Cortisone Shot Side Effects in Pets

I've had the same experience. My Vet gave my Shih-poo mix a shot for an allergic reaction to something (he thinks a flea bite, tho we treat the yard and all our dogs are on Frontline). She was lethargic, drank a lot of water, ate like she was starving, and then began peeing and pooping in the house, not wanting to go outside. She also had small scabs all over her. Thank goodness she will not have to nbe put down or die (as some readers reported) but I'm wondering how long can I expect the urinating and deficating in the house to continue. She NEVER had accidents before. Any answers??

In 2010 my then 2yr old rat terrier showed blood in her urine and stopped frequently in the yard while urinating as if she had trouble doing this. I then noticed blood in her urine. I took her to the vet. He felt her tummy and said he felt kidney stones and they had to be removed. After surgery the vet prevented me with a kidney stone about half the size of a golf ball. Since then she has been fine until last week 6/14/12. I noticed blood in her urine when she had urinated in the house and was constantly spinning on her behind and could not find a comfortable way to sit down.

My husband took her to the vet 6/15 thinking it was again kidney stones. According to my husband the vet felt her tummy and could not feel any kidney stones. He then checked her anal glands which were fine. The vet could not come up with a diagnosis and gave my dog a cortisone shot with antibiotic tablets. I was furious that he did not run some tests first. Since that time my little dog has no energy, is very listless and sleeps most of the time. I stopped giving her the anitbiotic tablets thinking she was having side effects from them but still no change. I am blaming the cortisone shot. I will be calling the vet and hear his cockamamy excuse for giving the shot. I am very worried. Thanks for any responses.

I had to put my mom's dog down- Buster. I took him into the vet couple days ago for constipation and itching problems. And the Vet gave him THE CORTISONE SHOT and well Buster went from being HYPER DOG to paralyzed. I think he wasn't himself- wasn't drinking nothing, had him on pain meds and I couldn't bear to watch this dog be in pain. He is or was a west highland dog and they are noted for being hyper.. And I had asked the vet if it was possible he had a reaction and they said NO....

Well as of yesterday 02-07-2012 I had to put BUSTER to sleep and OMG IT KILLED ME TO TAKE HIM THERE.... Why can't they take this shot off the market or something or sue the ppl that make it? It's just so sad and depressing to not hear Buster barking but I know he is in a better place and not in more pain and I'm not EVER giving this shot to NONE of my animals again...

My vet came over to vaccinate and treat 2 other dogs for ear infections. Both dogs got cortisone shots. The difference was the 2 year boxer within a couple of minutes turned pale and dropped. We were lucky and the vet was able to revive her. But we were told that she hasn't heard of a dog being allergic to it. I still believe that she is a wonderful vet but there needs to be more research.

Rosie, my 6 year old Shih Tsu had a shot on the 20 of November for severe hair loss, which was an allergy, I had been treating her with chlor-tab and oatmeal shampoo, my vet gave her the shot, saying it woould clear it up in about 30 days. The hair is coming back, but she's not acting right. She whines all the time and has to go out every 30 minutes, not much urine but I don't know what else to do. The vet said she'd be okay, it's just the presence of a new dog. We've had the new dog for over 2 months and they did play together, now they don't. No more cortisone for any of my animals.

Hi Ron- I took my elderly cat to the vet on Saturday, as he is almost 18 and I know I'm losing him, but I'm being selfish and doing everything I can to keep him here with quality of life. He has lost several pounds and the vet gave him a Cortisone injection. He has been under the bed since and is burning hot. I thought he had a stroke when we got home, but it wasn't until today that I realized it is the cortisone inj that has made him so weak. He hasn't eaten or drank water since early yesterday. I feel so bad that I caused this and may have to euthanize him tomorrow. Susan

Small breed dog weight 8.4kg age 7yrs is taken to vet for? ear infection diagnosed with 'allergy' vet was also informed of multiple other ongoing symptoms, after an exam it was decided most were due to allergy and a possible muscular hip injury and long acting steroid injection was given. 24hrs later dog commenced peeing frank blood necessitating rush to emergency clinic, this vet checked urine sample and said urinary tract infection which (a) would be made worse by steroid and (b) would cause blood in urine. Seems very strange that until yesterday dog was perfectly well and happy not peeing blood or frequently until this steroid injection now I am seriously out of pocket money wise and still have to go back to local vet tomorrow to have blood work done and a recheck. My previous dog was also given a steroid for same reason and he died a couiple weeks later although he did have a heart condition and was 13yrs old. I don't care how bad allergies get in future there will be NO cortisone for my dogs.

