How long for Prednisolone to help IBD?

[LTMommy]

Hi everyone.

I'm going to make a much longer, more detailed thread about the saga that has been my cat's health over the past 6 months, but for now I'm really just looking for some feedback specific to one issue. I've used the search function to look at previous threads and posts related to IBD and Prednisolone, but can't find much that speaks specifically to what I'm curious to know.

What I'm really curious about is how long it generally takes to see a positive improvement in IBD symptoms after starting a cat on Prednisolone. I know there isn't a cookie cutter answer. I'd like to hear from people who have had a cat who was prescribed Prednisolone for IBD or presumed IBD and saw a positive change - how long did it take before you saw the change and was it gradual or a more marked, dramatic improvement?

Just a bit of back story regarding my cat and Prednisolone...

3 weeks ago he started Prednisolone at 5 mg in the morning and 2.5 mg in the evening every day. This is still the dose he's on now. Tomorrow will officially mark a full 3 weeks.

He hasn't been officially diagnosed with IBD b/c I cannot afford the endoscopy and biopsy. The vet offered to prescribe the Prednisolone under the assumption that there is a chance this is IBD. He's had constant diarrhea (complete unformed, runny poop multiple times a day), weight loss, and decreased appetite since August 2022. GI panel showed low b-12 which he's now receiving injections for. Other tests don't really show anything else that would obviously be causing these symptoms.

Since starting the prednisolone, I haven't seen a dramatic change but I've definitely seen improvements. Now he has a mixture of solid poops and unformed poops, whereas he wasn't having any formed poops before. The frequency has also decreased - he'd be in the litter box having messy squirts multiple times a day and it's definitely lessened. For example, it's 4:13 pm and he hasn't pooped (solid or liquid) since last night. This is a major change from prior to starting the Prednisolone. I'd say it took about 1.5 weeks after starting the Pred to see those changes. It's hard to say about his appetite since he's never been one to wolf down his food. He eats both wet and dry food but had refused to eat the dry for a few weeks prior to starting on the Pred. About a week and a half after starting the med he began eating the dry food again. I prefer that he eats more wet due to a history of urinary problems, but the dry food has a lot more calories and he needs that right now. I definitely wouldn't say that his appetite has gotten worse, but he's not begging for food or anything like that. So, I can't say it's been a night and day difference, but I feel that it's helping.

Today we had a follow up appointment with the vet (internal medicine specialist who prescribed the prednisolone). The vet said he'd expect to see a more drastic improvement at this point, if it was indeed IBD and the pred was really going to help. This is discouraging to me. He had some blood drawn to check some basic things just to make sure the Prednisolone isn't having any unwanted side effects. As long as those results come back fine, the plan is to keep him on the current dose for the time being since we are seeing some improvement. Recheck in 2 months, unless he either starts to decline or has dramatic improvement before then.

I will go into more detail about the other things I've tried and what I plan to try moving forward in conjunction with the Prednisolone once I have a chance to post a much longer history of everything that's been going on. But right now I'm just really curious to know about other cats' experiences on Prednisolone for IBD


Thank you!

 

[Margot Lane]

Hi everyone.

I'm going to make a much longer, more detailed thread about the saga that has been my cat's health over the past 6 months, but for now I'm really just looking for some feedback specific to one issue. I've used the search function to look at previous threads and posts related to IBD and Prednisolone, but can't find much that speaks specifically to what I'm curious to know.

What I'm really curious about is how long it generally takes to see a positive improvement in IBD symptoms after starting a cat on Prednisolone. I know there isn't a cookie cutter answer. I'd like to hear from people who have had a cat who was prescribed Prednisolone for IBD or presumed IBD and saw a positive change - how long did it take before you saw the change and was it gradual or a more marked, dramatic improvement?

Just a bit of back story regarding my cat and Prednisolone...

3 weeks ago he started Prednisolone at 5 mg in the morning and 2.5 mg in the evening every day. This is still the dose he's on now. Tomorrow will officially mark a full 3 weeks.

He hasn't been officially diagnosed with IBD b/c I cannot afford the endoscopy and biopsy. The vet offered to prescribe the Prednisolone under the assumption that there is a chance this is IBD. He's had constant diarrhea (complete unformed, runny poop multiple times a day), weight loss, and decreased appetite since August 2022. GI panel showed low b-12 which he's now receiving injections for. Other tests don't really show anything else that would obviously be causing these symptoms.

