Hi all,
I haven't posted on here for quite some time- my last post over a year ago was when we first discovered Cecil's skin issues and we had no idea what was going on! Since then we have had lots of tests and treatments done and the vet has diagnosed that Cecil has a number of food allergies that are causing his skin to become very dry, itchy and sore. Unfortunately, the blood tests showed that he was allergic to all foods on the list so finding a treatment option is very difficult, we are in the process of trying exclusion diets to find out what he is least allergic to.
Because of this, Cecil has been on low dosage steroids for a while now as it's the only way the itching can be kept at bay... he is really miserable without them. He is currently on 1/2 a tablet (1mg) every other day. I guess I just wanted to find out if anyone had any experiences of cats being on long term steroids or any knowledge on the risks of this? I have read that it's not good for a cat to be on them long term but I'm struggling to find evidence of exactly how bad they are/how much they may shorten life expectancy etc. We will keep pushing with other treatment options but if all else fails we need to decide if he is better off on long term steroids and a better quality of life or to come off of them and live his life with the cone of shame.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you
I haven't posted on here for quite some time- my last post over a year ago was when we first discovered Cecil's skin issues and we had no idea what was going on! Since then we have had lots of tests and treatments done and the vet has diagnosed that Cecil has a number of food allergies that are causing his skin to become very dry, itchy and sore. Unfortunately, the blood tests showed that he was allergic to all foods on the list so finding a treatment option is very difficult, we are in the process of trying exclusion diets to find out what he is least allergic to.
Because of this, Cecil has been on low dosage steroids for a while now as it's the only way the itching can be kept at bay... he is really miserable without them. He is currently on 1/2 a tablet (1mg) every other day. I guess I just wanted to find out if anyone had any experiences of cats being on long term steroids or any knowledge on the risks of this? I have read that it's not good for a cat to be on them long term but I'm struggling to find evidence of exactly how bad they are/how much they may shorten life expectancy etc. We will keep pushing with other treatment options but if all else fails we need to decide if he is better off on long term steroids and a better quality of life or to come off of them and live his life with the cone of shame.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you