Budesonide vs Prednisolone?? Need help!

[Suzsun]

OK, now that I know that you've had the PCR done and it came back positive for something, that's...something. Just wish I know what it came back positive for. My cat who was positive for Clostridium Perfengens ALSO used to be on Miralax before his episodes because he had problems with constipation! Then the opposite which was a sign something was definitely wrong. For the C. Perf we started him on S. Boulardi with MOS (it's the MOS part that is imperative for taking care of business here) and increased his fiber. I hate it, but we put him on the highest dry food I could find, which was Iams Hairball in the orange bag. I could only find it on the internet, but the fiber content is 8.5%, much higher even than the prescription gastro foods. I didn't feed dry food before, but he wouldn't eat physillium husk in his wet food, so we went with plan B. Almost immediately, his diarrhea cleared up and I could tell he was feeling better. Before, he was going into the litter box and having the squirts many times per day, His Vet originally wanted to put him on Tylosin, but I had already read about using the S. Boulardi with MOS for this issue and said I wanted to try it first before going with antibiotics. She agreed to let me try, and voila! I continued for several months, just in case, and still add in some of the high fiber food now for them at night, just because. I don't give them much now because it made their stool ginormous! But the Vet said that's how it clears it up, by passing out out of their intestines.

Hope this helps

This sounds exactly like what my cat is currently experiencing! But please…what is MOS? Thanks

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

This sounds exactly like what my cat is currently experiencing! But please…what is MOS? Thanks

It's an over the counter supplement, typically combined into S. Boulardi. It stands for
mannan-oligosaccharides

 

[Suzsun]

I had tried a different cat probiotic, but now I want to try the one that was mentioned above Jarrow …with the MOS. He was on a dose of metronidazole for a week, but four days after coming off of it the tummy troubles have resumed. How much of a human size capsule of the Jarrow should I give him daily? Thank you.

 

[Sillycat41]

I had tried a different cat probiotic, but now I want to try the one that was mentioned above Jarrow …with the MOS. He was on a dose of metronidazole for a week, but four days after coming off of it the tummy troubles have resumed. How much of a human size capsule of the Jarrow should I give him daily? Thank you.

Not sure who you were addressing your question to. I was giving my Jengo Jarrow w MOS and anti-biotics but he still had soft stools so I quit both after reading they can cause diarrhea. He has a normal stool most days and then a soft one but so far no diarrhea. Thinking about starting just the probiotics again... a small amount and see what happens.

 

[Suzsun]

Sorry…I guess I was asking

On the S. Boulardi, I know I have said this many times on different threads, but be sure it contains MOS. I never was able to give full doses because my guy hated it in his food. I had to put it in my palm and cover it with FortiFlora to get him to lick it up. Doing that I couldn't really use too much. He probably didn't even get a half capsule per day, Based on that, it was probably the high fiber that did the trick. Since your guy has IBD, I'm guessing you don't want to feed him what I fed, so hopefully some psyllium husk will work well. You might need to use a little more of that.

 

[Suzsun]

On the S. Boulardi, I know I have said this many times on different threads, but be sure it contains MOS. I never was able to give full doses because my guy hated it in his food. I had to put it in my palm and cover it with FortiFlora to get him to lick it up. Doing that I couldn't really use too much. He probably didn't even get a half capsule per day, Based on that, it was probably the high fiber that did the trick. Since your guy has IBD, I'm guessing you don't want to feed him what I fed, so hopefully some psyllium husk will work well. You might need to use a little more of that.

I am so confused. My cat always had constipation but recently it went the other direction. Fecal smear showed high clostridium D count so he was put on a 7 day supply of metronidazole, which cleared it up, but then after four days of being off of it, it is back again. During this time I was giving him the probiotic with the S.Bourd. In it but NOT the MOS. also tried to take away some of his Royal Canin Fibre Response(slowly) and replace with Hills prescription ID digestive. Tonight I ordered the Jarrow with the MOS and figured I would try that instead of the other probiotic. Not sure how much of a capsule to give him since it’s dosed for humans. Reading some of the above comments makes me think I should keep him on the fiber response because it contains the psyllium. I was afraid maybe he was getting too much fiber but fiber helps C Diff? The vet said I could try the hills ID instead, but she actually likes the fiber response. I think I’m trying to address this response to Mrsgreenjeens for advice. Sorry I’m not sure how to tag one specific person. Thanks all

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Sorry to take so long to respond. To "tag" someone, use the ampersand @ and start typing in their username. When the correct name pops up, just select it and it will tag them.

