After doing a lot of obsessive reading about prednisone, I'm a little
concerned about a few issues.  First, I don't completely trust the
prescribing vet's competence.  When I asked him about the concentration
of the liquid (it's actually prednisolone), he stuttered a bit and then
finally told me that we're giving 2mg/kg/day.  Okay, that makes sense--we
give 1mL in the morning and 1mL in the evening.  But then I read a lot
about how ferrets don't usually like (though they tolerate it) the liquid
prednisolone and vets often use linatone or something tasty to improve
the taste of the med.  That's scary for two reasons: 1) linatone should
only be given as a treat, not in significant amounts, twice a day every
day for the remainder of the ferret's life, right?, and 2) if they didn't
use linatone, but instead used "something tasty," that probably means
sugar, which would be BAD news for a ferret with insulinoma.
 
Now, the reasons that I'm so concerned about this are 1) Loki absolutely
LOVES the pred.  When I give it to him, he licks it from the syringe so
voraciously that I think he might just eat the whole syringe in one bite.
Wouldn't this indicate that there is either linatone or "something tasty"
mixed in?  2) If linatone is mixed in, and I'm giving a total of 2mL/day,
then that wouldn't actually be 2mg/kg/day because the linatone dilutes
the pred, right?  Maybe I'm just confused about this whole mg/kg and mL
thing, but...
 
It is important for me to know exactly what does he is on because we are
moving soon.  If I go to the new vet and tell him/her that Loki is on
2mg/kg/day but he is really on something much lower, this would be bad.
 
Does anyone know the rules on what, if anything, is generally used to
make prednisolone taste better?  Is it likely that I'm giving Loki
something that is bad for him?  And can someone explain the mg/kg and mL
situation to me?  I understand that mg measure solids and mL measure
liquids--just need to understand this dosage in terms of liquid
prednisolone.
 
Thanks... and sorry for the long note!
 
If I receive a whole lot of responses, I might not be able to reply to
them all.  I'm still trying to reply to all of the responses to my other
two posts!  If don't write back, please know that I'm still grateful for
your help!! :)
 
Ashley
[Posted in FML issue 4892]