Steroids - exactly how bad are they?

As you all know Benji has had skin scrapes on his ears for mites but the vet found nothing at all He has sent a blood test away also to check for mites I think, which will be back next week. Benji is now on steroids for a month - 2 tablets of 5mg Prednisolone a day (which I give him around 12 hours apart) The vet said if we don't find mites then we have 3 options. The first one is being referred to a skin specialist, the second one is putting him on steroids for life and the third option is putting him to sleep. Well the 3rd one is out of the question so that leaves us with two options.

What I want to know is how much does steroids shorten a dogs life? If he was on them from now by how much would it cut his life short? The vet mentioned that Cushings Disease can be a side effect of steroids. I know we have the skin specialist option but I have heard so many people say that they still haven't found out the cause of the allergy after seeing a skin specialist and his allergy might be to something which we can do nothing about anyway - like grass or trees or house mites in the carpet - these are things that can never be erradicated I know that they make up these desensitising injections which are very expensive according to our vet and I have also heard that they only work about 50% of the time I have tried all the hypoallergenic foods and he still scratches. I just want him to have quality of life and even if it shortens his life by a few years I would prefer this than having him scratching himself to death for the next 12 years or so.

Foxy my old Springer Jake had a problem with allergies and was on low doses of prednisolone for a large part of his life. he was just short of 17 when he died...and apart from the actual allergy was extremely fit and healthy.
Its one of those things that affects different dogs differently I think....I worried about Jake but I also wanted him to have a good quality of life for as long as possible. Benji could suffer side effects or not....but I think its hard to predict.
Sorry not much help...but I just wanted you to know that it is possible for them to live long healthy lives.

Poor Benji....I hope you manage to get it sorted
x Het

Harvey was on steroids and my vet said he would have no long lasting effects for the 3 weeks he was on then ....

Thanks Het - that sounds brilliant Just wondered when you say low dose do you mean he was on them constantly or just every few months or so having a couple of months break inbetween like Benji has been doing I think the vet mentioned we could put him on him for a month then maybe reduce the dose a little bit to see how he went on with that but I just wondered if he stayed on two tablets a day without a break just how much harm they might do him because it is such a relief to see him not scratching all the time and even if it did knock a little bit off his lifespan then I would rather that he had a good quality of life than a long poor scratchy one

Sometimes he would have a break....but he was a terrible thief and was always pinching food that kicked off his itching...he was allergic to meat and meat protein, so he was on the Pred pretty regularly. Although the dosage was small...I think half a tablet every two or three days. It seemed with him that if you could calm his skin down then you could lower the dose to a maintenance dose....but the little burglar would wait till things were looking good and then go and pinch something and you had to start again

I completely agree with you, that if thats what it takes to keep Benji from scratching and to give him some quality of life then thats the best thing.
You just have to wait and see what - if anything they cause...and deal with it then

Yes thats the problem with Benji too - I have stopped him from having any kind of bread at all because it is something he has had from being young and thought that might be part of his allergy but then the little sod goes out scouring the garden for the bits the birds drop when they are flying over - think they are in league with him or something I think I will try this option then because from what I have heard about skin specialists they just seem to give the same advice that I have already had and the injections don't always work anyway. I will have to have a talk with the vet again and see what he thinks.

Thanks again Het

Hi Foxy thats such a shame about his ears

I`d say you have another couple of options, a) taking him to a h/pathic vet & b) trying an elimination diet & c) trying an ear cleanser called the blue ear treatment

I don`t know by how much long term steroid use shortens life but I do know osteoporosis is 1 of the side effects in humans, also internal organ damage.

Ears are 1 of the symptons of allergies as you already know but can take a long time to get better even once the allergy has stopped. And just because a dog is allergic to something in a processed dry/cooked state doesn`t mean that same thing will cause an allergic reaction when its eaten raw

Heres the link to get the blue ear powder in the UK

http://www.karistosharpei.co.uk/Ear%20cleaner.htm

and link below is all about it

http://itsfortheanimals.com/Adobe/Bl...0Treatment.pdf

Don`t know if you know but animals recieving immune suppressant drugs must not be vaccinated, thats from the manufacturers of vax.

Awww thanks for all that info Christine - I will certainly look into that blue ear powder because I have heard good things about it before. I have started giving him a Cider Vinegar tablet a day now too to see if this helps a bit.

I didn't know about the vaccination info but we haven't had him vaccinated since his puppy vaccinations anyway - I don't really believe in vaccinations to be honest and we have never had any of our past dogs vaccinated after the initial puppy ones either

Anytime Foxy, see sometimes theres more options than you think

One summer a few yrs back I had 7 dogs on steroids, all scratching, one with gunky ears for the umpteenth time, vet said mites but never found any.

I went the alternative route & never looked back Took a long time mind but got there in the end. Still have Bonnie with gunky ears now & again (she`ll be 12 in Oct) but its kept very much in check with the blue stuff which I make myself & not had to go the vets with it in 5 yrs

ps I`ve never used the pills only pure organic acv

The body produces steroids, they are called hormones, and without them the body will not function. Those you have been given are not just to stop him scratching now but also to help stop him developing the habit of scratching his ears, which will cause tissue thickening, and it will develop into a vicious cycle of itch/scratch. Short or even long term use of steroids can help make a dogs life more pleasant and the risk of side effects in the dog are far less than they would be in us, because of the shorter life expectancy the dogs living under 20 years and we nearer 80.

Have had several dogs on low dose for years and if it did shorten their lives it was not by a noticeable amount and I am positive that the dogs led a happier lives because of the medication. These days a lot of vets give NSADs but they also have problems and in some circumstances and with some animals do not work as well. Always follow the dose instructions given with the medication.

There is no reason why you should not try other means of clearing up the ear trouble but if you have started this course I would finnish it as instructed, it may be fine to use other products at the same time but I would check with the vet first.