Anyway, typically use one full human capsule for a cat, but split it up between two servings. With MY cat, using the high fiber food and the MOS happened to work, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will work with yours. Hopefully it will. My Vet did want us to give Tylosin (an antibiotic similar (I guess) to Metro, but I wanted to try "natural" cures first, and got lucky. I really think the high fiber food did the mot good, and found a food with fiber listed on it as 8%, which is really high (dry food), Higher even than the Fiber Response, if I recall. I bought Iams Hairball in the Orange Bag, which I had to order on the Internet because no stores had it locally. Only the Hairball formula in the Blue bag, which is lower in fiber. Weird, but true. I got it from Chewy.

 

[Sillycat41]

I am so confused. My cat always had constipation but recently it went the other direction. Fecal smear showed high clostridium D count so he was put on a 7 day supply of metronidazole, which cleared it up, but then after four days of being off of it, it is back again. During this time I was giving him the probiotic with the S.Bourd. In it but NOT the MOS. also tried to take away some of his Royal Canin Fibre Response(slowly) and replace with Hills prescription ID digestive. Tonight I ordered the Jarrow with the MOS and figured I would try that instead of the other probiotic. Not sure how much of a capsule to give him since it’s dosed for humans. Reading some of the above comments makes me think I should keep him on the fiber response because it contains the psyllium. I was afraid maybe he was getting too much fiber but fiber helps C Diff? The vet said I could try the hills ID instead, but she actually likes the fiber response. I think I’m trying to address this response to Mrsgreenjeens for advice. Sorry I’m not sure how to tag one specific person. Thanks all

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here but I had a similar problem. A couple of months ago my 18 yr old, who was usually constipated and needed Miralax, also went in the other direction. At first he just had soft stools and the vet put him on Endosorb, however it turned in to diarrhea so he put him on Tylosin. When that didn't work he sent a fecal sample to an outside lab. The results confirmed that he had Clostrium Perfringen Alpha strain so the vet put him on Metronidazole also for a week. He still had loose stools but it stopped the watery diarrhea. I was giving him probiotics (Jarrow w/ MOS and Proviable) with the antibiotics but when I read that both can actually cause diarrhea I quit everything and was going to start over with just one approach... psyllium and apple pectin. Well, he started having normal stools with just an occasional soft one but no real diarrhea. My opinion is that after the antibiotics cleared up the C. Perf. that the added fiber settled things down. Good luck... hope you get some good advice.

 

[Suzsun]

Sorry to take so long to respond. To "tag" someone, use the ampersand @ and start typing in their username. When the correct name pops up, just select it and it will tag them.

Anyway, typically use one full human capsule for a cat, but split it up between two servings. With MY cat, using the high fiber food and the MOS happened to work, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will work with yours. Hopefully it will. My Vet did want us to give Tylosin (an antibiotic similar (I guess) to Metro, but I wanted to try "natural" cures first, and got lucky. I really think the high fiber food did the mot good, and found a food with fiber listed on it as 8%, which is really high (dry food), Higher even than the Fiber Response, if I recall. I bought Iams Hairball in the Orange Bag, which I had to order on the Internet because no stores had it locally. Only the Hairball formula in the Blue bag, which is lower in fiber. Weird, but true. I got it from Chewy.

Thank you so much! He’s back on the second 7 days of metronidazole, but I’m going to try the Jarrow and look into the food as well. I’ve been using another probiotic but it didn’t have the MOS in it .I appreciate your answer! I hope it works.

 

[ttran.order]

My Jengo (who has CRF and possible IBD) has had diarrhea for a couple of months now. Started out with soft stools with a bit of red blood but progressively got worse. For the last few weeks he has had some watery stools and some formed stool with watery diarrhea. The vet put him on Tylan (Tylosin) powder and increased his Pred. from every other day to daily. No blood after the increase in Pred. but the Tylan isn't helping much. Now the vet wants to switch him from Pred to Budesonide saying that would help control the diarrhea. However I have read on the forums that some cats on Budesonide actually have diarrhea. I'm confused and need advice.

