Prednisolone reaction? Very worried…

[Biomehanika]

Hi all, I have creeped this site when needed over the past decade+ but never felt the need to join till now. I am extremely worried about my senior 15 year old cat, Bentley. He broke out in some sores and was losing hair in patches so I took him to the vet on Tuesday and he was given a Coevnia shot and prescribed 5MG Prednisolone daily for suspected allergies, split between two 2.5MG doses twice a day, which I was supposed to cut down on to 2.5 once daily after a week. Today (Friday) I began day 3 of the treatment and gave him his morning dose, and about an hour later I noticed he had labored breathing and was even breathing with his mouth slightly open sometimes (not panting or wide open like a very stressed or exhausted cat would though). By labored breathing I mean there is a bit of noise and more than normal movement in his chest and upper abdomen, and his nostrils are flaring a bit more than usual, but his resting breathing rate is still in the upper normal range. I called the vet immediately and they told me to stop the pred completely and keep a close eye on him, and that if things worsen or don’t get better in a day or so to page their emergency line since the normal office is closed weekends. I live in a very rural area with only this vet. I was told it would take about 24hrs for it to leave his system but it has been almost 12 hours now and he has not improved at all breathing wise. He seems a bit agitated but not distressed, and has been eating like normal and coming to sit on my lap and such, so acting mostly normal otherwise, but since cats can hide their symptoms so well I am worried he could be suffering more than he is letting on, so I really don’t know what to do or what to think.

Has anyone experienced a reaction like this to pred before with their cat? Or any reaction for that matter, and if so, did the symptoms subside once it started to wear off? I don’t think it’s the covenia as he has had it multiple times in the past with no issue. Any advice is appreciated, I’ll probably be up all night.

 

[white shadow]

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Hi Biomehanika and a very warm welcome to the forum !

I have to say that I just don't "get" the rationale for giving an antibiotic for those presenting symptoms. The simplest of blood panels would have shown if he had any infection going on.

OK, he's had Convenia in the past without any adverse reaction (could you post about "why" he's had it previously?), BUT that's no guarantee against future side effects. And, the laboured breathing is more in line with a post-Convenia reaction than with pred.

All I can suggest immediately is close monitoring and getting him into care if his breathing/condition worsens.

You're in a rural area..........are these "country Vets"? (are farm animals their usual patients?) How far/close are you to a large center/city?

Do you have pictures of the "sores"? Can you describe them? Is there any discharge from them? Is he scratching them?

OK, we're here for the long haul (of course, as a ten-year-lurker, that's no news to you!)

Now, you'll be posting pics of the skin areas...........make sure we get to see.......the rest of him (for kitty tax, you know!)
.

 

[Biomehanika]

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Hi Biomehanika and a very warm welcome to the forum !

I have to say that I just don't "get" the rationale for giving an antibiotic for those presenting symptoms. The simplest of blood panels would have shown if he had any infection going on.

OK, he's had Convenia in the past without any adverse reaction (could you post about "why" he's had it previously?), BUT that's no guarantee against future side effects. And, the laboured breathing is more in line with a post-Convenia reaction than with pred.

All I can suggest immediately is close monitoring and getting him into care if his breathing/condition worsens.

You're in a rural area..........are these "country Vets"? (are farm animals their usual patients?) How far/close are you to a large center/city?

Do you have pictures of the "sores"? Can you describe them? Is there any discharge from them? Is he scratching them?

OK, we're here for the long haul (of course, as a ten-year-lurker, that's no news to you!)

Now, you'll be posting pics of the skin areas...........make sure we get to see.......the rest of him (for kitty tax, you know!)
.

