Gut issues: Deciding whether to give my cat steroids (prednisolone)

[samus]

The vet did say I could try tapering down to a quarter tablet if I felt like she was doing well. Dexamethasone is what she was on at the beginning of the flare up. I haven't tried pill pockets. Actually, I don't think I've seen them here... but I figured they probably all have some ingredient I'm trying to avoid anyway. I tried hiding the pill in her food and that went pretty badly.

The vet hasn't mentioned megacolon. But I think the poop size is from going from a 90%+ meat food to a 68% meat food, and maybe almost doubling calorie intake. (Poop's gone from a half a roll of dimes to a full roll of pennies. It's seriously logs now.) She's pooping so much better now, it's just gigantic compared to before. And besides that I'm running out of vets to try. This is vet #3 since we've moved here, and the only one I could find that's a cat only vet.

 

[samus]

Poop's been black for a few days. Still very solid, also dry (litter doesn't stick to it much). I guess I should talk to the vet about increasing the prednisolone when the holiday's over. Maybe increase the omeprazole, too, or instead? Still has a good appetite, though, and this morning she was hunting a twist tie! (Yay playful kitty!) But still meatloafing on and off like she has been this entire time.

 

[goholistic]

 
Poop's been black for a few days. Still very solid, also dry (litter doesn't stick to it much). I guess I should talk to the vet about increasing the prednisolone when the holiday's over. Maybe increase the omeprazole, too, or instead? Still has a good appetite, though, and this morning she was hunting a twist tie! (Yay playful kitty!) But still meatloafing on and off like she has been this entire time.

Hmm...any thoughts as to why the dark stool? Unless it was a food or something that made it dark, that is usually indicative of GI bleeding.  

  Glad her appetite is good!

 

[samus]

Yeah I'm really puzzled about the dark stool. When I ran out of her prescription food I fed her normal petstore food for a day and her poop was really squishy and light colored and then went back to dark, so maybe it has something to do with how dry and dense it is? She's soooo much happier and active now, and gets excited and attacks stuff at least once a day. The meatloafing's much reduced, too. I think I'm going to try slippery elm again, now that the diarrhea's gone and I can really tell if it was causing any diarrhea or not.

 

[karenh]

My cat has diarrhea and the prednisone has not helped. In my opinion, you should try it and see if it helps your cat. If not you will have to take other measures as I have found out.

.

 

[goholistic]

Yeah I'm really puzzled about the dark stool. When I ran out of her prescription food I fed her normal petstore food for a day and her poop was really squishy and light colored and then went back to dark, so maybe it has something to do with how dry and dense it is? She's soooo much happier and active now, and gets excited and attacks stuff at least once a day. The meatloafing's much reduced, too. I think I'm going to try slippery elm again, now that the diarrhea's gone and I can really tell if it was causing any diarrhea or not.

I recently experienced a certain food giving my Boo dark (and loose) stools. It took some process of elimination, but finally narrowed it down. It was pork-based.

That's really great that she is happy and active!