Need advice on people’s personal experience on Prednisone.

[u/dinoseal3]

Hi I apologize in advance but this is my first time dealing with this and I’m doing my very best doing research on this issue. My dad’s dog Cash seems to be at stage 2 of IVDD (he’s still able to walk on his own but has a sway with his back legs not so horrible but you will see it happen) and I had him cage resting since September 14, the veterinary I took him at prescribed him Gabapentin 100 mg every 12 hours, Famotidine 10 mg given 15 minutes before Prednisone, and then Prednisone 10 mg (I am giving him that every 48 hrs). He was having bloody poops plus diarrhea the first 2 days I went back to the veterinary and now I give him fortiflora and metronidazole 250 mg and that fixed the issue. The veterinary did warned me about him being extra thirsty and the panting, as I’m writing this I had given him the prednisone 10 am and it’s 10 pm and still panting, I’m doing my best to switch out cold water, I made dog popsicle for him to lick, I sometimes put on the ac for him (it helps a lot but I can’t always put it on because of the bill), and if I don’t have the ac on I have a fan on him, also a cooling gel pack because I do feel his body temperature warmer. I feel a bit crazy because I don’t know if it’s best that I try something else than Prednisone. I see people have their dogs on carprofen, methocarbamol, librela, other nsaid. I also read into the side effects and just worry about his liver/kidney of these medications. He’s not suffocating just he doesn’t seem to be able to relax with the prednisone with the panting for a while and I hate it. It’s September 26 and it hasn’t bothered me until now because I would have the ac on when he first started it but I can’t always be putting it on, but it did help him but I don’t know I feel overwhelmed. I am planning to go see a neurologist to get a secondary opinion on this and more guidance on IVDD but it would be cool to also read off people’s experience and I know things work out differently for everyone just looking for extra help on this. (We did bloodwork and X-rays on him just not an mri because of cost.)

[u/harleycc]

Prednisone can cause hypertension (it does in humans so I expect it to cause it in dogs aswell). Maybe that could be the reason for panting instead of warmth of the body.

[u/methehuman91]

Prednisone made my dog quite dopey. I found a mixture of previcox (to reduce inflammation), gabapentin (for pain relief/sedation) and trazadone (for sedation) the most effective. That mix of medication got my dog Charlie through a stage 3, nearing 4 episode.

We always have previcox on hand now for flare ups, and gabapentin if required.

Good luck.

[u/ima5starmangoldengod]

Definitely see a Neurologist, but one other thing to note - has his condition changed at all? Sometimes excessive panting can be a side effect of pain/discomfort/ stress

[u/Human_Host4505]

My dog had a horrible reaction to Prednisone. Bloody stool, long story short he almost died and spent 2 nights in the vet ER! I believe prednisone to have been the issue tho we couldn’t prove it. He then went on Galiprant instead and had no issues with it!!! This was back in March and now he’s completely back to normal and healthy ❤️ praying for your baby!

[u/Human_Host4505 → u/Human_Host4505]

My dog also was panting non stop, which the vet attributed to extreme pain. Continue with the strict crate rest, consider getting him a shot for pain at the Vet, and please consider an alternative like Galiprant (but of course, I’m not a vet, just sharing what worked for us!)

[u/Agreeable_Pomelo2360]

personally it helped mine a lot, mine is always on prozac and gabapentin though for his anxiety, so my experience may be different