# Prednisolone - what's the alternative?



## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Hi there,

The vet just put Rufus on Prednisolone (same as or similar to Prednisone?) to stop the itching and Cefpodoxime Proxetil (antibiotic) to treat an infected rash caused by a flea allergy.

The poor thing is urinating inside the house, which he's never done before, and a different time we were outside and he was trying to pee but nothing was happening. 

On top of that he now has an upset stomach, which I guess might be caused by the antibiotics. 

I've read some threads on here and know a lot of people aren't keen on Prednisone - is there a less aggravating alternative? Benadryl?

If anyone has any ideas or advice it would be most appreciated,
Thanks!


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## readaboutdogs (Jul 8, 2001)

Our vet gave us famotidine to give 15 min or so before the prednisone. I know the peeing is a hard thing. When Cody was on it the first time years ago, I didn't know about the peeing! We ended up replacing the carpet,this time with the "pet pad" underneath. The next time he was on it I had to pull the carpet cleaner out morning and nite since I work and he was too ill to be kept outside, he was an indoor dog anyway. The famotidine was to help with the stomach problem. I don't know if there's something else or not similar to the pred.


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## FlyAway (Jul 17, 2012)

Yeah, try to stay away from steroids. They are good for helping dog heal who have already scratched themselves up a lot and have inflamed painful red patches.

My dog has seasonal allergies, which thankfully, are getting much better. But a couple of years ago he was really bad. He had rubbed his eyes and inflamed them, and licked most of the hair off his paws. 

This is what I got from the vet. Hydroxyzine prescription allergy medicine. He was on this for nearly a year before I decided to wean him off. For his red paws I got a topical steroid spray called Betagen. It's only good if it can get to the skin. Since much of his fur was gone from his feet, it only took 3 days before it was much better and I stopped spraying. For his eyes I simply used regular eye drops. 

Thankfully I have a vet who is also concerned about steroid use and was able to work with me.


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## eddie1976E (Nov 7, 2010)

My dog is on prednisone, it makes her hungry and have to pee more frequently. She was on 20 mg a day and that was tough on her bladder, but she always peed, unlike yours where nothing comes out. We are on 10mg a day now, and she seems to be ok with it. She goes 8hrs without any issues. Any chance of going to a lower dose or letting the dog out more frequently? 

For the stomach, try giving probiotics an hour or so after the antibiotics...my dog has a sensitive stomach but she does ok with antibiotics because we give her probiotics. There are a few makers out there, we use Digest All plus, it works well for us. 

Good luck


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Well...he is already on the steroid so you need to finish it, which includes stepping him down from it. You can NOT just stop the steroid. That can cause other health issues.

So complete the therapy. Give him plenty of outdoor time. Yes, the peeing in the house is not good. We had to rip up our kitchen floor when Banshee was on it. 

Try giving slippery elm about 30 minutes before the anti-biotic and give probiotics 2 hours after the anti-biotic to help with the upset stomach.


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## ugavet2012 (Apr 15, 2010)

Basically same drug as prednisone. You can also try Dexamethasone injection(s) which is also steroid but less side effects or temaril-p, which has prednisolone with an anti cough but can be used the same way you are using just prednisolone. Some people claim less side effects with it but my own dog (so n=1) was actually worse I think, at least definitely not better, as far as peeing and scavenging for food. You can try an anti histamine but they are not nearly as good as steroids, and only about 20% of dogs respond to them, but not all of them, some dogs might do well on Benadryl but not Zyrtec, etc. you can also using an antihistamine with the steroid since sometimes it allows you to lower the dose of steroid. Maybe just want to simply try a lower dose. On 20 mg every 12, try 10 mg every 12, etc. I am never afraid to use a short course of steroids to knock out the itch because sometimes you can't get anywhere without using them and some dogs are just plain miserable. I have taken steroids myself before for really severe bronchitis that nothing else was touching, and I can assure you it was one of the best decisions I have ever made; I don't give 2 craps what it was doing to my body during that short time period (which was nothing that isnt reversed now) since I almost couldn't function without it. I did, however, also want to eat eat eat, I never normally eat fast food but was scarfing down chicken nuggets and fries like it was my last meal:crazy:


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

Stop the fleas. Try Trifexis (sp?) for fleas, if you can get your animals out of the house for the day and flea bomb your home.


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## Fade2Black (Apr 30, 2012)

Be very careful/watchful if you keep Rufus on pred. My recently passed away GSD Kaos was on 20mg for about two months as a last stage help for his hips (along with tramadol). It made him hungry, thirsty, pant excessively, gave him insomnia, pee a lot, loose stools. Finally it caused him to have bloody stools. If you can get him off of it do it now......


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Thank you so much for all the advice so far! The topical spray and the probiotics are definitely things I'm going to follow up on.

Re: the fleas, he doesn't have them anymore - we got him from a shelter 3 weeks ago where I guess he picked them up. We used Frontline Plus and then, on the advice of the vet, Comfortis too. Just the allergy to deal with now!

Luckily he's only on a short course of Pred - he was on 20mg a day for 5 days, now 10mg a day for another 5 days and then 10mg every other day for another five days. Today is the day he gets his first lower dose so am hoping the peeing will get better.

