My cat nearly died from depo medrol and it''s a fight every day to keep her alive...

[bastfriend]

I'm so sorry Grendel, it's always devastating to lose them especially when it seems connected to trying to help them.    I will be very cautious if any vet tries to give my cats this shot for any reason.  

 

[grendel]

Thanks..yes I am very upset by it. Seemed so unnecessary.
 

 

[jobkab]

I completely agree this drug is very dangerous!

On Thursday June 13, 2013 my husband took our 1 1/2 year old snowshoe Arya to the vet for Irritable bowel disease and the vet gave her a shot of Depo medrol, on Sunday Father's Day we woke up to find Arya in complete respiratory distress. Rushed her to the emergency room and she began vomiting blood and succumbed to heart failure. I was completely shocked when we reviewed the receipt from the Thursday office visit and saw the Depo listed there with a dose for a 1 -40 lb cat, how can the dose for a 40 lb cat be safe for a 1 lb cat. I am devastated as I believe this drug killed our Arya as she had been diagnosed as healthy other than the Irritable bowel disease, which we are certain had nothing to do with her death. This drug needs to be removed from all vets offices.

 

[abisiobhan]

I am so sorry to all those who lost kitties or have an ill one. Ridge if you still read here, have you considered a necropsy? That would likely find the cause of death and you could sue the vet. I know I would!!!

 

[daisyandteddy]

Was searching and just came upon this post. My 11 year old cat had to be put down on Sunday after receiving a depo Medrol shot. She had a swollen ear from allergies so they lanced her ear and gave her the shot to stop the itching. That night she became very lethargic and seemed to be doing open mouth breathing. The next day I brought her back to the vet. They kept her overnight. They first told me that she had diabetes and gave her insulin. The next day, her breathing was worse, they put her on oxygen, took x-rays and found fluid in her chest (5X what they normally see) and said it looked like she had heart disease. They took out the fluid, so her breathing got better but she then got a blood clot which limited use of her hind legs. We ended up having to put her down. 5 days ago, I had a normal, senior cat with itchy ears and now she is gone. She likely had some underlying medical conditions that were never diagnosed but the Depo Medrol shot is definitely what did her in. Now knowing the possible side effects and reading all the posts from people on various websites about what it did to their pet,  I would never give that to a pet of mine again. To this day, I still do not understand why the vet would give a sr. cat this medication.

 

[nccarol]

I just saw this post I am so sorry for your loss. Is there a test they can give before giving that shot.  My cat was given Depo Medrol shot last year after trying other remedies for his extreme allergies and I did not know it could have that reaction. No tests were done prior to the shot but this was his regular vet. I had a cat years ago that had a reaction to one of its regular shots and I had to rush it back to the vet and they gave it something to counteract it. Then he would always get something before the shot I guess for allergic reaction. The only thing I recently learned was if they have any type of heart condition Depo Medrol can cause cardiac arrest cause it is so much more potent than regular steriods. My guy has a murmur. I am glad the other vet I saw in the office mentioned this about the heart cause I did not know that. Again I am sorry about your loss and the other ones here as well its such a tragic loss. 

 

[aprilprey]

OMG - I am so distressed at reading these stories - I feel like I have had the closest of calls!  My cat Boo had a Depo-Medrol shot on Aug 10 - it totally threw off her appetite, which seems to be coming back.  Which doesn't seem like much, but it was given to counteract the bad side effects of Revolution - she'd already lost weight since she was so obsessed with scratching due to those side effects!  She was trippin' balls for days - staring into space as if she forgot who she was.  Slept so much she never ate much - and too sleepy to remember to eat at all when awake.

She is on the small side - so I'm really shocked to hear the same dose can be given to a 40 lb animal.

Its wearing off, and she's scratching a bit again, but I'll take the scratching, licking, and a hairless spot on her body before I go there again.  And it all started because I wanted to give Boo some relief from scratching her ears due to ear mites - which turned out to be a mild infestation.  If I could turn back time - I'd have tried to find another way to deal with them.  Its frustrating when the employees of the local natural pet food store have better advice than your vet!

