Cortisone Shot Side Effects in Pets

My precious boy Buford passed away almost 3 yrs ago from a steroid shot the vet gave him cause he had a runny nose. He suffered so bad he could not breath. I took him straight to the vet but he died before I got there. Part of me died. I never loved any animal like I loved that precious japense bobtail. Everyday I think of him and cry. So I know the hurt is so horrible you try to help them, then they die and you feel that you killed them. The stupid vet says no we didn't kill him he must have had congested heart failure. Well why didn't you see if he did before you gave him that deadly shot. I miss him so much!

My 10 yr old cat Blackie was sooo amazing. Her personality could never be matched by anyone. I took her to vet 3 weeks ago for vomiting and runny nose and coughing. Without running tests the vet said vomitting from hairballs and gave an antibiotic for upper respiratory infection. Medicine worked great and she got better but still had occasional vomitting and was losing some weight. Then when we pet her we could feel her spine. But she was eating still. So I called vet and took her in. I said she hadnt been eating as much and I was getting concerned because the vomitting no longer contained hair. She was weighed and had went from 8 lbs to 6.12! The vet felt her stomach and said there is a mass a tumor and it could be cancer, but still wouldnt run tests! I asked for blood work and she said, It wont show up in a blood test. And declined my request.

She said I can give her a Cortisone shot and she will have appetite increase and shrink the mass. So without running ANY tests or giving me any warnings she comes in and injects this Crap into my precious cat and I say what are side effects she giggled and said appetite increase. I was hopeful when I got home and she went straight to her food and almost ate a whole can, drank her water and used the litter box, which she hadnt pooed in 2 days. She jumped up on my bed and was happy and laid down by my feet blocking my view to tv with her ears, which she always did. LOL. We went to sleep. The next morning I woke up did a few things and went to closet to give her breakfast, my closet makes a squeak that she knows and comes running to. No cat. So I look for her. She was hiding under my bed. I reached to get her and she held the carpet. I brought her out set her by her food and she fell over. She could no longer stand on her own. She tried but her legs were shaky I rushed her in. The vet shook her head, after I told her about this site and all the horrible things cortisone does, she said "no she has other things going on cortisone only makes them gain weight. " I argued with her, that cortisone shot did this to my girl! She then gave me a tube of nutrical to help her gain weight, I said why didnt we try this first!! I asked again for blood test and she declined.

I took my Blackie home and watched in horror as she became paralyzed. I held her I fed her the gel and water. I put her next to me. I hoped this crap would come out of her system and in the morning it would be ok. It wasnt I woke up put her on my chest and she peed. She lost all movement except her head. I made the appt to let her go and my soul died the same day. I held her paw as these heartless people we call Vetrinarians took my daughters life. I loved her with all my heart and now shes gone. Im dead inside. Somebody anybody please make them stop using cortisone. My girl may have been sick but cortisone pushed her to her death. One day happy and playing, next day lifeless. I miss her, im sick without her. I pick up her ashes on 9-6. Gonna bring her home!

I had self diagnosed my cat as havign feline asthma due to wheezing, in retrospect I am so stupid because I did not even realize that the space heater coupled with incensce probably caused this wheezing. Anyway I took him to the vet and he immidiately gave him a cortisone shot. I take Blue home he crawls unde my bed. I decided to go out to lunch, when I get home he is dead on his favorite spot on my bed. Later the vet told me he died from the stress of the visit, I call bullshit. I told him" don't worry I am not going to sue" he then offered to do a free autopsy. f him.

Hello my name is Doug and me and my wife had a 4 year old white Dachshund that weighed about seven pounds. From time to time she would get these marks on her legs and belly. They were from her scratching from some kind of allergie from the yard. Well most of the time a little benadryl does the trick but this time my wife felt the need to see our Vet. When she got there the Dr. we see was with other Pt. S and the staff asked if we would be willing to see the New Dr. that had just joined the practice in the last few weeks. Of course we felt if our Dr. trusted him we should trust him.

My wife came home telling me about a shot he gave our Lucy and I instintly got worried. I have worked now in a Orthopeadic Surgins office for 13 years and the idea of a 7 pound dog getting a SHOT of Cortisone freeked me out and every alarm in my body went off all at the same time. I called the Vet. S office to speak to the Dr. wanting to know the dosage and the Dr. told me this, "I gave her the standard 4cc's I give every Dog! " For the of you that dont know 4cc's of cortisone is about what a adult human produces each and every day. So what would that much do to a 7 pound little Dog? IT WILL KILL THEM!! I watched over the next 3 days my little puppy full of life stop going outside, stop playing with my 4 year old son, even stop going outside to go to the bathroom. By the 2nd day she would just urinate and deficate in the sa place untill we moved her. On day 3 the Dr. told me that she must of had some kind of immunedifficantcey and he could help by giving her a blood transfution and it would bring her back to her old self.