I've been taking him out to pee a lot more often, but clearly just not often enough! Feel so bad for him.

I'm actually kind of annoyed that the vet didn't discuss the steroids a bit more with us


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Also ugavet2012, great to know that you find a short course a good thing - helps me not to worry too much! 

As he's more hungry should I feed him more (he's already on quite a bit, trying to put weight on him) or should I just stick to what he's on already? (2 cups Innova morning and evening, plus lots of training treats (usually meat) in between)...


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

ALynott said:


> Luckily he's only on a short course of Pred - he was on 20mg a day for 5 days, now 10mg a day for another 5 days and then 10mg every other day for another five days. Today is the day he gets his first lower dose so am hoping the peeing will get better.


It definitely gets better at 10 mg! Huge difference in Banshee with the peeing.


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## Fade2Black (Apr 30, 2012)

ALynott said:


> AAs he's more hungry should I feed him more (he's already on quite a bit, trying to put weight on him) or should I just stick to what he's on already? (2 cups Innova morning and evening, plus lots of training treats (usually meat) in between)...


If you want to put more weight on now's a great time. Pred will make him eat. My Kaos was also on Innova. But he was a picky eater and would leave it. I had to give him other treats or he would get to skinny. When he was on the pred he would devour the Innova. Poor thing got so hungry on pred he tore the cover off a pet smart tennis ball and ate it. He never did anything like that in his life....


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Fade2Black said:


> If you want to put more weight on now's a great time. Pred will make him eat. My Kaos was also on Innova. But he was a picky eater and would leave it. I had to give him other treats or he would get to skinny. When he was on the pred he would devour the Innova. Poor thing got so hungry on pred he tore the cover off a pet smart tennis ball and ate it. He never did anything like that in his life....


Great, thanks for the advice - I guess I'll add a small lunchtime meal until he gets off the Pred


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Jax08 said:


> It definitely gets better at 10 mg! Huge difference in Banshee with the peeing.


Phew - that is so good to know!


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Here are two Homeopathic products you might want to try. Homeopathic Remedies work with the body to heal.

For Itching: TOPICAL: Dapis Gel for topical use: a combination of 2 homeopathic's, Apis and Ledum: Apis Gel relieves symptoms associated with insect bites | Boiron Canada

For Itching: INTERNAL: "Bug Bite" combo homeopathic's by HomeoPet: HomeoPet Flea Bite


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

Momto2GSDs said:


> Here are two Homeopathic products you might want to try. Homeopathic Remedies work with the body to heal.
> 
> For Itching: TOPICAL: Dapis Gel for topical use: a combination of 2 homeopathic's, Apis and Ledum: Apis Gel relieves symptoms associated with insect bites | Boiron Canada


Thank you, I'll definitely try both of those. Is the Dapis Gel safe if he licks it?


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

ALynott said:


> Hi there,
> 
> The vet just put Rufus on Prednisolone (same as or similar to Prednisone?) to stop the itching and Cefpodoxime Proxetil (antibiotic) to treat an infected rash caused by a flea allergy.
> 
> ...


 
How old is your dog - did you find fleas or was that the "go to" diagnosis/assumption

If your dog is already on HW/flea prevention - you may want to look at that as cause for skin eruption and itching.

If you want to correct the imbalance - itching and allergies associated with bites, enviro, food - as allergies are a symptom, not a dx. and is indicative of something out of balance with the gastro intestinal tract, thymus gland and possibly thyroid (hence age question)

Helping to heal malabsorption problem (great poops might just mean high fibre food) in the gut as 60-80% of the immune systems balance starts with what you put in (bioavailability) as well as metabolizing and uptake - So digestive enzyme and probiotic

Minimize toxic load (denatured food i.e. kibble, HW prevention, over-vaccination)

and add suppliment that works as the thymus gland would - Bovine Colostrum


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

ALynott said:


> Thank you, I'll definitely try both of those. Is the Dapis Gel safe if he licks it?


No known/recorded reactions to homeopathic remedies. Very safe.
These are usually taken by mouth but they made one topical.


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## Verivus (Nov 7, 2010)

A short course of steroids is really not as big a deal that a lot of people like to make it out to be. Antihistamines are usually not very effective for serious allergy issues in pets.

My clinic's Internist told me a joke about veterinary medicine... "you go through all that schooling in order to learn to prescribe prednisone."


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## Anubis_Star (Jul 25, 2012)

Prednisone is obviously a great anti-inflammatory, and as mentioned a short dose of it should have a very low chance of risks or side effects.

But you can't just stop giving it. Your pup needs to be weaned off it. So if you want alternatives make sure to speak to your vet first before stopping the medication.


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## ALynott (Mar 3, 2013)

GatorBytes said:


> How old is your dog - did you find fleas or was that the "go to" diagnosis/assumption
> 
> If your dog is already on HW/flea prevention - you may want to look at that as cause for skin eruption and itching.
> 
> ...


Great, thank you so much for that - very interesting. I'm definitely going to look into the digestive enzyme and probiotic.

He's just about to finish his course of both meds and he seems to be doing well so far - fingers crossed!


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