Really, really sorry for all that have suffered because of this drug. 

 

[our sugarbear]

SUGARBEAR~~~~~My cat Sugar died from depo Medrol shot we feel certain.  She was bitten by something outside 6-23-14 around 830a (she was an indoor cat that went out for few mins a day as she liked)  She was bitten her R cheek swelled and was puffy. Set appt w/ vet at around 330 or so. By the time we got to vet at 3-ish her swelling down.   By time got to Vet her swelling was better and she was actually improving, she was 90% herself!  But assessed by Vet, she did have some swelling in her cheek we so for comfort she gave her that shot.  Sugarbear came home w/ malaise and tried to drink water, hovered over the bowl but just didn't seem to be able to drink much if at all.  Laying around trying to find a comfy place, but moved bunch of times.  We tried to make her comfy, but she just meowed and seemed very uncomfortable. We hoped by a.m. she would 'be over it'.  By middle of the night she died, husband up till 4a.  Her last meow we thought she went to sleep.  Around 12h after shot was approx. 4a.m.  We believed she died upon that last meow under our bed where she resorted for comfort.  Our bubbly beautiful white, blue eyed kitty 1yo and 9lbs, deceased.  We are devastated. The vet said she never saw a cat die that fast from a spider bite...we thought that was the cause in the 1st place.  After my husband and I talked about how everything played out, and internet study, I believe that SHOT killed our baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We are simply devastated.

 

[our sugarbear]

Our Sugarbear died yesterday a.m. 6-24-14, 12h after depo shot for swelling in her cheek that was already getting better by time got to vet!  Depo shot, she nose dived...died w/I 12hrs.  Sickened and so sad words can't say.  She was HEALTHY AND BUBBLY YOUNG HEALTHY 1Y 9LB KITTY, WHITE W/ BABY BLUES.  Suffered 12hrs then died.  Wish we knew what was happening we thought she just needed to rest and let things work out of her system. 

 

[yegg57]

I have 2 cats, Piper and Page. They were born in my room and are twin sisters.

Page is somewhere between muscular and fat.

Piper was getting skinnier and skinnier. I had decided to take her to the vet and then overnight (prior to the visit) she laid on her side, and literally couldn't move, incontinent, the whole bit. I was close to taking her into the desert and shooting her.

I DID take her to the vet the next morning. The vet told me it could be exposure to some toxin, a stroke, or brain cancer, any of which would cost a LOT of $$ just to diagnose.  He gave her a shot and 12 hours after the depo shot she was JUMPING!

He gave us pills that she didn't take to very well, fought us every time, finally I talked the DR into giving me several syringes to take home.

When I see her symptoms starting (unstable on her feet - balance)                  (every 3-4 weeks) I give her another shot myself.

When we took Piper into the vet one day when she wasn't "half dead" he was amazed at her condition.

The DR didn't ask me about meds or anything and how would I know if she had allergies or what anyway?

Bottom line is that this stuff has kept Piper alive, active, and presumably happy,  for probably the last year and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

I'm not saying that you didn't have a bad experience or anything - just relating how MY vet, using this drug, has kept my kitty going for a long time. I'm about to go to his office to pick up refills now....

 

[Tward129]

I took my cat to the veterinarian on September 18. He gave her a depo injection and a rabies shot at the same time and now she is gone . She passed away October 1 because of that and then because the pets Er I took her to the evening of September 30 had misdiagnosed her because they never asked me what kind of shots she received on September 18. My cat was 8 years old and was nothing wrong with her at all .. I just made an appointment to bring her in because she had a little skin rash. Other than that was perfectly healthy

 

[mani]

T Tward129 , welcome to TCS, although we are really sorry for your loss. .
This is quite an old thread but we welcome your input.
We have a forum called Crossing the Bridge where people leave memorials to their rainbow bridge cat companions. Perhaps you may like to post a tribute to your girl there.