Prednisone question

I'm new at the forum, so "Hello!"
I have a 17 year old male cat thta has always enjoyed good health. About a week ago he began showing symptoms that included vomiting, mucous stool, weight loss & lethargy. The vet thinks that that it mat be IBD and has prescribed an antiemetic, (compound) Prednisone (compound) and Clavamox (liquid.) He has been on the medication for 4 days and the antiemetic has relieved the vomiting.

My question is: What effect should I see from the Prednisone, and when should I see it?

He will see the vet later this week, but maybe you can provide some feedback until then.

Thanks in advance.

Griselda

Prednisone helps with inflammation, that is the good effect. It should help with the IBD overall with less of those symtoms. I can't speak totally as to what is going on there b/c my kitty didn't take it for that.
My Rocky has taken oral pred for feline asthma, he now gets steriod shots every couple of months when it flares up. (which I understand to be the same thing, as prednisone but longer lasting). It works great for that.

Negative effects.. dandruff, weight gain, increased thirst, possible behavior changes. Long term you may see a greater risk for diabetes.

Rocky is now about 2 1/2, he has mostly been getting shots for the last year and prior he got the pills at different times. I def think it may affect his appetite.. He is now 14 lbs and somewhat overweight. He had had dandruff on and off. He is the only kitty that will actually drink out of the toilet (we have a fountain BTW). We only give him the shots when absolutely neccesary.. your vet may not want to keep kitty on pred long term or will have you wean him to the lowest possible dose. You have to see how much the benefits outweigh the risks. It's a strong drug but it is also a "wonder" drug as well.

PS I just reread your post, and you mention kitty is 17.. so I wouldn't be too worried about long term effects as much.. please just use my info as a FYI.

The pred should help relieve the rest of his symptoms. There are some other things that can be done for IBD that you can discuss with your vet at the end of the week. A grain free diet and probiotics help with controlling this condition in a lot of cats. Many people feed a raw diet but if your vet is a conventional vet he probably won't think much of this idea. I have mine on a combination of several different grain free poultry canned foods and Innova EVO dry. An all wet diet is better but both of my cats are dry food and free feeding addicts. Sometimes cats need to be kept on a small maintenance dose of pred to control symptoms. If if it can be controlled with diet and the probiotics it is really better.

My Wellington takes prednisone for asthma, which helps the inflammation of the bronchial tubes. Taken long term there can be side effects like weight gain, diabetes and heart problems, but I don't think you need to worry about that with a 17 year old kitty!

When my cat was on pred [and any steroid he's been on] he had an increased appetite, so at the time I was free feeding and he gained a lot of weight, that's really all that I could "see" happening.

Buster had been on Pred for about 6 yrs for possible IBD or pancreantits. There is a lot of speculation as to what is REALLY going on. I had him on the lowest possible dose (2.5 mg every other day) and that helped with the vomitting which was his main problem. Recently I took him to a new vet who reccommended a "simple" food. California Natural Chicken and Rice and stopped giving the pred. As before when I have tried to wean him off the pred, he has started vomitting again. Right after he eats. Undigested food. His obvious "changes" from the pred were weight gain and dandruff. The new vet ran a blood panel and his kidneys and liver are ok but he's headed for trouble if he stays on it. He's only 12 and I really want to stay away from it from now on. Being your cat is 17, I hate to say it, but the long term effects are not much of an issue. The pred will help your kitty feel better and keep food down. Based on Buster's experience...maybe 5mg each day for a while and then 2.5 mg / day and then 2.5 every other day to maintain.....check with the vet on dosages...