I took my calico tabby to the vet about a week ago, she was having some skin problems that were getting worse, after I put a temporary flea collar on her. I inherited my cat from my grandmother who passed earlier this year, and not once has my cat been to the vet in 13 years of her healthy life. The vet that I took her to said she was probably having a reaction from the flea collar and some irritation from the fleas themselves. He gave her an allergy shot and a rabies shot. I got her home the same day and she was fine, nothing out of the ordinary. But the past 5 days she hasn't been herself. Her behavior has changed, she only comes out from under the bed to eat, and she won't have hardly anything to do with me. I keep telling myself she will come around but I'm starting to really worry myself to death. I really need some answers and help..

My 15 year old Siamese just received her 2nd cortisone shot in 2 days--this was a last ditch effort to stimulate her appetite after doing subcutaneous fluids last week. The fluids helped, but when we stopped, so did her eating. Blood work showed kidney disease, but repeated blood work showed it was stable, so she was not in acute decline.

The first shot went fine. She did eat a little over night.

Immediatley following the second shot she was not quite herself. She walked straight into her carrier and laid down--very unusual. On the drive home, she seemd to be twitchy, uncomfortable. When we got home within a few minutes she threw up violently and seemed to be having muscle spasms/seizure as she walked around for a few seconds before crawling under the recliner.

I called the vet. The assistant relayed his feedback that the reaction was not from the shot but rather the drive. She has never thrown up after riding--not even during the 5 round trips of the past 10 days. This is the first that she has thrown up during this 10-day situation of her not eating. (When we returned from vacation 10 days ago, she had not eaten in 2 days.)

30 minutes after throwing up she is still under the recliner, seems to be alert, but is not interested in coming out. Not sure how this is going to play out.

This is old news but it still bothers me. I took my then 16 year old mini foxy to the vet for itching and leg chewing and she was given a shot of cortisone. The next day she was blind. I phoned the vet who immediately said that the cortisone couldn't have caused that and it was not unusual for a dog that age to be blind, rather it was unusual that I hadn't noticed before. I cannot believe that I would not have noticed if my dog was blind. Suddenly one day she was walking into walls. My dogs live in the house and I could not have failed to notice if she was blind.

This was in November 2010 and Peggy has since died, this year in April, but I am still upset by the sudden blindness which spoiled her final year of life. She was my special darling and although she more or less learned to cope it was just heartbreaking to watch her trying to find her way around.

Maybe it wasn't the cortisone but I will always have the doubt about the treatment and whether it was the cause of her blindness.

My 3 year old male cat developed a rash on his belly and ears that he itched to the point where he was developing bald patches. I took him to the vet in August in which he received a cortisone shot and amoxicillin, took him home and he seemed fine. The symptoms subsided, only to come back a month or so later. Fast forward to January, took him back into the vet in which he received a 2nd shot of cortisone and upon taking him home he immediately became lethargic and lost interest in any activities whatsoever. About 5 days after the shot, he began refusing to eat so I took him in for a followup. Vet explained that it was a rare reaction to cortisone and gave me some precsription food to mix with water and force feed my cat via syringe. 24 hours later, no improvement and in fact his condition seemed to have worsened. I noticed he was breathing short, heavy breaths so I called our local emergency vet in which they had him come in right away. At the vet, they immediately put him into ICU and ran some tests in which they discovered he had a heart murmur and fluid in his lungs. 1 week ago, before the shot, he was a happy healthy extremely active 3 year old cat, now he is at death's door and I truly believe it is because of this damn shot. I wouldn't recommend anyone treat their pets with cortisone after this experience.