Well when I arrived at the office he would not get the dog from the back untill I paid the bill that he never explained to me before the treatment. He wanted $300.00 cash and only after he got paid then he went to get her from the back. Well lets just say she did not make it another 24hrs. She died in my arms and blood was coming from her mouth and well the other end. It was one of the hardest things I had ever seen a living animal go through. I just wanted everyone to know to make sure the Vet you see covers all outlets before resorting to Cortisone. This Vet was the centalized Vet that is located in my home town. So please know all your facts before allowing anyone to inject you or you animals!! Thanks for reading my personal story and I hope this helps just one other animal owner! Doug

I just lost my one year old cat to a Cortisone shot today. Took him to the vet yesterday for a follow up on his allergy condition. He had made great strides in the last three weeks on just an anti-biotic. Vet thought it would be a good idea to give him this shot. When he brought him back to us he was panting like crazy. Took him home thinking that perhaps he was just stressed from the visit. This morning he was barely breathing, so we rushed him back to the Vet. They put him in the emergency room and put him on pure oxygen. His lungs were filling with fluid at this time. They could not save him, so we had to put him down. How can he go from a healthy, active cat to this bitter end in less than 24 hours? Why is this drug still legal to use in our beloved animals? Don't ever let them inject your animal with this poison!! I lost my best friend today.

While I was gone for a week, my toy poodle came in heat and one of my schnauzers mated with her and wrenched her back. When I got home I took her to the vet he took xrays, said she had 3 herniated disks. He gave her a cortisone shot, and she was dead the next day. She was the love of my life. I have been reading your posts on her, I will never let my vet give another cortisone shot to any of my dogs. Jasmine my poodle would probably be alive today if I hadn't let the vet give her that shot.

RIP my little girl.. You are very missed. I love you.

our cat panted four days. took him to the vet, he gave him steroid and antibiotic shot. cheddar the cat was only 2 years old. my husband arrived home 30 minutes after the vet, checked, my little girl looks in the truck and said that's not right, her mouth is open. I looked he's dead blood coming from the mouth. 5 stunned kids and 2 adults in utter despair. sounds like the vets are drummin up biz with this shot. Disgusting and shameful grrrrr

WARNING!

I too took my dog in for a urinary tract infection and she was given a short acting cortisone shot for her hair loss. I was told there was protein in her urine. That should have been a red flag and bloodwork should have been done asap. I was sent home with baitryl for the infection. 3 days later she started getting the shakes and then diahrea so I took her back and they said she developed colitis and sent me home with flagl. After a few days of constant shaking and then diahrea again I took her to the emergency hospital and was told she was in acute kidney failure. After 5 nights and 3300.00. they sent her home. Telling me she had chronic kidney failure. She was on her death bed.

They gave me false hope. They werent even honest with me about how bad she was. After 1 night home she deteriorated to the point that she was gasping for breath and hadnt eaten for days. The last straw was when she hadnt urinated for 24 hrs. I knew her kidneys failed. I had the horrible decision of putting down the love of my life, a little blind from birth black pug who never grew past puppy size and weighed 11 lbs. whom I worshipped. I am so angry at these vets who misdiagnose and give the wrong meds and in my opinion killed my dog sooner than need be. I cannot function at this point from grief and I will never get over losing this dog. After 4300.00 all together I dont have my beloved baby anymore. I wish I knew how I could make the vet accountable. The most horrible weeks of my life. I feel like I want to just never wake up. I have other pugs but this was the love of my life. Please make sure you don't let the vet give your dog anything without tests first.

sincerely,
Donna

We lost our beloved Sebastian four days ago. In November I took him to the vet because I noticed a small stream of blood in his urine and became concerned. The vet said he had a urinary tract infection and gave him a shot of cortisone and an antibiotic. My dog within a few days was panting and breathing heavily. I dismissed it because I thought it was from him gaining weight. He began drinking lots of water which I thought he was just thirsty. Eventually the panting and heavy breathing stopped. I took him to the vet last week because he was itching and scratching a lot. He also had hair loss that I noticed on the rug and on him. He also had some open sores from the digging in his skin with his nails. I noticed bald spots on his belly, rear end, and ears. He was also drinking lots of water. I would fill the bowl up and he would drink it all and Would look for more. He also went outside a lot to pee and also peed in the floor lots of times.

