What are the health implications of long term steriods ?

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BBH

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My dog only gets relief from his skin complaint when he is on steriods, the vet has said that to keep him on these long term will effect his life span but a balance needs to be made about quality of life re length of life.

I agree with her sentiments but want to know more about their health implications to see if it is a risk worth taking. My dog is now 6 yrs old.
 
What's the skin complaint?


Mine is prone to atopia infection related to a tree pollen allergy.
We were prescribed packet after packet of steroids when he was only 18 months old.
I now bath him every week in Malaseb, put aloe vera and natural yoghurt in his food and put aloe vera gel on his skin if he is particularly itchy (he is bad in sweaty areas like his under his throat, his tum, ears and behind elbows.
The hair always grows back, thank goodness.
We also had him on Bionic Biotic after a recommendation on here and that seemed to work well, there are a lot of positive testimonies on their website.

He hasn't touched a steroid for a year, nor will he as long as I can help it, he has had a hell of a lot of meds for only being two and I don't want to bugger his whole system up.
He has also been on very strong medication for a bladder/UTI problem too so now the less meds he is on, the better for me.
 
I have a JRT with bad skin . It started to be a problem when he was 3yrs and he is now 17yrs . He has been on steriods (along with an anti histamine-Tavegil) since 3 and my vet did say it could shorten his life span but quality of life was better than quantity . Well he is 17 and showing no signs of popping his clogs so goodness knows how long he would have lived without steriods . I would carry on with steriods if it was my dog but of course its your call . My dog seems to be exceptionally bad and has confounded many vets over the years . I wish you luck with your dog because it has been hell having a dog who can lose his whole coat literally overnight when he has a flare up . All the know it all dog people who say 'Don't you realise your dog has mange.' don't help ( In their defense Many vets have said the same and are confounded when it always comes back negative .) Big healing hugs to your dog .
 
Thankyou for your help peeps,

my dog has no diagnosis. I have spent over £3000 at a vet hospital alone under going all manor of tests to see what he is allergic to but all the tests came back negative and they can't say what causes it. He has also had a lot of dietary analysis but again its not helped him.

In terms of his care the things I do for him are as follows,

Malaseb shampoo every five days,
James Wellbeloved sensitive skin biscuits with a chicken breast or salmon steak, sometimes mackerel or tuna and chopped veggies.
A daily max strength anti-histamine tablet
When he comes in from outside I rub a sensitive skin hypo allergenic wipe over him to clear him of any pollen spores etc
Wash his bedding every week.

tbh he is not suffering such a poor quality of life I am in the thoughts of having him PTS, but since he has come off this last dose of steroids it has made me realise how uncomfortable he is all itchy. When he is on the tablets he is like a puppy again non stop playing and he looks so ' fresh' without his bald, red, inflamed patches.
 
Random thought - are you sure it's not the chicken that he's allergic too? I'm guessing you've already ruled it out, but thought I'd throw it out there incase you haven't

My lab suddenly developed skin allergies when he was about 4/5 and the vet reckoned it was probably something in his diet and that he might need to go onto steroids. We put him on a strict diet of Walthams Hypoallergenic Diet (it use to to be tapioca and cat fish but as recently changed to another type of fish). One at a time we introduced things back into his diet (starting with dog bones and carrots which he missed terribly) and eventually we discovered that poultry (chicken and turkey) seemed to make it worse. Having spoken to other vets since (and other owners) it seems that poultry allergies can be quite common in dogs and lots of pet food (dry and wet) include it in their ingredients somewhere (even if its not chicken flavoured and you really wouldn't expect chicken in it). He's stayed off poultry ever since (he's 15 now) and his skin is generally much better - he no longer chews his paws or scratches himself excessively (although he still suffers with a bit of an itchy chin which he likes to rub on the magazine rack making it fall over!).
 
Is he a bulldog, if I remember correctly? [ QUOTE ]


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LOL yes he is, you are right. I even read the book and it said avoid white one's because of skin problems so I chose the one with the least white and still got caught out .
 
Thank you for this. Yes when he was under the vet hospital they eliminated all his food and he was only allowed some awful white biscuit things for a month, then other food groups were re-introduced and chicken was one of them but it didn't have any adverse effects and nor did anything else so he now eats what he likes, which is some small comfort as he is a foodie.

I'm going to order some of the biotin stuff and will go into town tom and get some aloe vera gel. Have tried some hydro cortisone cream but again has made no difference.

Equifleece who make his fleeces ( they are the only clothes his bull dog head fit in ) now make a body suit type thing which although looks ridiculous may help.
 
Sounds like a problem my sister had with her whole pack of Huskies about 15 years ago. They all suffered and a leading brand of dog "food" told her her dogs were allergic to chicken!!!! After months of swapping dog foods every month to avoid the problems she finally went raw. All the dogs were free of the allergy withing 4 months of detox and have never looked back on a diet which has a large proportion of chicken.

She now has 3 generations of raw fed dogs and has never had skin problems since. It might be worth a try and better than steriods. I have had a number of dogs that I have rescued all bar one (who died of intestinal cancer, I was converted too late for her!) have been put onto raw, all have had skin problems when I got them and have shown this through varying detox periods according to the quality of food they were fed before me. All have been fine after that period.
 
LHS , I just wanted to add a few things about my dog that might help . We have had all the tests , skin scrapes and blood tests etc. , etc. We also did all the food exclusion diet stuff but nothing came out of that either . I also went on the barf diet ( well not me personally as I'm a fully paid up , tree hugging veggie !!!
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) for a year and that was no improvement either so went back to a hypoallergenic food . One thing I have found that helped was evening primrose oil capsules . They didn't cure but did make his skin and coat feel and heal much quicker . I have over the years tried all the 'cures ' that people have told me about just on the off chance that this might be the thing that works . If you have the money (and inclination ) to try these things do but beware the bullies who say you should feed their way or treat their way . Do what feels right for you and your dog as you're living through it all and not the 'expert' .
 
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I have just re-read my post from yesterday and when referring to ' Bullies ' I was referring to those people you meet when walking . You know the ones I'm sure who tell you eveything you do with your dog is wrong etc. So I do hope no one took offence because I wasn't referring to anyone here . I will of course check my back for daggers !!
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