She did a scraping of the sores and checked it out under a microscope, and said something about noticing what looks like infection related bacteria on it before prescribing the convenia. They were not pussy or overly wet like hotspots, but very red patches of angry broken skin. Initially I thought it was ringworm but she didn’t think so. The convenia was given Tuesday afternoon so I feel like if it was a reaction to that it would have happened sooner since it’s more fast acting as it’s an injectable? I started him on the pred Wednesday and the vet does believe this is a rare side effect of the pred as well. It is also listed as a rare but dangerous side effect from what I can find online. He has had convenia many times before due to a recurring obsessive stomach grooming habit he has off and on for a good 9 years at least now. Always dealing with skin issues with this guy. Sometimes the self inflicted sores he gives himself have gotten bad enough that they needed help healing beyond topical remedies/time. He has been checked by multiple different vets over the years regarding this and they all came to the conclusion that it was a hyper-fixation type issue and not an allergy/fleas/underlying cause. It is something he will do for a few weeks and then stop entirely (at least to the point he stops hurting his skin) for anywhere from a few months to well over a year. So until the other day he has never had sores anywhere but his stomach. This probably makes him sound bad but he is overall a very healthy cat, though he has slowed down a bit over the past year or so, which I’ve just assumed was due to age… I do have pictures of the sores but honestly they are the least of my worries at the moment, so if I post them I’d prefer not to steer the discussion there too much until he’s out of the woods with current and much more dire situation.

It is currently 7:30AM and he hasn’t seemed to have improved at all yet, 21 hours since last dose, not worse, not better, but he is more withdrawn than he was yesterday and is staying on his cat tree, but also less restless, so I don’t know… Watching him like a hawk and will probably just page the emergency line soon out of sheer caution.

I wouldn’t call them “farm vets” but they are a couple who runs the practice and I know the husband works with horses as well at the very least. The wife (whom I saw) is only cats and dogs though I believe. The closest city centre/other vets are probably about 1-2HRs away depending on ferry traffic, the main issue is that I am on a small gulf island so I need to cross the ocean and take a ferry to get to them, plus the ferries do not run overnight. I have of course done this when needed in the past but because his issue is breathing related I would much rather see the vet here first if he doesn’t improve soon so he doesn’t have to spend a bunch of time stressed in the car. For all future non-must be seen right now emergency care I think I’ll be finding a new vet for him and my other two cats, though. I should have asked more questions and advocated for him more before letting her prescribe the steroids. I never would have if I knew this kind of reaction was possible. Maybe the convenia too but I was never worried about it since he’s had it so many times before.

attached are some pictures of when he’s being his normal self and feeling good

 

[white shadow]

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Thanks for going so far into the nitty-gritty. I want to mull it over.

You've relieved my worries over 'country Vets'....sounds like there's lots of competency there. At the same time, I'd encourage you to do some researching for cat-only and specialty places as your resources allow. Just for the 'cat-only', this is a search site (make sure to select "Feline-Only" under "Practice Type": AAFP - Find a Veterinarian and Practice.

Don't kick yourself over allowing the pred - I don't think that any of us who are "up" on cat health issues, and respect the power of the drug would have ever thought of a reaction like this. It's something to tuck away, though I'm not sure of its usefulness. If pred is called for/a seeming intuitive intervention, do you withhold it for an extremely rare reaction? Anyways...........

WHAT a cutie! Really, really sweet. Thanks! Oh...........so, what's his name?

Time on your hands won't help your anxiety.......perhaps checking the ferry schedules and checking out an ER could pass the time easier.

When he turns the corner and things settle down - and I believe they will - maybe consider having her take some skin scrapings or do a biopsy and send it off to a pathologist.......who knows, there may be something unique/rare there too!

Meantime, we'll wait with you.
.

 

[Biomehanika]

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Thanks for going so far into the nitty-gritty. I want to mull it over.

You've relieved my worries over 'country Vets'....sounds like there's lots of competency there. At the same time, I'd encourage you to do some researching for cat-only and specialty places as your resources allow. Just for the 'cat-only', this is a search site (make sure to select "Feline-Only" under "Practice Type": AAFP - Find a Veterinarian and Practice.

Don't kick yourself over allowing the pred - I don't think that any of us who are "up" on cat health issues, and respect the power of the drug would have ever thought of a reaction like this. It's something to tuck away, though I'm not sure of its usefulness. If pred is called for/a seeming intuitive intervention, do you withhold it for an extremely rare reaction? Anyways...........

WHAT a cutie! Really, really sweet. Thanks! Oh...........so, what's his name?

