Cortisone Side-effects

[amez116]

Hi All,

On Friday night i took my Amstaff, Paris, to the vet because she has been scratching non-stop and she now has some sores from her continuous scratching - you gotta love allergies.

The vet prescribed her with a course of cortisone tablets - 1 every night for 5 days and then 1 every second day for ten days.

I was wondering if i could get some feedback on some experiences other people have had when treating their dogs for allergies with cortisone and the side effects it had on their dogs.

Your comments will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Poodle Mum]

I'm looking after a Wei here that is an extremely itchy boy & reacts to loooots of things. I try to keep him off cortisone tabs for as long as I can, but when his belly is lumpy & red he needs the tabs.

Immediate sign effects are increased thirst & hunger ( you don't have to feed any extra! ) just make sure there is more water. My dog always gets an upset gut, so its normal for him to gey diaherra (sp!) & very smelly....if you know what I mean :p

More peeing as well. He would eat anything if I let him & loves to scavenge if he gets the chance

Longer term sign effects - my dog is shaped like a lump, he is o'weight & has a large barrel shaped body. Animals on long term (over years)cortisone are prone to developing diabetes & other immune disorders as well as tumors.

Cortisone is a great drug if used correctly, but lifestly needs to be managed as well.

Hope this helps

[bloss344]

I've found cortisone to be very good to help with the itchies but Bob drinks a massive amount of water and I mean massive. The Vet reduced the dose and it helped a bit. It doesn't affect his appetite too much. At the moment he's on a low dose for his IBD but it's been a couple of years since he's had any. Mostly now I manage his itchies with frequent bathing and diet restrictions, but the cortisone was helpful when nothing else worked.

My kelpie used to put on massive amounts of weight whenever she had it.

Just as PM said it has it's place in treatment, and probably safe if not used long term.

[BlitznBear]

My boy was on it for approximately 3 months, like the others said above, he got thirsty and his poo had a god awful smell, I done a little research and found that long term use was NOT GOOD!!, his coat became really crap, dry and dull, he became lethargic and we decided to take him off the corts.

We turned to flaxseed (anti inflamatory) fish oil (skin and coat) and polaramine (antihistamine) with every meal, his coat came back beautiful and shiney, his paws are no longer red and itchy and he is a happier dog, we were dreading the worst with the warmer season coming up but he is still doing well, he has been off the corts for 8-9 weeks.

We do wash him with Malaseb once a week-fortnight, after washing him off we then re apply and leave on to dry in between his paws and tail..

We were in the same boat you are now, but we were constantly going back and forth to the vets, it cost us around $40.00 for a bottle of 30 antihistamines, + more including the corts and antibiotics to clear up his infections in his paws, but luckily enough my partner ended up talking to a lady who worked in a pharmacy who too had an allergy dog and gave us a list from her vets of antihistamines to try.

We now pay $12.00 for a pack of 50 Polaramine.

You might want to try other alternatives once he has cleared up with the corts, we waited till he was fully cleared and then tried the oils and antihistamines..

I hope all goes well and good luck,