Since starting the prednisolone, I haven't seen a dramatic change but I've definitely seen improvements. Now he has a mixture of solid poops and unformed poops, whereas he wasn't having any formed poops before. The frequency has also decreased - he'd be in the litter box having messy squirts multiple times a day and it's definitely lessened. For example, it's 4:13 pm and he hasn't pooped (solid or liquid) since last night. This is a major change from prior to starting the Prednisolone. I'd say it took about 1.5 weeks after starting the Pred to see those changes. It's hard to say about his appetite since he's never been one to wolf down his food. He eats both wet and dry food but had refused to eat the dry for a few weeks prior to starting on the Pred. About a week and a half after starting the med he began eating the dry food again. I prefer that he eats more wet due to a history of urinary problems, but the dry food has a lot more calories and he needs that right now. I definitely wouldn't say that his appetite has gotten worse, but he's not begging for food or anything like that. So, I can't say it's been a night and day difference, but I feel that it's helping.

Today we had a follow up appointment with the vet (internal medicine specialist who prescribed the prednisolone). The vet said he'd expect to see a more drastic improvement at this point, if it was indeed IBD and the pred was really going to help. This is discouraging to me. He had some blood drawn to check some basic things just to make sure the Prednisolone isn't having any unwanted side effects. As long as those results come back fine, the plan is to keep him on the current dose for the time being since we are seeing some improvement. Recheck in 2 months, unless he either starts to decline or has dramatic improvement before then.

I will go into more detail about the other things I've tried and what I plan to try moving forward in conjunction with the Prednisolone once I have a chance to post a much longer history of everything that's been going on. But right now I'm just really curious to know about other cats' experiences on Prednisolone for IBD


Thank you!

Have you read what member Ocean Planet is going through? That seems pretty useful!

 

[maggie101]

My cat Maggie was just diagnosed with ibd. It immediately stopped her throwing up and diarrhea. My old cat Josie was on pred for triiditis. It stopped her throwing up. There are other meds to try. Has he had an ultrasound? The diaheria will make him dehydrated so he needs canned. The ultrasound helped confirm ibd because her intestinal walls were thickening,something like that

 

[LTMommy]

My cat Maggie was just diagnosed with ibd. It immediately stopped her throwing up and diarrhea. My old cat Josie was on pred for triiditis. It stopped her throwing up. There are other meds to try. Has he had an ultrasound? The diaheria will make him dehydrated so he needs canned. The ultrasound helped confirm ibd because her intestinal walls were thickening,something like that

I guess I figured prednisolone would take a little time to work and that the improvement (if any) would be gradual. Especially with how inflamed his intestines might be after dealing with this for so long. I didn't expect immediate results, but maybe I should have. I've searched all over online and cannot find anything that really indicates how long one should expect it to take for Prednisolone to show "dramatic" and marked results with IBD either.

He had an ultrasound at his regular vet in December 2022. Without going too deep into it right now, he had a UTI for at least 4 months beginning in August 2022. He was on 4-5 different antibiotics before it was finally resolved. So, that didn't help his stomach issues at all. After the UTI was cleared, the plan was to do an ultrasound to basically confirm that he has thickened intestinal walls and to proceed with treating for presumptive IBD. To everyone's surprise, his intestines looked fine. He did have some sort of "abscess" (vet's word) on one of his kidneys and fluid around the kidney. Labs showed possible early stage kidney disease. Was referred to an internal medicine specialist since my regular vet was stumped. Internal medicine specialist feels whatever is going on GI-wise is likely not related to the kidney issue. It could be related, but it really depends on how wide of a net I want to cast as far as testing and exploration goes. We've set the kidney issue aside simply b/c if further imaging shows anything that would indicate surgery being the next step, that's not an option for me financially at this time. He's at least 12.5 years old and I do not feel that he is really up for a major surgery (my regular vet was talking about kidney removal...) So the focus is on the GI issues since that is really what's affecting his quality of life right now. I was nervous about the idea of putting him under for the endoscopy due to his age and the kidney issue, but would have considered it if it was an option financially. Multiple thousands of dollars that I don't have and will not be able to save up any time soon. Internal medicine specialist gave me the option to start Prednisolone to see if it'd help, with the understanding that I can't really go back and do the further testing later on if I change my mind. I decided to try that to see if it'd help.

He takes Miritaz for his appetite (not every day, more like every 3 days, sometimes longer or shorter inbetween depending on how his appetite seems). I've tried the FortiFlora (doesn't affect his stools but helps to get him to drink more water...don't really give it to him anymore). Tried Proviable (all the vets around here seem to push this) - won't touch the powder form and not a huge fan of the paste - I think the paste made his poop worse so stopped that. I am giving another KO sort of paste that he likes and I think it helps somewhat.

