not in my years as a vn..or having one of my own dogs on a very high dose(25mg per day for a 18kg dog!)

eta..i would say the grumpiness and lethargy would be due to the upset tum imo

Roo has been on pred for about four weeks now, tapering the dosage off but he's still on it.

His fur has thinned dramatically all down his back, he's a golden retriever so normally has soft fur which is double coated but its like straw, his skin feels like its getting thicker all down his back too

Personality wise he is coming back to who he is now its tapering off but he was sleeping solidly for days, not wanting walks and just being a misery guts. Stealing food left right and centre as well

Thanks all, his dose has now been halved and there is a noticeable difference in his demeanor even after 48 hours so can only hope that he'll become more himself as the dose is decreased again on Monday when we're back at the vets to discuss his incremental reduction. His thirst and hunger are mental but the basic side effects I can deal with!

I have no knowledge about how prednisolone affects a dog, only how it affects me when I need to take it - initially at 60mg/day reducing by 5mg every other day until zero, although at one time I was taking a "holding" dose of 5mg every day.

Prolonged use of Prednisone/prednisolone without an additional drug to protect my stomach was a contributory cause to gastric ulcers [although the NSAIDs probably were more of a contributory factor] but the prednisolone did cause cramping and diarrhoea, and also some hair loss.

Whether it affected my mood I cannot say, but definitely did increase my thirst. I cannot remember it affecting my hunger but at the times I need to take it I am probably off food in any case.

But it does affect humans therefore I can only assume it might easily affect dogs as well.

My 13 year old dog has been on them his entire life, and although I've only had him from a 5yr old, he was on very high doses back at that time.

The only symptom he had on this high dosage would probably be the hunger and nothing else, no depression, no excessive drinking, no incontinence of any sort For the past few years, his dosage has been drastically reduced to 4 mg a day and even at his ripe old age they still do not seem to be affecting him unduly. He sometimes can't hold his bowels, but that's purely down to his age and his excitement of getting into the car to go on his daily walk. He's had his "accidents" with diarrhea indoors, but then any dog would do that if nobody was in to let him out.

He once suffered an enlarged liver which ONE vet said was due to the over use of steroids and decided to take him off them for a whole year, but his quality of life with his skin problems was such that we had no choice but to put him back on them, and his liver has been fine ever since. That was about 5 years ago now.

Good luck with your dog I hope everything settles down.