Prednisone

Question
My dog has lymphoma and he is being given chemo by the vet. He has been on prednisone for 5 weeks and we have weened him off. Started with 20mg, then 10mg, then 5 mg. He was on 5 mg for a week and now we have completely stopped. Thursday was his last dose and on Friday was very weak, lethargic and had diarrhea. Saturday he was worse...could not even climb stairs and hard time standing. He seems a little bit better today, Sunday. I called the emergency vet and they said this was not a result of the prednisone, but everything I have read indicates it is.

Answer
Most of the time pred is titrated down like you did, but with every other day doses for about a week then off. It sounds like the pred but I wouldn't put him back on it. What is affected is his adrenal glands. They are exhausted and the pred makes up for them, but then it's pulled and he is left flat. He needs time for his own adrenals to kick back in.

Give him a few days but if he isn't better by Tues I would call your regular vet.