P02 - Prednisolone Prescribing Practices for Dogs in Australia

Abstract: Background: Prednisolone is a routinely prescribed medication for a variety of medical conditions. There is a lack of information regarding prescribing practices by veterinarians for dogs in Australia.




Hypothesis/objectives: To describe the demographic of dogs receiving prednisolone in Australia. To describe the disease processes treated with prednisolone in this population. To describe the average dose in mg/kg and mg/m²and frequency of doses used in the physiologic, anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive range. To report on the frequency of inappropriately high doses of prednisolone being used.




Animals: Two thousand Australian dogs prescribed prednisolone




Methods: Retrospective medical record review using Australian Vet Compass records from July 2016 to July 2018. Search terms were used to identify dogs prescribed prednisolone containing products and a random sample of 2000 records were taken for review.




Results: Median dose prescribed was 0.83mg/kg/day (20.66mg/m²/day) and 58.4% of prescriptions were between 0.3 and 1.0mg/kg/day. Prescriptions were predominantly (82.2%) for disease of the skin and ears. 152 dogs (7.6%) were prescribed immunosuppressive doses of prednisolone for conditions where an anti-inflammatory dose would be recommended. Median age was 73 months, weight 17kg and the most common breed category were terriers (24.5%). The most common breeds were Staffordshire bull terrier, Labrador retriever and Maltese terrier.




Conclusions and clinical importance: Prednisolone is primarily used as an anti-inflammatory, particularly for skin and ear disease in this population of Australian dogs. Inappropriate use of immunosuppressive doses of prednisolone, for inflammatory conditions, occurs in a sizeable minority of prescriptions.