungs, and took X-Rays....no issues. 

I also asked the vet if Lacey was in pain or uncomfortable and she said no. The other thing I was concerned about was the pred making her legs weak! Lacey really has to hoist herself up 1 step into the house; and I have to lift her back end to help her into the car. Bottom line, she's not in any pain, just weak. The only thing the vet said was to keep her walks very short...no more 1-mile walks at least until she's off the pred.

Re the excessive drinking/peeing, Lacey's now on a schedule where she's taken out every 4-5 hours to pee, including when her dog-walker takes her out while I'm at work. Also, I'm now going to bed early so I can sleep @4hours, wake up to let her pee, and then go back to sleep for another 4 hours! Yep, it's a "new normal"!


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Thank you for this post! I just read your roller coaster ride with Lacey, somehow I missed that when it happened. How is she now?


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## Wendy427 (Apr 4, 2009)

She's pretty much the same as she was last month which is when we started her on the pred weaning schedule. It'll take @ 6 months for her to be completely weaned off of it. We're checking her HCT (Hematocrit) each month to ensure it doesn't drop at the same time.

The odd thing is that she's actually LOST a lot of weight in the past year, despite the known side-effect of prednizone causing weight GAIN. I asked the vet about this and she agreed that my feeding her a 3rd meal each day would be fine, so I'm giving Lacey @ 1 cup of TOTW-Pacific Stream 3x/day rather than her original 2x/day.


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

Pred can cause muscle wasting, which can make them weak. A high quality diet appropriate for the dogs condition can be a big help. Low impact exercise, like swimming is very important too. Crazy dog Mom that I am, I had a swim spa installed in the garage so I could keep them swimming through the winter.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

If your dog gets the pred for a month for now, the dosage should be tapered off gradually. Did your vet give you any instructions on that? 
I personally do not care for long term pred because it suppresses the function of the adrenal glands which normally produce the corticosteroids. 
If I missed it, why is your dog getting the pred? Allergies? In case of allergies I would not want my dog to be on pred long term.
I know pred is also used in cancer treatments to slow down tumor growth. In that case longterm pred would be a must. But that is an entirely different scenario.


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## shmail (Jul 22, 2012)

I saw the same side effects when my dog daisy started pred. Heavy breathing, drinking/peeing a lot, her urine got a VERY strong smell. Her metabolism is up and down and I also noticed her getting weaker. The vet said these things are all normal for high doses of pred. I put Daisy's story below if you want to read it, just WATCH OUT for liver failure. That's another side effect that can be VERY dangerous.

Daisy's story: I got Daisy in 2004 from a shelter. They told me she was a Vizsla/Retriever mix. All was well for 8 years until April 2012 when she started having siezures. The vet diagnosed her with AIHA (Auto-immune Hemolytic Anemia) with a red blood count a low as 15 at one point (normal is between 38-50). Since then she's been hospitalized for 5 days for dehydration, had 2 blood transfusions, and been put on 80mg of Predisone as well as Azathioprine. The pred is very strong and as a result her liver stopped functioning properly resulting in jaundice and a distended stomach that had to be drained by the vet. In the midst of all this she has also gotten UTI (unrinary tract infection)- I think this is because she is too weak to go out and pee all the time. Given that this disease has a very high mortality rate for dogs, it's a miracle she's still here. It's been a rough couple of months, but she's finally getting better. I'm here to help others who are dealing with the same issue. I'm not sure if this is common in retirever dogs. Send me a message if you're struggling with this and I'd be happy to share my expieriences.


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## shmail (Jul 22, 2012)

One more comment- Watch for sores on the dogs tongue. sometimes they're on the underside so they're hard to see.....

Best of luck to you and don't give up.


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## seeana (Mar 16, 2012)

Hi I really do hope that the pred helps.They say some really bad things about it, for a long while I suffered with fibromyalgia and my Doc put me on a course of it for 6months and it got rid of my fibro completely and no after effects at all and to start with I was on a very high dose.
I sincerely hope you have a good outcome with Tess.


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## vbdino (Feb 3, 2012)

My dog Mira was on prednisone for 4 days, 25mg per days half morning, the other half evening. Today was her last day, and I noticed that she has been drinking a lot today.

She also takes novo-lexin and corticosteroid gel but I couldn't find much information related to increase drinking.

That makes me realize that the vet should mention side effects.


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## vbdino (Feb 3, 2012)

seeana said:


> Hi I really do hope that the pred helps.They say some really bad things about it, for a long while I suffered with fibromyalgia and my Doc put me on a course of it for 6months and it got rid of my fibro completely and no after effects at all and to start with I was on a very high dose.
> I sincerely hope you have a good outcome with Tess.


Hi seeana, I tried to pm you about fibromyalgia but I don't have 15 posts yet to be aloud to send pm. I have a friend that has had this problem for many years and suffer a lot. I will check if she tried Prednisone but I would very much be interested to know what dosage you were prescribed. You can send me a pm so that we don't deviate this tread. Thanks


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

I gave Tess her last dose of prednisone yesterday, after she started having a lot of trouble with her GI system. The neurologist told me to wean her off it in five days. We will see how she does.


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## vrmueller (Jun 14, 2008)

Hoping Tess does well as she weans off of the pred. Good Luck and let us know how she does.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

We had a little roller coaster yesterday. The neurologist was really worried about the fact that she was still having diarrhea and losing so much weight, so she wanted to do an ultrasound. So instead of going to the us open we stayed home and waited for the results. Luckily the ultrasound did not show anything scary, so they put her on Baytril and sent her home. The Baytril basically blocked her whole system...it took her until tonight to have a BM again, more than 24 hours. But it was firm, for the first time in 2 1/2 months. 
Unfortunately the shaving of her belly made her very itchy. So in the end I took her to her breeder, who had a special spray she uses on very bad hot spots, and that seems to give relief. I put a T-shirt on her, so the cone can stay off for a while. At the moment she is sleeping, exhausted because of all the itching...
In a month we will do another titer, because first the pred has to be out of her system. But I am glad she seems to feel a little better. Now to get some extra lbs on her!


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