Also there is some confusion about whether the Budesonide should be enteric coated so that it passed thru the stomach and dissolves in the intestines. Can anyone confirm this? Some are using regular Budesonide.
Thanks. Barb

Hello, when you vet suggested to switch from Pred to Budesonide, what was the recommended transition plan? My vet was not that supportive when I requested to change to Budesonide since I am afraid of the long term affect of pred but i was able to convince her. She told me to go cold turkey (one day pred, next day Budesonide, no wash period/ no need to tapering the Pred). Is this correct? I am confused with so much mixed info.
My cat has been on pred for 2 months now but the symptom (loose stool) is still ongoing (on and off). I have tried new food, probiotics, psyllium husk, and currently slipery elm now for the last week.

 

[BellaBlue82]

As a cat mama, I can say that budesonide does work for diarrhea. Nico struggled for months before we switched, and it certainly helped. But I would highly recommend starting it alone - no other medications - to give it a fair chance.

Budesonide is metabolized differently, and is specifically targeted in the GI tract. It was one of few options for him because he was diabetic and couldn't risk a glucose spike from staying on prednisolone. I think he was on 1mg capsules, so no it does not need to be enteric coated. Speaking of - the dosage is going to be a bit different when switching, it's not a one to one so to speak.

As for transition, there's conflicting info on that. Some vets say to taper, and some say to just stop the one and start taking the other. I guess if anything they are both steroids, so I would not worry much.

 

[Sillycat41]

Hello, when you vet suggested to switch from Pred to Budesonide, what was the recommended transition plan? My vet was not that supportive when I requested to change to Budesonide since I am afraid of the long term affect of pred but i was able to convince her. She told me to go cold turkey (one day pred, next day Budesonide, no wash period/ no need to tapering the Pred). Is this correct? I am confused with so much mixed info.
My cat has been oed for 2 months now but the symptom (loose stool) is still ongoing (on and off). I have tried new food, probiotics, psyllium husk, and currently slipery elm now for the last week.

I asked my vet the same question about transitioning from Pred to Budesonide and he said it wasn't necessary to taper or wait. I don't know what is correct... you better ask others and see what they were told. My Jengo was on low dose Pred for years which I wasn't happy about, but the vet kept telling me that cats tolerate it very well. Unfortunately the Budesonide didn't stop the blood in his stools so we ended up going back to Pred. I also tried foods, probiotics, psyllium, and slippery elm, but Jengo still had loose stools. I lost him on Dec. 6th. Good luck... hope you get some help.

 

[ttran.order]

My vet told me no need to taper, just do one day Pred and one day Budesonide. I am also seeing mixed info online so I am not sure which way is proper. I don't want to do it wrong and loose my baby . She has been on steroids for 2+ months, no blood in her stool or throw up but her stool is still loose, and mushy most of the time, occasionally its firm but it is very inconsistent (and that is with me trying to give her psyllium husk and slippery elm recently). I don't want bad effects to develop from long term med that's why I suggested the dr to switch but she seems not happy.....
Sorry to hear that but your cat die from IBD while on steroid?

 

[Sillycat41]

My vet told me no need to taper, just do one day Pred and one day Budesonide. I am also seeing mixed info online so I am not sure which way is proper. I don't want to do it wrong and loose my baby . She has been on steroids for 2+ months, no blood in her stool or throw up but her stool is still loose, and mushy most of the time, occasionally its firm but it is very inconsistent (and that is with me trying to give her psyllium husk and slippery elm recently). I don't want bad effects to develop from long term med that's why I suggested the dr to switch but she seems not happy.....
Sorry to hear that but your cat die from IBD while on steroid?

As I said, I was also worried about switching from Pred to Budesonide without tapering. Yes, there is always mixed info online so it pays to be cautious. I should have given you more info on my boy's health issues. IBD was suspected... at his age I didn't want to put him under for a biopsy to confirm. Besides the suspected IBD he had kidney disease, anemia and eventually was being treated for high blood pressure a couple of month before his passing. He occasionally had blood in his stools and a problem with soft stools that I couldn't seem to get under control. He didn't die of IBD... I'm sure it was his kidneys that finally failed. :-( Good luck with your baby.