Hello, I just want some clarification I can’t find on google.
I have a 10 year old puggle who had an infection from a tick bite (not Lyme, a bacterial infection) that evolved into autoimmune triggered hemolytic anemia that nearly killed him. We got him patched up, he was a great boy through it all and we are now on the other side of it after about 6 months of care.
The trouble is he has been on steroids, prednisone, this whole time to combat the issue and promote his recovery. The vet used what we thought was an EXTREMELY conservative weening process to make sure it wouldn’t trigger the anemia again or cause withdrawl, but now that our boy is off of them entirely he is acting pretty off.
His steroid schedule was this: (he is 40lbs) 20mg/day for about 3 weeks, lowered monthly to 15mg, 10mg, 5mg (so three-ish months of weening steroid use, it could honestly be longer than that but it’s been such a long time it’s hard to keep the schedule straight). Then for the last 4-6 weeks he has been on 2.5mg/day given every other day, told to stay on that until the bottle ran out and then he was done. His last dose was 5 days ago.
Since his steroids stopped he has been gradually declining. Nothing like the anemia and his gums are still pink, so we don’t think it’s that. He is lethargic, refusing to eat, drooling, visibly uncomfy. The vet warned us the first week or two would be difficult and to withhold any of his carprofen (for arthritis and the flare ups from his tick infection) to give his body time to adjust.
My worry is that even though his weening process has been over the course of months, is he still going through severe withdrawl or having an adrenal crisis? I can’t think of any more gentle of a way we could have done this, but nothing online is saying that even with correct and cautious weening he will still experience xyz symptoms. It’s all “YOUR DOG WILL DIE IF YOU STOP PREDNISONE” so I just want some comfort and clarification if anyone can offer it. We are going to call our vet on Monday - but that’s 48 hours and a lot can happen in that time to a little old man like him.
Thanks in advance, it’s very appreciated. His name is Salazar who we adopted 4 years ago and is a very gentle and considerate little man. We don’t know the kind of life he’s had prior to us, but we have fought to give him the best one we can, and want to do so for a very long time to come.
I have a 10 year old puggle who had an infection from a tick bite (not Lyme, a bacterial infection) that evolved into autoimmune triggered hemolytic anemia that nearly killed him. We got him patched up, he was a great boy through it all and we are now on the other side of it after about 6 months of care.
The trouble is he has been on steroids, prednisone, this whole time to combat the issue and promote his recovery. The vet used what we thought was an EXTREMELY conservative weening process to make sure it wouldn’t trigger the anemia again or cause withdrawl, but now that our boy is off of them entirely he is acting pretty off.
His steroid schedule was this: (he is 40lbs) 20mg/day for about 3 weeks, lowered monthly to 15mg, 10mg, 5mg (so three-ish months of weening steroid use, it could honestly be longer than that but it’s been such a long time it’s hard to keep the schedule straight). Then for the last 4-6 weeks he has been on 2.5mg/day given every other day, told to stay on that until the bottle ran out and then he was done. His last dose was 5 days ago.
Since his steroids stopped he has been gradually declining. Nothing like the anemia and his gums are still pink, so we don’t think it’s that. He is lethargic, refusing to eat, drooling, visibly uncomfy. The vet warned us the first week or two would be difficult and to withhold any of his carprofen (for arthritis and the flare ups from his tick infection) to give his body time to adjust.
My worry is that even though his weening process has been over the course of months, is he still going through severe withdrawl or having an adrenal crisis? I can’t think of any more gentle of a way we could have done this, but nothing online is saying that even with correct and cautious weening he will still experience xyz symptoms. It’s all “YOUR DOG WILL DIE IF YOU STOP PREDNISONE” so I just want some comfort and clarification if anyone can offer it. We are going to call our vet on Monday - but that’s 48 hours and a lot can happen in that time to a little old man like him.
Thanks in advance, it’s very appreciated. His name is Salazar who we adopted 4 years ago and is a very gentle and considerate little man. We don’t know the kind of life he’s had prior to us, but we have fought to give him the best one we can, and want to do so for a very long time to come.