Difference Between Prednisolone And Atopica

[huxleysmom]

my cat has been taking Pred for a few months now due to multiple food allergies. I have seen people on this website talking about Atopica a lot to deal with allergies. My vet says it's a different kind of steroids, but because Huxley is prone to vomiting, she doesn't think he would do well with it. What are the main differences between Pred and Atopica? Is vomitting a common side effects? Is it less likely to trigger diabetes? I am worried about the long term side effects of using Pred.

 

[mewcatmew]

My cat is on budesonide for intestinal issues. Prednisolone is more systemic whereas budesonide tends to stay in the GI track and is less likely to cause diabetes etc.

 

[cat princesses]

The 2 drugs are completely different. Most vets choose Prednisolone because of the following:
These differences may be due to decreased gastrointestinal absorption of prednisone vs. prednisolone, or to decreased hepatic conversion of prednisone to prednisolone in cats. These data indicate that oral prednisolone is the superior choice for cats.
Pred is a steroid and steroids shouldn't be used for more than a month or two because of the risk of diabetes. Trust me, I have a diabetic cat and you don't want that - it's very expensive for insulin, supplies, test strips - you are constantly checking daily, 1st thing in the AM before you shoot insulin to see what their blood glucose level is, that determines what is a safe amount of insulin to shoot. Then you are checking thru the day and again at night - it's a ton of work.
Atopica is an immune suppressant. Totally different from a steroid. Atopica works to shut down the crazy response from the body to attack whatever it's allergic to, so once that is calmed down, usually the allergy calms down as well. If your vet thinks it's food allergies, have you switched to a 100% hydrolized wet food to see if that helps? Usually you need to be on a hydrolized diet for about 3-4 months with NO cheats at all to really see if the issue is food. If the animal improves, then you start very slowly introducing 1 at a time for about 3 months say a lamb, or a rabbit and see if they react to that but a food trial is very slow going and it can take you over a year doing that.
I don't believe atopica has any risk to trigger diabetes however you do need to get routine blood testing done to make sure it's not affecting your cats liver or kidneys.
I would highly recommend finding a vet specialty center close to you and seeing an animal dermatologist. Regular vets just don't have the expertise to deal with these complicated cases - I found once I went to see the specialist it helped tremendously to get my girl relief.
Atopica does come in a liquid which is for cats but it also comes in pill form for dogs but often times it's used off label and given to cats. My cat is taking the dog version capsules 25 mg because they are a nice gel coated capsule, I just coat it in some butter and pill her and then give her some chicken as a treat to make sure the pill isn't stuck somewhere in her throat trying to make its way down. Then I feed her breakfast and she's good for the day. I swear by atopica, it's been a game changer for us and given her a quality of life back.