Opinions on Prednisolone for inflammation/arthritic pain

My vet has advised me to give prednisolone. My kitty has inflammation in her gut (mild IBD) and spine. The spine is due to a traumatic injury which has shifted a vertebrae. The x-rays also showed a bone spur. We don't know what the trauma was since the injury must've happened before we got her, when she was just a kitten (she is 10 now). Poppy does not show any pain, but 3 vets who have seen the x-rays say that the damage is bad enough to assume there must be a sizeable amount of pain.

Due to the permanence of the spinal injury, my vet says the prednisolone will be a long-term med. He also felt it was a good choice due to the IBD. I have not experimented much with her diet, but since she has problems with constipation a raw diet is probably not an option.

What are your opinions on prednisolone long-term? Are the risks high?

If anyone has experience with trauma pain, can it be managed with arthritic supplements? (i.e., glucosamine chrondrotin, MSM, hyaluronic acid, krill oil). Or is this hoping for too much?

As with any drug, there are always possible risks to offset the possible rewards. What kind of dosage is your vet talking about? 5mg is the usual for long-term maintenance. 10mg takes it into an immuno-suppressive level. Cats do handle cortico-steroids very well. I think the biggest concern with use of prednisolone is the development of diabetes. I am not sure if you can do anything to mitigate that risk.

Anti-inflammatories such as krill oil and green lipped mussel oil have been known to help some cats with arthritis. Research shows that the other supplements you mentioned may help as well. It's hard to say as each cat responds differently, but I would definitely try those.

I'm not sure I follow your reasoning on why a raw diet wouldn't be good for a cat with constipation. A raw diet produces less waste, so there would be less material to back up and cause constipation? I'm not saying that raw is necessarily the best for your cat, just that I didn't understand your reasoning.

vball91 said:

As with any drug, there are always possible risks to offset the possible rewards. What kind of dosage is your vet talking about? 5mg is the usual for long-term maintenance. 10mg takes it into an immuno-suppressive level. Cats do handle cortico-steroids very well. I think the biggest concern with use of prednisolone is the development of diabetes. I am not sure if you can do anything to mitigate that risk.

Anti-inflammatories such as krill oil and green lipped mussel oil have been known to help some cats with arthritis. Research shows that the other supplements you mentioned may help as well. It's hard to say as each cat responds differently, but I would definitely try those.

I'm not sure I follow your reasoning on why a raw diet wouldn't be good for a cat with constipation. A raw diet produces less waste, so there would be less material to back up and cause constipation? I'm not saying that raw is necessarily the best for your cat, just that I didn't understand your reasoning.

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I already started her on 2.5 mg/day. At first the vet said 5 mg, but it was reduced because she started giving morning "feed me" calls (face licking) at 2 or 3 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. (her normal routine on the weekend). The vet figured that probably meant 5 mg was too much.

I did try raw diet last year, and there were some constipating effects. Although there is less waste, it is also harder, drier stool, so less easy to pass. Getting the right formulation would be a little risky, too--too much calcium would be an expensive mistake at this point.

Ah, that makes more sense.

So how long has she been on the pred, and have you noticed any improvements?

2.5 weeks. The main symptom we brought her in for was low/wavering appetite, and that has definitely improved. The inflammation revealed by an ultrasound was supposed to be have been mild, so I think the main reason for the long-term pred is the spinal injury. The only symptoms we had before related to the spinal injury was a clumsy walk/general clumsiness. That has not gone away, but she does have a more graceful jump when she gets on the bed. However, I did also reduce her food a little, hoping to lose about a half pound. She sneezed a lot the first 3 or 4 days, but that has gone down--by now any sneezing could be written off to sneezing that would've happened anyway.

I will discuss the pred with the vet, I just want to discuss it with others beforehand and get all my questions lined up.

My cat has been on a low dose of a steroid for 2 1/2 years.  He was on prednisolone for about 1 1/2 years and then there was a nationwide supply problem and he was switched to dexamethasone.  The supply problem is fixed now but the vet just kept him on the dex.  He hasn't had any problems but I know that they may show up.  You do want to stay with the prednisolone rather than prednisone.  The liver has to do more work to metabolize prednisone.