Rowdy The Adorable Pug
Steroids, like prednisone, can be wonderful life-saving medications, but we must be very careful when using them. The side effects can be short lived and not too problematic, but in some animals, they can cause serious problems. Rowdy the Pug and his owners learned that the hard way.
Rowdy is a 6 year old pug who has problems with his breathing. Pugs are one of the cutest dog breeds in the world with their squished-in (brachycephalic) faces, but that unique feature has some drawbacks. The condition that Rowdy has is called B.O.A.S., or Brachycephalic Obstructive Airway Syndrome. The shortness of the face means there is little space for all the tissues that make up the mouth, throat, and upper airway. The soft palate is one part of the throat that is commonly too big for a little pug, and it can get caught in the airway and lead to swelling. That was one of the main problems that poor Rowdy had with his breathing.
Rowdy’s previous vet put him on a steroid called prednisone to help reduce swelling and make it easier for him to breathe. Prednisone is a medication taken by mouth and commonly used to treat airway swelling in our little brachycephalic dogs. It is very effective, but if taken for too long one of the major side effects is causing diabetes. Sadly, that is what happened to Rowdy. So now, along with having trouble breathing, the diabetes meant his blood sugars were high and out of control. This was causing him to drink more water, pass more urine, and he was losing weight despite still being hungry.
When he came to see Dr. Kathleen at Thorndale Animal Hospital, she did some blood and urine tests and soon realized what the problem was. She switched him from his oral steroid, prednisone, to a steroid inhaler called Flovent. If you know anyone with asthma, you might be familiar with the Flovent inhaler since it’s actually made for people. “How can you get a dog to use an inhaler?”, you might ask. Well, there’s a device called an AeroDawg chamber, and it works very well and easily with an inhaler designed for people. The big advantage of using the inhaled steroid is it doesn’t get absorbed into the bloodstream, so the underlying cause for Rowdy’s diabetes was quickly stopped. Dr. Kathleen was able to control his diabetes with insulin. Now he’s a happy dog who can breathe easily and his serious health problems are under control.
