My cat has lymphoma. Should she take prednisolone or dexamethasone?

Question

1. What is the difference between prednisolone vs, dexamethasone? 2. Are they equally effective when used to treat feline intestinal lymphoma? 3. Why and when would the doctor choose one over the other? 4. What kind of response would we see in cats with small cell lymphoma if the drug is administered alone, that is, not used in conjunction with another chemotherapy drug such as chlorambucil? Will we see a sharp improvement in symptoms or not? Really appreciate your answers to my questions. Pet's info: Cat | Siamese | Male | neutered | 8 lbs

Jenny, DVM · Accepted Answer

Dexamethasone is 7 times stronger than prednisolone and has an increased rate of GI upset or stomach ulcers. Typically on prednisolone is used in cat because prednisone is broken down to prednisolone--so it is easier to start with the broken down form already. Prednisolones are specifically used when talking about lymphoma due to the potential side effects of dexamethasone. Dr.s chooses one over the other base on preference or what you are treating -- specific diseases have research to back the use of one--lymphoma does better with prednisolone. You will not see a fast improvement with just prednisolone or even if you added stronger chemo. It is a slow progress no matter what. Just using prednisolone you can see a good appetite, no change in diarrhea, no added weight gain. It merely suppress the cancer cells temporarily and helps them feel better. Even with other chemos, it is long term process with slow results---2-4 months to see improvement with the diarrhea in severe cases. They stay on the medicine long term and the doses can be alternated based on how each patient responds

My cat has lymphoma. Should she take prednisolone or dexamethasone?

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