Am planning to try some other probiotics, specifically something containing s. boulardii, but still deciding on which one to start with. He is picky with food so I anticipate I may need to try several before I find one he will eat. I'm basically on my own with the probiotic. The vet said it's fine if I want to experiment with them at my own risk - they cannot really advise or guarantee the safety or efficacy of any of them.

He is limited on the different foods we can try because he has a 10+ year history of urinary problems. He was so badly blocked 10 years ago that he had a PU surgery (removal of penis to make urinary opening larger). He is on prescription urinary food, although he now eats the Purina EN dry now and my vet has said it's ok b/c it's also formulated to avoid the development of bladder crystals/stones. I have dry food out all the time and he is offered wet food multiple times a day (I'm talking like 5+ times a day I give him a small bowl of wet). For a while he wasn't into the dry and was eaten primarily the wet. Now, he's into the dry more than the wet. I know wet is best but right now I just need him to eat.

 

[Ocean Planet]

Hey, from my experience, the prednisolone did not help right away. All my doctors told me it takes time to build up and start to work. I think like you said, I noticed some improvement but I think what really helped my guy was the S bouldardii. (NONE of my doctors believe me by the way). I dosed him up hard with it one weekend and by Tuesday he was going normally, where it was once all liquid 10 times per day. The prednisolone helped it get back to mush before the S. bouldardii. But my cat had chlorambucil added a month after the prednisolone due to his diagnosis and that has helped things further I'm sure.

My method is that I bought the Jarrows brand off Amazon and I roll up little sandwiches out of prescription Hills A/D food and my cats eat it up. At the moment they get it in the morning before work and then later after dinner. So about a half capsule per day, or thereabout.

 

[LTMommy]

Hey, from my experience, the prednisolone did not help right away. All my doctors told me it takes time to build up and start to work. I think like you said, I noticed some improvement but I think what really helped my guy was the S bouldardii. (NONE of my doctors believe me by the way). I dosed him up hard with it one weekend and by Tuesday he was going normally, where it was once all liquid 10 times per day. The prednisolone helped it get back to mush before the S. bouldardii. But my cat had chlorambucil added a month after the prednisolone due to his diagnosis and that has helped things further I'm sure.

My method is that I bought the Jarrows brand off Amazon and I roll up little sandwiches out of prescription Hills A/D food and my cats eat it up. At the moment they get it in the morning before work and then later after dinner. So about a half capsule per day, or thereabout.

Thank you! This makes me feel a little better. I’ve seen vague statements online that basically say your cat’s gut didn’t get like this overnight, so why expect a medication to fix it overnight. I’m holding out hope that I’ll see some more improvement over the next week.

My cat was the same - pure liquid poop many times a day, nothing solid for months. He had 1 small perfectly formed log of poop this morning. My next step will be to add the s. Boulardii to see if it’ll help to make all of his poops like that. I’m going to try the Jarrow brand in some empty gelatin capsules since he can be very picky with anything in food and I don’t want to turn him off of food.

Now it’s just monitoring his food intake. I have another cat who will eat anything and everything. I have dry food out all night in a spot where only my male cat can get to (at least I thought), but now I’m questioning if my female (healthy) cat is actually the one who has been getting to that food and scarfing it down lately. For now I’m putting my healthy cat in a bedroom with food, water, and litter box during the day when I’m at work, allowing me to monitor the food intake and output from my sick boy. Problem is he likes to eat at night after we’ve all gone to bed and it’s harder to keep his food separate.

 

[Ocean Planet]

Exactly. There is no overnight fix. That's what is so frustrating. Definitely give Jarrows a try. I think that first weekend I gave him 4 portions of it Saturday and Sunday. I just dumped a reasonable amount in the Hills food and cross my fingers that he would eat it.

I hear you on the monitoring food thing. I have two cats and what I do is buy some cheap security cameras to aim at their food and littler boxes. Even thought I go to work and sleep I know exactly who eats or does what any time, any day!

 

[LTMommy]

Exactly. There is no overnight fix. That's what is so frustrating. Definitely give Jarrows a try. I think that first weekend I gave him 4 portions of it Saturday and Sunday. I just dumped a reasonable amount in the Hills food and cross my fingers that he would eat it.

I hear you on the monitoring food thing. I have two cats and what I do is buy some cheap security cameras to aim at their food and littler boxes. Even thought I go to work and sleep I know exactly who eats or does what any time, any day!

Haha, yesterday I found myself thinking about getting a camera for the food. I felt maybe that was a bit overboard but you’ve made me feel less insane.

 

[Ocean Planet]

Haha, yesterday I found myself thinking about getting a camera for the food. I felt maybe that was a bit overboard but you’ve made me feel less insane.

