Prednisone Side Effects

Has anyone had a negative experience with prednisone? If so, what were the side effects and how long did they take to go away? I gave my cat some at noon on saturday and she has been extremely tired ever since. She just lies on the bed all day. The vet prescribed it for an unknown leg injury that I'm starting to think is a pinched nerve in her back.

Yes, that's a common side effect. It's kind of like they're stoned or something. The steroids should reduce inflammation to help with her issue, though. Another side effect one of my cats has is diarrhea.

My cat would drink lots of water every day and her appetite increased

Ok thank you, at least now I know it's normal. She doesn't have diarrhea though, in fact I'm not sure she has had a bowel movement since last Tuesday or Wednesday. But she hasn't eaten much. I did finally find a wet food she likes right now.

maggie101 said:

My cat would drink lots of water every day and her appetite increased

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I haven't seen mine drink water in a few days. But she pees a lot about once a day, and her eyes aren't sunken in so I guess she isn't dehydrated.

stephanietx said:

Yes, that's a common side effect. It's kind of like they're stoned or something. The steroids should reduce inflammation to help with her issue, though. Another side effect one of my cats has is diarrhea.

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I only gave her the prednisone once. Should I start her on it again? I was worried she was having a bad reaction to it. I didn't know the tiredness was normal. I asked the vet if there were any possible bad side effects and he said no.

just FYI: I give my cat a bit of Pred daily, long-term for asthma, and she never acts like she's stoned or wiped out with tiredness. She's just normal activity levels and normal moods. I don't have experience with giving cats higher doses of Pred, so maybe that's the difference here, or with my experiences versus other's experiences in their cats?

What dose of pred did the vet prescribe? Perhaps the dose is too high for your cat?

The only symptoms I've seen with my cat are diabetes-like (increased drinking and appetite).