Long-Term Prednisolone Use

M

Missie

Forums Novice
Hi everyone. I enjoy seeing all of the beautiful Shelties on this website, and visit it often.

My soon to be 10 year-old Sheltie, Jenna, has been having some health problems lately. :( Back in October on of my family members discovered a mass on her side, which the vet removed. He said it looked like a mast cell tumor, though the test didn't show that. About two months later she had another mass on her toe. For this one the vet prescribed Prednisolone for two weeks and the tumor disappeared and has yet to reappear (thank goodness).

Now on Saturday we discovered yet another mass, this one under her arm. We took her to the vet and he recommended putting her on steroids long term, to see if this mass would go away, and to also keep anymore from appearing.

I have a few questions. Has anybody used steroids to shrink/prevent tumors, and if so, has it been effective? Also, what are the side effects of long term steroid use? I hate for her to get more tumors, but I also don't want to give her something that is going to cause more damage. :(

Sorry this post was so long. Thank you for reading.
 
Hi Jenna's Momma,

Welcome and sorry it had to be under these circumstances :(. You are going to receive a ton of excellent suggestions and advice. Some you may scratch your head at like "what", but none-the-less everyone here cares:smile2:

We used steroid shots on previous pets for different reasons. While they were on it, we had to monitor liver and kidney values and all kinds of stuff. However my pets lived a VERY happy life while on it.
 
Missie said:
Also, what are the side effects of long term steroid use?
Click to expand...

From the Mayo Clinic:

"Cushing's syndrome can develop from a cause that originates outside of your body (exogenous Cushing's syndrome). Taking corticosteroid medications in high doses over an extended period of time may result in Cushing's syndrome. These medications, such as prednisone, have the same effects as does the cortisol produced by your body."

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cushings-syndrome/DS00470/DSECTION=causes

(My Sheltieboy had the [different] brain tumor form of Cushings. With him, fur loss and excessive drinking / excessive urination were the first noticeable symptoms.)
 
Remember when on this medication you cannot stop it suddenly it has to be gradual. I would work with the vet and you can research on the web about mast tumors. This med is an alternative to surgery or radiation. I would read up on it and have a list of questions for the vet.
 
I've been on high doses of prednisone myself for various medical things, including shrinking a benign brain tumour. I can tell you Cushings can appear pretty quickly but for me it also disappeared quickly once off the medication and caused no long term issues. I did find high doses difficult to come off as it compromised my own immune system (corticosteroids replace your own immune response). But again, no long term problems.

In dogs I can tell you when Tully is on it (for allergies) I have to tie down all cupboards and hide the bins as she gets an insatiable appetite, and does put on weight even with my watching her intake (from my experience the weight doesn't come off when you stop).

I have a friend who's JRT was on it long term and it did seem to cause kidney damage after a long time on it, but then kidney problems do happen when they get older anyway. Make sure the vet monitors her levels.
 
If you do decide to go this route, I would make sure that your vet takes her blood frequently to monitor her kidneys.
 
Thank you all so much for the information.

My family talked it over and we're going to try the steroids. I will definitely talk to the vet though, and will make sure that he monitors her kidneys.

Thank you again!
 
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