Time on your hands won't help your anxiety.......perhaps checking the ferry schedules and checking out an ER could pass the time easier.

When he turns the corner and things settle down - and I believe they will - maybe consider having her take some skin scrapings or do a biopsy and send it off to a pathologist.......who knows, there may be something unique/rare there too!

Meantime, we'll wait with you.
.

Thank you, his name is Bentley and he’s my baby, I have two others too but Bentley was my first MY cat (aka a family cat I didn’t have as a kid growing up) and he’s such a special boy.

Totally agree with you about the time and anxiety. At this point it’s gone on too long for me to be comfortable waiting anymore to see if things worsen, and I am currently on the ferry to an emergency vet on the main island as my local vet said she was “not around today” when I contacted their emergency line.

 

[Biomehanika]

I wish there was an edit feature because I see my typos/weird wording and my OCD gets upset lol. What I meant to say is he is my first MY cat, as in the first cat who is fully mine and not a family cat I grew up with.

I will update after we see the ER vet.

 

[stephanietx]

Also, check out the side effects of Convenia, but do NOT let yourself go to the worst case scenario. I have an IBD kitty who is on a daily dose of prednisolone and an asthma kitty also on prednisolone as needed. We've never had these side effects, but I do know side effects exist, we've just not experienced them. Agitation is a side effect of steroids, so there is that. If he needs a steroid, you can ask for budesonide, which also has anti-inflammatory properties.

 

[iPappy]

I wish there was an edit feature because I see my typos/weird wording and my OCD gets upset lol. What I meant to say is he is my first MY cat, as in the first cat who is fully mine and not a family cat I grew up with.

I will update after we see the ER vet.

Biomehanika I'll be thinking of you and Bentley, I hope the ER vet is able to help him be more comfortable.

 

[white shadow]

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OMG.......you don't waste any time!!! With very good reason, of course. And, I'm so late getting this update.

Well, the OCD will have to wait until you've accumulated more postings and then are granted editing "privileges". [so, tell it to put itself on hold for reasons outside its control ]

Interesting mention of "budesonide" from stephanietx post #7 - good to know.

OK........watching and waiting here!
.

 

[Biomehanika]

Hi all, I just got home and hate that I have to write what I’m about to write. Big trigger warning from here on out for anyone who doesn’t want to read about sad things because my update is not good.

Bentley was not having a reaction to the meds, though the ER vet and I are pretty sure they and the vet visit on Tuesday triggered his episode to come sooner than it might have otherwise. The ER vet told me he was in advanced heart failure and he had a lot of fluid around his heart, lungs, and abdomen and that the best course of action would be to put him to rest. They said they could *try* to treat him if I really wanted them to, but his quality of life afterwards would be terrible if he even survived (which she thought was unlikely), so I agreed to have my baby put down.

I am absolutely sick with grief and can’t stop crying. I knew he was getting old and slowing down but I didn’t think his time would come so soon and suddenly. He slept/rested a lot but still had a ravenous appetite and always made time for cuddles with me and his girlfriend, Bitsy. I just got a third cat recently too and he accepted him so quickly and they were becoming fast friends. I am pissed off that my regular vet didn’t notice anything during our visit or urge me to come in yesterday when I called with my concerns, so that I could have at least allowed him to pass more comfortably at home, where his bonded girlfriend of 12+ years could see him and be with him one last time. I didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye to him while he was alive and aware because they took him in straight away and he declined so quickly in there and was panicking so much that he had to be sedated. I know these things happen and there is no controlling them sometimes and my local vet isn’t fully to blame, and regardless of what happened Tuesday the outcome would eventually be similar, but I have decided my other two cats will no longer go to that vet office unless there is literally no other option, and that I will find a new vet for the future even though it’s a big annoying trip. I am sure their intentions are good but being the only vet in this town they are always rushed and swamped with animals and I feel like that’s probably why this got missed. I just need a vet who will go above and beyond and not just dole out drugs as a quick fix for everything, and that’s not gonna happen here. Anyways, I am rambling, she said it was not the pred (because that was my main assumption) but I did not specifically ask if it could have been the convenia, but she suggested his decline had been going on for awhile before all that, but I will be sure to ask more questions regarding that when I pick up his ashes. Ugh. I don’t know what else to say right now, my heart is broken and this sucks, he was the absolute best boy and kept me sane through my 20’s (I’m almost mid 30s now) and it’s gonna take me a long time to figure out how to do life without him