When I got to the vet, he said he probably had chronic nephritis and would need special food for renal failure, because he said the excessive thirst was a symptom of chronic nephritis. He then proceeded to give him a cortisone shot and an antibiotic. I asked him to check his glucose level because I knew excessive thirst is one of the signs of diabetes. He said he likes to do fasting blood tests. They made an appointment for me to bring him back on today for the blood work but he is not alive.

When I got him home after the visit, he was so sick the next day. My husband and I noticed he had thrown up during the night the next morning. He then was vomiting all day Friday. I called the vet and they told me to give him some Pepto Bismol, 2 tablespoons. This helped for a few hours but he began vomiting again so many times.

The next morning my daughter and I took him to another vet and they ran blood work and a thryoid panel. They said his glucose level was 684 and his liver enzymes were abnormal, along with abnormal BUN, phosphate levels and he was in renal failure. We left there and got another opinion from a vet at the Emergency Animal clinic. They said they could not understand why the vet gave our dog a cortisone shot in November for a urinary tract infection and that it was probably still in his system when that vet gave him another one this past Thursday. They said our dog was in bad shape and we had to make the devastating decision to have him put down with an injection in the vet's Office. I have done extensive research on the internet since that happened and I Know That the cortisone shots caused the health problems that led to My dog's death.

My husband, me, my daughters and my granddaughters are heartbroken over our dog's loss. He was our beloved pet for 7 years. He loved us unconditionally and we loved him unconditionally. He was a friendly, smart, happy dog all his life until he got those 2 cortisone shots. My heart is aching all the time and I cry constantly. Our house seems so empty without him here. I miss him greeting me at the door when I come in the house. I just don't know how I am going to get over this terrible grief. Readers don't ever, ever let your vet give your dog or cat cortisone shots. Try something natural or homepathic instead. RIP Sebastian. We will miss you terribly. I know you are in a better place. Love Grandma

WARNING!

Unfortunately, I can verify the dangers of cortisone shots. The symptoms described here by many of heavy breathing and lethargic behavior match an experience we just had with our beautiful long haired male cat. The first time he had a bad reaction to a cortisone shot, we chalked it up to the fact that he had just had surgery to remove an abscess on his paw and he was recovering from anesthesia. However, the sluggishness and disorientation lasted several days instead of a few hours and the vet mentioned that some cats have this reaction to cortisone. He recovered from that episode but, a few days ago the same cat was taken to the same vet because he was favoring his right paw. They were unable to find a cause for the problem so x-rays and blood work were ordered. A small growth was found on his right lung but, the blood work was inconclusive so the cat was given a cortisone shot and sent home. Once again he became lethargic and began panting with heavy mouth breathing. We called the vet and were told that an MRI would be required to determine if the growth was cancerous. Their explanation was that he probably wasn't getting sufficient air in one lung and that unless we wanted to put him through surgery and chemo there may not be much they could do.

That was 5 days ago. He died this afternoon. While I realize that the shot may have exasperated an existing problem and that vets don't have options for expensive testing unless the owners are willing pay, I feel bad that after 2 similar episodes, neither we nor the vet recognized that cortisone was deadly to this kitty. We took in our beloved pet who was behaving normally except for an occasional limp and brought home an animal with labored breathing who died after 5 days of being unable to stand for more than a few seconds. I know the drug has its benefits but please be aware of the potential dangers and don't assume that a bad reaction has other causes. We have 2 cats that have received these injections without issue but, lack of awareness by both us and our vet proved deadly for one member of our household.

We took our lab to the vet on 86th & Michigan Road in Indianapolis, for a condition known as Cherry Eyes. The vet did not even mention that our lab should have surgery to remove the eyeglands, but rather a shot would clear it right up. Our dog died two days later.

My beautiful 5 year old cat was scratching under her chin and had some scabs. B___d Vet said it was fleas. Told him couldn't be as I had him on Advantage. He suggested a cortisone shot and said this could cause his immune system to shut down which meant to me that he may catch a cold. No kids in house so I considered this unlikely. 5 days later he started to breathe heavily, rushed him to the Vets and had him euthanized as he had pneumonia.

DON'T USE CORTISONE ON YOUR PETS and DON'T USE this Pet Hospital. It's been one month and I cry every single day.

The vet gave our healthy dog 2 cortisone shots within 3 months and now our loving yellow lab is in complete renal failure and after 3 days probably putting her asleep tomorrow. itching dogs need something milder and natural. we've had her for 10 years and a cry fest with me and my husband. she is our kid!!!!!

I had a dog that was having pain with his hips and my husband took him to the vets where he got a steroid shot. Immediately he couldn't get enough to drink. He couldn't walk either and he just started peeing right there on the floor! His condition worsened and worsened and we had to have him put down. It was a reaction the the steroid shot.

Our lab had a cortisone injection and then died within a week. she was fine before that