Experience with steroid

EttaD

EttaD

Member Since 2025
I’m curious if anyone has experience with how a cat’s blood glucose changes after tapering off of prednisolone. Our boy will get his last dose tomorrow and I’m wondering when the effects on his blood glucose may go away.
 
Is it Prednisolone? A d you have been tapering it down? I know you went to every other day, but did you also cut the milligrams you were giving?

Prednisolone doesn’t stay in the system very long. You should see the full effect of stopping it almost immediately. Within a day or two you certainly will see what his BG is going to be like without it. Now, if he does have actual intestinal inflammation that was being controlled by the Prednisolone and it starts to get worse, that could raise BG. Every case of IBD in my cats has been so different, with some having easy to control IBD and others not able to be controlled well at all. Some were in a lot of pain and others not. Some had severe diarrhea and others never did. Some had vomiting as a symptom and others did not.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Is it Prednisolone? A d you have been tapering it down? I know you went to every other day, but did you also cut the milligrams you were giving?

Prednisolone doesn’t stay in the system very long. You should see the full effect of stopping it almost immediately. Within a day or two you certainly will see what his BG is going to be like without it. Now, if he does have actual intestinal inflammation that was being controlled by the Prednisolone and it starts to get worse, that could raise BG. Every case of IBD in my cats has been so different, with some having easy to control IBD and others not able to be controlled well at all. Some were in a lot of pain and others not. Some had severe diarrhea and others never did. Some had vomiting as a symptom and others did not.
Click to expand...
The ultrasound showed mild to moderate IBD. His symptoms were slightly softer stools. We thought the weight loss was IBD. It was likely it was that he needed insulin. This will be the next thing to tackle.
 
I'm in a similar boat with Norman. Backing off prednisolone has yielded a notable difference in his glucose numbers/insulin need, but colitis has come up again such that he has bloody, loose stools after stopping. We're looking into budesonide instead because it seems to be more of a local steroid than a systemic one and effective in the treatment of human ulcerative colitis.
 
TooFar McGee said:
I'm in a similar boat with Norman. Backing off prednisolone has yielded a notable difference in his glucose numbers/insulin need, but colitis has come up again such that he has bloody, loose stools after stopping. We're looking into budesonide instead because it seems to be more of a local steroid than a systemic one and effective in the treatment of human ulcerative colitis.
Click to expand...
Good luck. Tonight was his last dose so we will see how he does. Once we get him settled, I may see about a novel protein or hydrolized wet food but I’m not sure if they are low in carbs.
 
Hello, @TooFar McGee , every cat is different, but my cat was tapered off pred, and started budesonide, and it made a huge positive difference for her. She's now on the minimal dose, and always will be, but it's helped her to be a healthy cat again, and in her case did not raise her blood glucose levels.

Best wishes to you!
 
TooFar McGee said:
I'm in a similar boat with Norman. Backing off prednisolone has yielded a notable difference in his glucose numbers/insulin need, but colitis has come up again such that he has bloody, loose stools after stopping. We're looking into budesonide instead because it seems to be more of a local steroid than a systemic one and effective in the treatment of human ulcerative colitis.
Click to expand...
I’m using Budesonide in my IBD cat. Unfortunately, his intestinal inflammation hasn’t improved— but the prednisolone didn’t help either ☹️ we are not in a good way with him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top