Ha, I have about 5 cameras in my place. So I'm waaaaay overboard insane. Probably should be locked up.

But in all seriousness, the ones I bought were around $35 each and then you buy a micro SD card to record events so you don't have to sign up for their cloud recording services. I live alone so it was a must..... and a HUGE help.

 

[LTMommy]

Ha, I have about 5 cameras in my place. So I'm waaaaay overboard insane. Probably should be locked up.

But in all seriousness, the ones I bought were around $35 each and then you buy a micro SD card to record events so you don't have to sign up for their cloud recording services. I live alone so it was a must..... and a HUGE help.

I just made a post in the Cat Behavior section to get recommendations for cameras to see what others are using. I want cheap, night vision, and something that doesn’t require a subscription. I plan to buy something this weekend.

If I had cameras all over the place I’d probably get nothing done all day because I’d be obsessively checking on my 4 pets! I will however put one by the cat food dish for sure. It’ll be worth the peace of mind!

 

[Ocean Planet]

I just made a post in the Cat Behavior section to get recommendations for cameras to see what others are using. I want cheap, night vision, and something that doesn’t require a subscription. I plan to buy something this weekend.

If I had cameras all over the place I’d probably get nothing done all day because I’d be obsessively checking on my 4 pets! I will however put one by the cat food dish for sure. It’ll be worth the peace of mind!

Oh cool. I'm using the Wyze cameras. It's the taller one that can rotate 360 degrees. Very helpful! I just picked them up at a local Best Buy with an SD card.

You are right though. On one hand it gives peace of mind, on the other hand, you get addicted to looking for them and making sure they are 'ok'.

 

[LTMommy]

There vet called and the blood work they ran yesterday looked good, so I got the go ahead to continue with the current dosage of Prednisolone.

Well I came home from work today and he had thrown up a bunch and was hiding under a chair, drooling. Not a good sign. He seems very weak. He’s crashing. I’m very worried this might be the end.

I wonder if the Prednisolone could be causing the nausea. I have noticed him drooling more very recently (like the past week), but this was intense drool today.

 

[LTMommy]

My cat passed away tonight. I rushed him to the emergency vet and they confirmed he was in the process of dying. Thankfully I was able to make it slightly less agonizing and scary for him.
I’m not sure what caused him to crash so quickly, but I’m not going to spend too much time worrying about it. I don’t say that to seem heartless. I accept that I did the absolute best for him that I could and I know this was the only and best way that I could have helped him tonight. He was sick. I knew that. Never found out exactly what was wrong but again, did the best that I could. I will try to focus on the happy memories instead of worrying about things I’ll never have answers to.

 

[Ocean Planet]

Oh no, very sorry to hear! You definitely did what you could for him. Cherish the good times that were shared. Big hug.

 

[fionasmom]

I am very sorry for your loss. You are absolutely right that you did the best that you could for it and it was a great deal. He was lucky to have spent his time with you and I hope that the memories of the good times will be of comfort to you.

When a cat passes, we lock the thread within a couple of days out of respect for the cat. You are more than welcome to post a memorial tribute to him in our Crossing the Bridge forum.

Crossing the Bridge

 

[Mac and Cats]

My cat passed away tonight. I rushed him to the emergency vet and they confirmed he was in the process of dying. Thankfully I was able to make it slightly less agonizing and scary for him.
I’m not sure what caused him to crash so quickly, but I’m not going to spend too much time worrying about it. I don’t say that to seem heartless. I accept that I did the absolute best for him that I could and I know this was the only and best way that I could have helped him tonight. He was sick. I knew that. Never found out exactly what was wrong but again, did the best that I could. I will try to focus on the happy memories instead of worrying about things I’ll never have answers to.

Oh no. I just saw this. I'm so sorry. I'm wondering if your cat had something like what our kitty (10-ish years old) we lost last year had. It is called Feline gastrointestinal eosinophilic sclerosing fibroplasia and it often gets misdiagnosed for lymphoma or IBD because most people don't tend to get it tested. It has not been recognized as a disease for very long (only a few years) and not much is known about it yet and I believe the 10-13 years old is about when it starts to develop. We did try some pred for a few days, but it wasn't helping fast enough. We ended up saying goodbye to our guy as the recommendation was a surgery that we couldn't afford and we weren't even sure if it would work. I often regret our choice (daily), but at the same time, I know we didn't want to put him through that surgery. I think focusing on the happy memories instead of worrying about answers you will never have is the best you can do. You did as much as you could for him. I'm really sorry that you lost him.