My dog has low fructosamine after steroids. Are her adrenals okay?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Values and ranges differ depending on the lab. A fructsamine of 371 is excellent control. In order to achieve remission Kitty needs to be monitored closely by your Vet and should be eating a prescription diabetic diet like Purina DM. Sadly every cat I knew to go into remission became diabetics again with in 1 year. Fructosamine levels in 200 range would make be suspicious for remission. I hope this helps!

I don't see an age, breed, or sex listed for your pet, which would give us helpful information in terms of how to interpret that finding. It is certainly lower than expected; usually when dogs (or cats) have their blood drawn, they are a bit stressed from being at the vet, which tends to increase the blood sugar for a short period of time, so usually we will see animals be over 80-90, and most commonly over 100. It may be worth asking your vet about running a "baseline cortisol" test to screen for Addison's disease. I will attach some information below. Keep a close eye on your dog as well. If he seems lethargic, tired, walks with a weak or wobbly gait at times, etc, (or certainly if he has more obvious problems such as a seizure), then this probably is a problem for him. Other possible causes of low blood sugar (again age, breed, and sex also play in here in terms of liklihood), include insulinoma (a tumor in the pancreas), liver disease, or toxin exposures (most notably xylitol). I hope that is helpful for you.... for more detailed information consider requesting a consultation so we can go back and forth with information. Thank you for asking PetCoach! https://www.petcoach.co/article/addison-s-disease-hypoadrenocorticism-in-dogs/

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Steroid use, dosing and the taper needs to be decided upon by a Vet that has examined the pet. We can not prescribe drugs or tell you how to use a drug because we legally are not allowed to. I am sorry. I recommend calling your Vet and asking them since they have a legal relationship with you. Have a great day!

Chronic steroid usage can predispose cats to developing diabetes. If your cat’s asthma is currently stable then I think it is reasonable to stop medication and see how the blood glucose responds. If you aren’t comfortable with this, or you are concerned she won’t do well if you stop the medications, then I would recommend talking to your vet about having a fructosamine level performed. This will give you an idea of how high her glucose has been over the previous 2 weeks. If it is high as well then you will most likely need to initiate insulin therapy. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Sorry to hear that Lav is having this issue. The autoimmune condition will likely never be resolved. Steroids may make it go into "remission" but will not cure it. Some dogs can eventually come off the steroids and go for long periods without it but esentially the autoimmune condition will always be present. She should not be spayed while taking steroids as that class of medications causes delayed healing. She should only be spayed during a period of remission. I agree that she needs to be spayed. The false pregnancies can cause pyometra which is a life threatening condition. If she gets pyometra she will need emergency surgery that must be done even if she is on steroids causing extra complications. She will also be undergoing surgery while she is sick adding to the complications. Hope this clarifies. Best wishes to you and Lav.

This can be a liver problem or a pancreas problem. If her protein and liver enzymes stay normal than it is unlikely the liver. There can be tumor in the cells of the pancreas called an insukinina. It will keep a persistently low blood sugar because it produces so much insulin. An ultrasound may be able to see it and see if surgery is an option but typically steroids are added to help manage it.

It certainly could be something simple such as an upset tummy so I would try not to over think anything just yet. Try starving him for 24 hours and feeding chicken and rice. With his recent history if you feel that he is dehydrated or going downhill go to the vet sooner rather than later. Hopefully it is a touch of gastroenteritis completely unrelated to his recent illness, but here is some information for you regarding the adrenal gland. The adrenal gland makes natural steroids, when we give steroid medicine this can suppress the adrenal gland releasing natural steroids. It takes a while for this suppression to happen, but it is certainly possible with prolonged use of higher dose steroids. The dog is okay until the steroid medication stops, then it has a steroid deficiency which leads to fatigue, sickness amongst many signs. The adrenal gland isn't damaged in this case, just suppressed. Nevertheless it can make a dog very ill, it is known as secondary adrenal insufficiency. Usually this is avoided by slowly tapering a dog off steroid medication so the gland starts functioning properly again. This is certainly something to bear in mind, but I would be more inclined to go down the route of gastroenteritis first. Don't hesitate to go to the vet with Bodie if the vomiting is not settling down. If you feel there is little improvement you can certainly mention adrenal insufficiency. Best of luck!