think pharmasist may be confused - and not sure if cat should take this

First off... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
 

Im here AGAIN to get the right answer.  

I just looked up the difference between these meds and no where did i see that prednisolone is the liquid form of prednisone.

That is what the walgreens pharmacist told me.  

ALSO prednisone is what ive read all over is for cancer/ibd.  My cat has been on prenisolone.   Is that ok????   

2 different vets did prescribe this.  He was better on just .5 mg and now horrible on 2mg.    Just still legthagic ok with eating drinking, urinating - no vomit or diarrhea

Sorry for starting new thread.... just wanted this issue of the 2 meds answered if possible

THANKS!!!

I just looked it up on Wikipedia and this is what it said

Prednisolone is the active metabolite of the drug prednisone.
What ever that means ???

My advise would be to get in touch with your vets first and ask them

Sorry I can't be more help

This article seems pretty decent but I agree about asking your vet.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-prednisone-and-prednisolone.htm#didyouknowout

According to it, the liver turns prednisone into prednisolone so they are letting the body skip a step by prescribing prednisolone.

Cats have to convert prednisone into prednisolone, so prednisolone is the preferred form. It has nothing to do with being tablet or liquid. I would definitely confirm dosage though with your vet and also be aware that use of either needs to be tapered off usually, not stopped abruptly.

Yeah the vets around here are awful.  The first one just said 30 days on pred and weigh.   i called ahead of time since it was right before christmas to find out if a day could be skipped IF he needed to continue on pred and that he was losing weight and what to do.

He never called back after I called 3 times in 4 days..  So being pissed I changed to another vet.   And here my cat was off it for like 2 days because I couldnt get an answer from someone who i paid over $200.    AND then started on a much higher dose right away. 

I do trust this 2nd vet much more for sure... but even still thats why I ALWAYS come here right away with questions.

And looks like ill have to ANOTHER pharmacist.   GEEZ... i mean pred is a very popular drug - shouldnt he know the difference????    SCARY!!!

You have to get exact instructions from the vet for tapering off prednisolone, but usually you cut the quantity in half for a specified period of time, then do it again and again...and again. It can be quite a long process if the kitty is on a high dosage.

Prednisolone is easier on the kitty's liver. It is the kitty preferred version of prednisone.

Only about 20% of Prednisone can reach the blood stream/liver as Prednisolone in cats.  Which is why Prednisolone is preferred in cats as you would have to give a much higher dose of Prednnisone in the cat.  Yes a pharmacist should know this.  Glucocoritcoid use in cats

m935 said:

 
First off... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
 

Im here AGAIN to get the right answer.  

I just looked up the difference between these meds and no where did i see that prednisolone is the liquid form of prednisone.

That is what the walgreens pharmacist told me.  

ALSO prednisone is what ive read all over is for cancer/ibd.  My cat has been on prenisolone.   Is that ok????   

2 different vets did prescribe this.  He was better on just .5 mg and now horrible on 2mg.    Just still legthagic ok with eating drinking, urinating - no vomit or diarrhea

Sorry for starting new thread.... just wanted this issue of the 2 meds answered if possible

THANKS!!!

Click to expand...

Hey there! You've gotten some good answers on what prednisolone is. I wanted to throw in that it's for lots of different ailments, not just cancer and IBD.

It's a steroid, and their action will reduce certain types of inflammation. My mother's been on steroids for severe asthma. My elder kitty was on prednisolone as a generic treatment for apparent brain inflammation, while we tried to figure out what was causing it so we could treat it more specifically (turned out to be clinical toxo).

Dramatically different ailments, but it worked well in both cases. So steroids have lots of different uses.

If the steroids aren't addressing the illness directly, it may not be effective over the long term. What is ailing your kitty?