Prednisolone?

[darcifinn]

Does anyone know how long it take for prednisolone to kick in?

A little history:

My cat started coughing about a month ago. I took him to the ER and they said all signs were good and if he kept it up take him to a vet. He stopped but started again a couple days later. The vet did full x-rays and a pro-bnp. Both showed nothing to be concerned about. They said there could be minor fluid in lungs so they gave him antibiotics and furosemide. He got better but then started coughing about 4-days later. I took him in for a second opinion to another practice with all his test results and they had two vets look at him. I was especially concerned because we had a trip planned I could not miss. They said don't worry just start him on steroids when I come back. When we got back he seemed to breathing like hiccups. The vet said start him on prednisolone which I did at 4pm today. He is eating, using litter box, and his tongue and gums are pink but he is till doing that breathing like hiccups. I am not sure what else to do. I am really worried I keep telling myself that four vets would not miss something serious. I just don't understand what is wrong with him. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[mentat]

Hi darcifinn. I've utilized a veterinary cardiologist when ER vets and family vets were having difficulty distinguishing my cats' breathing changes as a primary respiratory disease or cardiac disease. Prednisolone takes effect pretty quickly, within an hour of ingestion, so its anti-inflammatory property should have helped your cat if the issue was any inflammation of the lower respiratory system.

The ER and family vets I've utilized openly admitted hesitation to start steroids, including prednisolone, when they were not 100% sure my cat didn't have advanced heart disease or congestive heart failure with such changes in breathing.

Steroids could induce congestive heart failure if he's already having some increased effort and difficulty breathing while harboring a heart murmur or other defect. Yet, steroids, both oral and inhalent, are very helpful to an asthmatic or pneumonia affected cat. The way to determine which one was the cardiologist for my cats. And a boarded radiologist who worked with the cardiologist looked at the chest films my family vet had already done to confirm or rule out primary lung disease for certain.

The family vet also had sedated my cats and closely examined their visible upper airway/nose for foreign bodies or mass changes (bony or soft tissue cancer) that could be partially obstructing his airway and causing the visible changes to their breathing. If you don't have such a capable family vet, look into an internal medicinist or change primary family vets to one well versed in feline medicine, behavior and management.

I've had an asthma kitty and multiple heart disease kitties. It's important to have your vets or the specialists to which they refer you help distinguish which your cat is experiencing. And rule out if exposure to an infectious agent in the air led to the sign you're seeing if it is a lung infection, as antibiotics could help limit bacteria with such an infection.

Hope your baby is breathing easier soon, whatever the diagnosis and effective treatment!