Anyones dog been on steroids long term?

Again, only short term and others may disagree but I would not like to have a dog on them long term, I only ever put him on them as a last resort and the vet had to talk me into it :o
 
My brother is currently doing vetinery and his GF is a vet. Our 11 year old lab has really bad ears they get itchy and bloody. They seem to inject him with stereoids quite regularly he gets really down when he comes off them and he gets really randy when he is on them, he also doesnt seem to control his limbs so well whe he is on them, he gullumfs off and then kicks out and sits with his legs apart like they are itchy or his hips have given way but he is still really happy. I don't think he should be on them at all, he gets fatter and he is already a massive lab, not fat just a really big build I don't think it is good to keep pumping old dogs full of things, young vets always want to give them a jab of something they were going to give our yearling who had a bit of a runny nose antibiotics a couple of days before her booster. I hate hearing them talk about vet stuff, its frightening how much they do just to make the customers visit worth it. It makes you wonder if they have any care about the welfare of the animal.(bit off topic sorry)
 
Usually for most things the aim is to slowly wean them off the steroids altogether or at least down to the minimum effective dose. Do you mind me asking what the steroids are being used to treat?
 
Hi, depends what your meaning long term, but I think yes...
My Setter had Meningitis when she was 2 and was put on a high dose of steroids. After 8 month we had to wean her off as they thinned her skin so much she started to ulcerate. In a week she had no paw pads left:( We swapped her onto Atopica - a drug used for the allergic reaction to flea bites/dermatitis - this was not guareenteed to work in the place of the steroids, but thankfully it did and she healed within weeks.

Steroids also gave her a ravenous appetite (can become aggresive because of this - thankfully she didnt) and they bugger the kidneys up - she weed sooooooo much, to a point where she would wee without knowing. Shes now 6 and in March will be off her meds for a full 2 years. She is amazing :D:D:D but can still be a bit incontinant (spp) but whether that is the steroid use, the chemo she was on or her being a Setter we dont know.
 
hi

i am not sure if you have seen my post but my dog has just been diagnosed as having lung cancer and the vets have put him onto steroid pills for the rest of his life. its meant to help make him be in less pain.

hope this helps you.
 
Not sure if you've seen my posts about one of our labs with a skin condition- she had been on steroids for 2 years (we didn't want this for her, but was the only way), FINALLY took her to a specialist after years (4 to be exact) of asking for this and they've put her antibs which have really really helped, but the end result will ultimatley be steroids... the guy said she was a 12/10 for her itching and hes never seen a dog so bad :(
Results of long term steroids:
bloated tummy, drunk a lot more, peed a lot more, she became very disobedient and became a not very nice dog- she would bolt her food, snatch from you, stole food from the other dog (NEVER done this), basically everything which was very uncharacteristic, she did...and it broke our hearts...shes now back to her lovely, happy dog, who rolls around wailing, but that all went after about a year on steroids. Just before the referal, our 2 labs had a fight- something that neither have ever done, she stole his food and he got angry, but that has never happened. :(
The whole weaning off malarky didn't work for her and so she remained (on vet advise-dodgy?) on a high dose.
I am sure this is not everyones experiences but for us, our dog suffered without them, but suffered with them, but we were given no options, until i went into vets, told they were being ridiculous and told them what i wanted... clearly my mums insistent asking wasn't enough... :s
even now, they say we have to take her off medcine 6 weeks prior to a vet visit, except she will literally eat herself.
Rant over.
What would the reason for your dog to be on them? if you don't mind me asking! :)
 
Thanks for the replies. I thought I might get the ‘vets are too quick to but them on them’ and to be honest that would probably have been my response if we hadn’t have been through what we had; now I believe they have a time and a place. Long and short of it shortly after my welsh Springer’s second birthday 18 months ago (she is my baby girl, we have her dad so I was lucky enough to deliver her!) she presented with a mystery illness, after a miss diagnosis from the dumb locum vet that was on duty (I would like five minutes in a room with him now!) we were finally referred to an ophthalmic specialist in Solihull. Unfortunately by this time a lot of damage had occurred to her retinas and she is now blind in one eye and partially sighted in the other. After 5k worth of bills (thank god for insurance) on spinal taps, xrays, mri scans, blood screens etc the cause has never been found and has just been named as an autoimmune disorder. They wanted to remove the dead eye at one point on the off chance it would tell them what it is but at that point she had stabilised but we still don’t know if she would survive and we didn’t want her last few weeks to be one of suffering, we are so glad we made that choice now and the vet agrees. She was put on a very high dose of steroids to start with which did effect her coat and cause her to put weight on but it got the disorder un control and this dose has been dramatically reduced and she has been on a very low dose with the addition of a cancer fighting drug as a safety net for about 12 months now. She still has a slightly effected coat and is slightly larger than she probably would be (although still slimmer than some!) but has lost 3kg in the last year so is constantly improving. She doesn’t wee more or drink more and was already greedy before! She went back for a years check up this week and they did a blood screen and thyroid test and the vets words were ‘the results are all ok and remarkably amazing for a dog that has been through so much’! With this, and the fact we don’t know what it was/is and so if it will return and destroy what little sight she has left, in mind she is to stay as she is and have repeat bloods in 6 months and a check up in a year. The check up consists of a full ophthalmic examination. As it has been a year since she was last seen the vet thought when she first looked at her retinas that they were much worse but when she looked back a the notes they were the same and she had just forgotten how bad they were and can’t believe she can see at all with how bad the scarring is. Just in case any one was wondering if you didn’t know our little girl you wouldn’t know she could hardly see! She is amazing! It’s just so so sad it happened to her, she is such a sweet little thing that wouldn’t hurt a fly. Anyway the reason for the post was just really to see if anyone had experienced anything really bad with long term use. The dose she is on is so low you would almost wonder if she needs it at all as it is very close to the naturally produced levels in the body but with the risk to the very small amount of sight she has it’s a big risk to take her off completely, it progressed so fast last time you could be sure it would kill her sight completely if it were to return and there would be no going back. The vet has been brilliant; she said if it was her dog she would be inclined to leave her on them due to the risk and the fact her body is coping so remarkably with them but would hole heartedly support us if we wanted to take her off them. The only reason to take her off them would be her young age.
 
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