 

[Biomehanika]

A thread was just bumped about convenia (especially mixed with anti-inflammatories) causing breathing issues/deaths/heart failure. I quickly scrolled through it and feel like I’m gonna puke. I should have asked more questions and advocated for other, gentler options, maybe his outcome would have been different. I will never let this happen again. And no more long lasting injectables ever unless it’s literally a life or death situation. I’m so sorry boobear.

 

[white shadow]

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Tears here too, kiddo. No words, though....as usual.

 

[stephanietx]

Oh man! Not the update I was hoping for. I'm so very, very sorry for your loss.

 

[iPappy]

Biomehanika I am so, so, sorry to read this horribly sad update.
The thing with heart failure is it can be completely a-symptomatic until it's literally end stage. There's a good chance the convenia injection did not do this. Sudden cardiac failure seems to be more common in cats than in dogs, and I've seen many cats go from being perfectly normal to being put to rest for the exact same reason. My Mom had a cat for 10 years, and one day my Mom took a nap on the couch for 45 minutes. When she fell asleep, the cat was 100% normal. When she woke up less than an hour later, her cat was sprawled on her side barely breathing. Same thing--end stage heart failure. How they don't complain of this sooner I will never know. It's horrible. I am so sorry for you, and I hope you'll realize there are a lot of people here who understand and have gone through the same type of scenario.

 

[fionasmom]

The thing with heart failure is it can be completely a-symptomatic until it's literally end stage. There's a good chance the convenia injection did not do this.

I am very sorry for your loss. The sudden, unexpected circumstances make it even harder to process. It sounds as if Bentley had a wonderful life with you and his companions and I hope that those memories will be of comfort to you.

If you read the other thread about Convenia, (and there is no reason to go back and read it now) you may have noticed that I had a boy who reacted to it, requiring additional hospitalization. However, in the case of your Bentley, I agree that the heart condition was probably more responsible than Convenia. I have lost two cats to sudden heart related death, one when a vet ignored the warning of a vet tech that there was a murmur, and it truly does come out of nowhere in most cases. The initial signs may be very subtle, easily missed or ascribed to something else. In studies by Zoetis, pulmonary edema did not result from Convenia unless hugely increased doses were given and I am not suggesting that this happened, as it does not mean just a little bit too much. I personally don't think that you should replay the use of Convenia in the case of Bentley.

 

[Biomehanika]

Thank you all for your kind replies and comfort/reassurance, I definitely need it as I am not doing well and it’s hard not to to think of all the what ifs and how things might have been different if I had just done X,Y, or Z or been more concerned about the little changes I saw in him over the past year or so. Like how he didn’t really chase wand toys anymore, and would only swat at them, and how he started walking with a little waddle about 9 months ago. I assumed it was all due to age and maybe some arthritis, as did the vet, and his stiffness and mobility did start to improve when I started him on fish oils/chondritin/MSM/glucosamine supplements, so I just don’t know, maybe it was a mix of both that and his heart. Another red flag that I only realized today was that he recently started sitting in “loaf form” sometimes, which he never really ever did before, he always liked to lay on his side and sprawl out. And how he’d just stare at me and seem a little zoned out sometimes. I know I’m overthinking things and need to stop but it’s hard. I knew I’d be a mess when I eventually lost this little guy but I didn’t imagine it could be this bad. I’ve already cried more than I did when I lost my human best friend over a decade ago and haven’t been able to eat much of anything since before this all started Friday morning. I feel like I have the flu. Just really sucks and not something I have experienced before, I’m not a very emotional person generally and I have never felt like this before. I am also very worried about how his bonded girlfriend is going to react once she realizes he’s not coming back. She is 12 and a half and was very sick when I got her as a kitten, and has calicivirus and feline chlamydia that has stayed dormant since, so I am worried she will have her first flare up. There were already a lot of changes in her world as I had just adopted a new cat before the new year and she didn’t take to him like Bentley did and is still not his biggest fan. They are still separated most of the time unless I’m doing supervised visits/hangouts/treat sharing kind of stuff. As of right now she seems to be doing okay, she is just a lot more needy and cuddly than usual.

