long term prednisone effects?

Misha was on prednisone for two weeks in early November. He drank a lot and even peed in the house a couple times (he is completely housetrained unless feeling sick).

He still seems to be drinking a lot of water in the evening around mealtimes and subsequently peeing a lot before bed. Overnight he goes 8-10 hours before he lets us drag him out of bed. During the day he is as usual too. No other differences in energy level, weight, etc.

Should we see the vet?

I would have him checked by his vet, just in case they might catch something early. There might be a chance that it could be something unrelated to prednisone.

I had one cavalier, Charlie, who couldn't handle prednisone very well. He peed in his bed at night when he was taking it, plus had accidents during the day unless we took him out very often. When he was taking prednisone, we were instructed to let him drink as much as he wanted with no restrictions.

For the past year or so, I've noticed that our Geordie seems to drink more water after meals than I'd ever noticed before, and we tell his vet, neurologists and cardiologist at his appointments. The cardiologist has been asking about this at every appointment, and now we always mention it, and this is noted in his records.

Churchill is on Prednisone

My ruby Churchill has been on prednisone for 2 months now, 5 mg every other day for SM. The vet is going to try to wean him off next week and hopefully put him on something else. At first I noticed an increase in his thirst and trips outside, but that has subsided. So hopefully if your dog is on it long term, her will get better. Churchill has only had one accident in the house, but has had an increase in accidents of diarria. Which is not good. I have started making his food for him rather that give him is traditional IAMs that he has been on forever. He is doing much better. and actually sleeps through the night, where as before we were getting up at least 2 times a night. Pain. Good luck

I was on Prenisone for a short(ish) period to treat Ulcerative Colitis. Thirst was a major problem, I was drinking litres and litres per day and still very thirsty (and as a result I was peeing like the bejesus). This is a very common side effect on any corticosteroid because they can induce hyperglycemia (high blood glucose), and I know one of the long term problems can be diabetes as a result of this. The other thing I found with it was I got quite a few minor infections (mainly kidney infections/cystitis due to the dilute pee plus the immune suppressant), insomnia and tiredness (but this may have been because of the insomnia!).

If his side effects are very significant and really causing a problem, I would go back to the vet. He may also have (as I had) a kidney infection, that is easily treated, on top of the excessive drinking and the two may be fueling each other. You can also ask about the long term problems, and if there are any red flags to look out for.

Is Misha still on prednisone or was he just on it for the two weeks in November? If just for the two weeks in November, I wouldn't think that it would still be causing him any problems and I would be talking with the vet for any other probable causes. If everything else seems to be o.k., maybe it's just his quirky behavior. But it is worth mentioning to the vet like Cathy said in case they might catch something early.

We ran urinalysis yesterday which came back normal. Was supposed to go for bloodwork today but we had a death in the family and things are a bit off.

Fortunately, my wife insisted it was the food, so I just feed him some dark meat chicken, brown rice and egg last night. He was completely fine - no excessive drinking at all.

I have been making homemade food for him for several years now, and I am wondering if this particular batch (made in 2 weeks chunks) had overly salty fish or something. As a vegetarian, I cannot stomach the thought of tasting it to find out.

I will make a new batch of food and see how it goes. Should we still do bloodwork if he seems back to normal?