Side Effects Hydrocortisone?

[vikinggirl34]

Hello all,

It's been a while since I've posted.

Janie just recently within the past 3 days started using the litter box more. More poop than usual (frequency, size) and peeing a bit more. It started a few days after medicating her ears with Zymox - 0.5% hydrocortisone for itchy, gunky ears. I weighed her today and she is her usual 10 1/2 lbs - so no weight loss. I was thinking maybe she was going hyperthyroid on me. She is 13 1/2 years old. I know you will all recommend a trip to the vet which I will do if this continues but thought that it may be temporary being it does correlate with the Zymox ear drop with the hydrocortisone? Wondered if anyone else has experienced this after using hydrocortisone? Thanks!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Never heard of any such side effects with hydrocortisone used in this manner. Did you get this product from your vet, and can you call and ask if this might be a side effect of the meds use?

Is Janie on other medications that might be impacted by the use of a hydrocortisone related product?

Is it possible that with her ear infection improving that Janie is just eating and drinking more than she was before?

 

[vikinggirl34]

hello feebysowner -

Zymox is an OTC ear treatment. I have in the past used the vet prescription of Tresaderm but have been using the Zymox lately.

Janie is not on any other medications currently.

If any of the possibilities it would be that her ear is better.

I will continue to keep a close eye on her and get her to the vet asap if she continues using the litter box more.

 

[vikinggirl34]

ok. I didn't waste any time on getting her to the vet. Luckily, my vet is only 5 minutes away and takes in walk-in appointments and they weren't currently busy. I had her through a routine senior wellness exam and had the senior blood panel along with her blood pressure checked.

Will have the results back in a couple of days. The two of us are back home and trying to relax after all that!

 

[FeebysOwner]

Yay! What a responsive vet! Let us know what you find out with the tests! She is older, so that was probably the best thing to do for her!

 

[vikinggirl34]

Her test results came back yesterday. The only thing the vet found was slightly elevated pancreatic enzyme levels. She's doing ok but now has been drooling a fair amount when she's sleeping. (called the vet back to let her know)

She keeps going in the litter box repeatedly peeing only a little - it seems like only right after she eats wet food. They were unable to get a urine sample at the vet and I'm working on getting one from her currently.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Thanks for update. Did the vet want you to do anything specific about the elevated pancreatic enzymes, or were they not elevated enough to be of any major concern? Sometimes I know they will recommend easily digested wet foods and ensuring the cat keeps hydrated, just as precautions. And, a follow up test to see if the enzyme level returns to a more normal range.

Have you heard back from the vet about the drooling? It's just weird because all of these symptoms don't seem to be connected. If they are, I sure don't get it.

Sure hope you can collect the urine for testing soon! ​

 

[vikinggirl34]

Yeah, I was trying to connect the dots myself and couldn't figure if these symptoms were related. The don't seem to be. She must have a few different things going on at one time.

The doc said I could put her on a bland diet if she seems uncomfortable but she's eating her usual wet and dry food fine. The pancreatic levels were only slightly elevated.

I did here back from her about the drooling. Janie's got some bad gingivitis that's probably causing the drooling so she is going to put her on antibiotics for that.