I am absolutely terrified now that I have read all the reactions to cortisone. My chocolate lab had a cortisone shot four days ago. His appetite seems insatiable as well as his thirst. He has urinated uncontrollably. As of this evening, he is whining because of an upset stomach and threw up a little earlier. I will be contacting my vet tomorrow.

I was never told of these reactions and what to look for. I made the most stupid assumption that the vet was doing what was best for my dog. He only went to the vet because he seemed irritated around his anus (it was because he needed his anal glands drained). The vet insisted he had fleas, but after checking him from head to toe and not finding one single flea or evidence that they had been there, he gave him the cortisone shot "just in case". Whatever that meant. I will re-post with an update when I find out more tomorrow. Thanks to all those who have posted and my heartfelt sympathies and prayers go out to those who have lost their loved ones.

My 14 year old cat was taken in for a bad tooth. Vet said she seems to have deveoped and allergic reaction to the enamel on her back teeth. She was given a cortisone shot and we were told to bring her back in 2 weeks for recheck. After 2 weeks, the rash was still there and we were told the back teeth needed to come out. We were scheduled to come back in 2 more weeks and given another cortisone shot. Within 3 days of shot, my cat began vomitting. She has a sensitive stomach so I didn't get too concerned. By day 5 very lethargic and dehydrated. I took her to the vet and they put her on IV fluids for 3 days where she did eat. Her liver enzymes were high, her white cells were elevated, and her blood sugar was high. We were told it was probably a reaction to the cortisone shot. She has been home for 24 hours now and is a completely different cat than before the shot. She is also obviously anemic which I have an antibiotic for. Is it possible that she may become more herself after Cortisone shot wears off or am I probably seeing permanent liver damage from the shot that she will not recover from?

A week after my dog Maggie received cortisone, I took her back to the vet, and had a blood profile done on her, to make sure her kidney's, and liver were functioniong good, and the levels were normal. Thank God they were, so far the injection of cortisone hasn't damaged them, but I don't like the shot anyway! Like I said in another e-mail, she is lying under the dining room table, and urinating a lot, and wants to eat, but I can control that, but I let her drink the water, because she can become dehydrated, from the cortisone, if I take up her water! I know the feeling of being thirsty! It will be 3 weeks Sunday, that she had the shot, hopefully it will soon be gone out of her system. Good luck to everyone, and their 4-legged family member!

Cortisone effects

My baby Luna (a six year old cat) recently had bald patches and scabs on her face and ears. I brought her to the vet two weeks ago to find out what the problem was and the vet suggested a steroid shot and amoxicillin. My cat was sick a few times that week but I thought the antibiotic was making her stomach sour. Then after that was gone, I was back at the vet on Friday attempting to get a culture done to see if we could find any fungus on her. She was extremely nervous and panting, what with having to be at the vet again in less than two weeks. When we got home, she didn't stop panting and she took the liberty of hiding under my bed. I figured she was just upset with me for taking her in and that she would get over it. She didn't come out from under the bed to eat, drink, or even use the toilet for over 24 hours. When she did come out, she laid down by her water dish like she wanted to drink but couldn't. I brought her upstairs so my parents could see the panting and strange behaviour, and my cat went into either a major stroke or siezure right there in front of me. Her eyes couldn't focus and she couldn't breathe. When I brought her to the hospital they said she had fluid in her lungs and a possible heart murmur. I couldn't believe his prognosis: a few weeks or maybe months. I decided to euthanize and it was the hardest decision I've had to make in my life. I strongly urge any other pet lovers to think twice before a steroid injection. Get blood work done first to make sure your cat's liver and kidneys are functioning properly. I think that the shot, in combination with the stress, brought an ailment out of my kitty that could have remained dormant for years. I'm sorry for anyone who has to or has had to go through what I just went through. And I'm sorry to my kitty that in her last moments, she didn't have a hearty meal and couldn't properly breathe. My only consolation here is that she at least had me.