Anyways, thanks for listening to me rambling and help me put my mind somewhat at ease about a few things. I know this is probably not the right forum anymore for these kinds of reflections so this will probably be my last post in this specific thread. I think I overall gave Bentley a really good life, but I definitely plan to stick around and learn more here so I can do even better for my remaining and future babies. I’ve attached some recent pictures because I can’t help myself, the first three were taken just this week, Bentley was in his little shirt in most of them because he had just started licking his belly obsessively again, which I of course thought was mostly normal because it’s a weird habit he’s had for almost a decade and seen multiple vets about. Him and Moose (the new addition, other tabby) took their first and last snooze together on Wednesday night, and Bitsy the black one is his bonded girlfriend of 12+ years.

 

[DeesCats]

I am so sorry for your loss of Bentley, please accept my condolences. All of us mourn when we lose a member of our family no matter how long they were with us and go to 'that place' where we wonder if we did enough to catch a behavior or illness fast enough to make a difference.

 

[iPappy]

You are not rambling, I promise. This is a difficult time and it's VERY good to write these things out.
A friend and I were just talking about this very thing today. The pain of loss, the grief, and even the pre-mature grieving we feel when they are sick and not getting better. She said that she read that grief is our subconscious trying to find them because it hasn't "sank in" yet. I have had moments of panic shortly after losing mine, because my brain is saying "where are they?", and the other part of my brain understands what has happened. It's a horrible, anxious, jittery and uncomfortable feeling.
Our emotions run strong during this. I believe they are there for a reason, to help us cope, and heal. Losing him was such a shock to you that the shock probably hasn't even wore off yet, but I promise you it will.
There is no wrong way to grieve. I lost one of mine two weeks ago. I knew I would have moments where I looked for him, and I have. I've had moments where his sister (who is almost identical to him) is sitting there and I freeze for a moment in shock, thinking it's him.
He was with you for many years. He was with you for a lot of life experiences, good times and bad. As friends here on this site have told me, letting them go is taking up the pain and suffering they may have felt had we not let them go.
Hugs to you and your other cats. I'm hopeful that your other two will bond stronger through this. As I tell my remaining two house cats..."now, we have to stick together."

 

[Biomehanika]

You are not rambling, I promise. This is a difficult time and it's VERY good to write these things out.
A friend and I were just talking about this very thing today. The pain of loss, the grief, and even the pre-mature grieving we feel when they are sick and not getting better. She said that she read that grief is our subconscious trying to find them because it hasn't "sank in" yet. I have had moments of panic shortly after losing mine, because my brain is saying "where are they?", and the other part of my brain understands what has happened. It's a horrible, anxious, jittery and uncomfortable feeling.
Our emotions run strong during this. I believe they are there for a reason, to help us cope, and heal. Losing him was such a shock to you that the shock probably hasn't even wore off yet, but I promise you it will.
There is no wrong way to grieve. I lost one of mine two weeks ago. I knew I would have moments where I looked for him, and I have. I've had moments where his sister (who is almost identical to him) is sitting there and I freeze for a moment in shock, thinking it's him.
He was with you for many years. He was with you for a lot of life experiences, good times and bad. As friends here on this site have told me, letting them go is taking up the pain and suffering they may have felt had we not let them go.
Hugs to you and your other cats. I'm hopeful that your other two will bond stronger through this. As I tell my remaining two house cats..."now, we have to stick together."

Oh God this made me cry (again lol). Thank you and I am so sorry for your loss, too

 

[iPappy]

Oh God this made me cry (again lol). Thank you and I am so sorry for your loss, too

You are so welcome. And thank you, too. Their loss really does sting, doesn't it?
Maybe I should extend that "we need to stick together" thing I tell my cats to all of us hurting on this site.