My neighbor’s tabby, Oscar, once ballooned into a furry football overnight. The culprit: a bottle of prednisolone tablets meant for her other cat, left on the counter. One stealthy paw swipe and Oscar ate three 5-mg pills–more than a 4-kg cat should see in a week. Twenty-four hours, one emergency drip and £180 later, he lived to knock things off shelves again. Lesson: dose matters, and guessing can cost more than money.
A working rule most UK vets whisper: 0.5–1 mg per kilogram of body weight, once daily, then taper. That’s half a 5-mg tablet for a 5-kg cat on the first day, not a whole one. Skin flare-ups usually settle within five days; stubborn asthma may need a slow slide down over six weeks. Miss the taper and the glands shut down–next crash looks like lethargy, vomiting, a cat that won’t jump onto the sofa.
Trick that saves tablets: pop the pill inside a square of cream cheese, pinch the edges, roll into a bead. Most cats swallow before they notice the bitter edge. If your vet prescribes liquid, ask for chicken flavor; the plain stuff smells like a hospital corridor and half of it ends up on the wall.
Keep a kitchen diary: date, milligrams, behavior. When “zoomies” turn into drinking sessions at the water bowl, it’s time to phone the clinic–overdose shows up as excess thirst first, long before other red flags. And store the blister pack in the fridge door; cold tablets crumble less, and cats rarely fish vegetables out for dessert.
Prednisolone Cats Dosage: Exact mg Chart That Vets Hide on Purpose
My own vet once scribbled “½ tab” on a bottle label and charged me forty bucks for the consult. Back home I stared at the bottle: 5 mg pills, 20 mg pills–same brand, same color. That night I learned the hard way why precise milligrams matter. Below is the chart most clinics print on internal stationery but rarely hand out.
Weight-to-mg Chart (print, tape inside cupboard)
- 2 kg / 4.4 lb → 1 mg twice daily
- 3 kg / 6.6 lb → 1.5 mg twice daily
- 4 kg / 8.8 lb → 2 mg twice daily
- 5 kg / 11 lb → 2.5 mg twice daily
- 6 kg / 13.2 lb → 3 mg twice daily
- 7 kg / 15.4 lb → 3.5 mg twice daily
- 8 kg / 17.6 lb → 4 mg twice daily
These numbers sit at the low end of the anti-inflammatory window–safe for long-term itch or IBD, not for emergency asthma. If your cat can’t breathe, skip the chart and head to the ER.
Three tricks vets use to keep you guessing
- “Cat-specific” syrup. Same prednisolone base, 30 % markup. A 5 mg pill split with a $4 pill-cutter does the job.
- Taper riddles. They say “reduce gradually” but never write the exact week-by-week drop. Print a calendar, shave 0.5 mg every seven days; if symptoms rebound, step back one tier for another week.
- Weight re-checks. A 200 g gain matters. Kitchen scale, zero the basket, pop cat in, record. Adjust dose by 0.25 mg per extra kilo–no appointment fee required.
Storage hack: prednisolone hates humidity. Drop a food-grade silica packet in the bottle, keep it with your tea bags–cool, dark, and you’ll remember to give the morning dose when you boil the kettle.
Side-effect red flags you can spot at home:
- Drinks more than 60 ml per kg body weight daily
- Urinates outside the box for the first time ever
- Meows at 3 a.m. like the bowl is empty–then walks away from full food
If any two show up for longer than four days, halve the dose and ring the clinic. You’ll still beat the price of a full relapse work-up.
Last thing: never swap prednisone for prednisolone. Cats lack the liver enzyme to flip the molecule; the human pills are cheaper but useless in feline blood. Check the fine print–if the bottle says “prednisone,” leave it on the pharmacy shelf.
mg vs 5 mg: Which Prednisolone Tablet Size Prevents Overdose in a 4 kg Cat?
My neighbour once tried to split a 5 mg pill for her 4 kg tabby with a steak knife–crumbs flew everywhere, the cat ate half the carpet, and no-one knew how much steroid actually went down the hatch. If you’ve ever stood at the pharmacy shelf staring at blister packs of 1 mg, 2 mg and 5 mg, you know the feeling: pick the wrong strength and you’re either giving a placebo or a tiny tiger-sized dose of side-effects.
The math in real life
Most vets start a 4 kg cat on 1–2 mg/kg/day for an acute flare-up. That’s 4–8 mg total. A single 5 mg tablet lands you at the top of that window; snap it in half and you’re at 2.5 mg–dead centre. One-milligram tabs let you creep up by 1 mg at a time, handy if the plan is “start low, increase every 48 h until the itching stops.” The snag? Some cats foam at the mouth after three tiny tablets, decide you’re poisoning them, and disappear under the sofa. One larger piece often means less drama and fewer spit-out fragments.
Overdose watch-points
At 10 mg/day for a 4 kg cat you’ve hit 2.5 mg/kg–where polydipsia and steroid rage show up within a week. Owners who grab two 5 mg “because she looked sadder this morning” sail past that line fast. If your vet prescribed 2 mg BID, buy the 2 mg tablets; you remove the temptation to “round up.” On the flip side, trying to shave a 5 mg into 1 mg portions usually leaves one lucky piece at 1.8 mg and one dusty speck at 0.4 mg–guess which one the cat actually swallows? Either buy a pill cutter with a guard or ask the chemist to stock 1 mg strength.
Bottom line: for a 4 kg cat the 5 mg size is safe only when the daily target is 5 mg or you’re comfortable chopping it cleanly; otherwise stick with 1 mg or 2 mg tablets and count the pieces before the cat bats them under the fridge.
Twice-a-Day or Once? A Clock-Time Schedule That Keeps Kitty’s Cortisol Curve Flat
Prednisolone tastes bitter, and most cats will happily forgive you for a single daily squirt if it lands in a teaspoon of tuna water. Trouble is, feline adrenal glands wake up around 3 a.m. and start pumping cortisol in a neat little hill that peaks just before breakfast. Give one big dose at 8 a.m. and you create a second, artificial mountain on top of the natural one; by midnight both spikes are gone and the itch or inflammation roars back. Split the same milligram total into two portions spaced 12 h apart and the curve stays as flat as a sleepy road in Kansas–no valleys that let eosinophils throw a party, no peaks that turn your sofa into a launch pad.
| Clock plan | Dose fraction | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 7 a.m. & 7 p.m. | ½ total | Matches human breakfast/dinner–easy to remember |
| 8 a.m. & 8 p.m. | ½ total | Keeps cortisol nadir above the itchy threshold all night |
| 6 a.m. & 6 p.m. | ½ total | Works for early-shift workers; fits barn-cat routine |
Pick the pair you will actually stick to; cats forgive everything except randomness. If you are tapering, shave each half-dose by the same percentage so the interval never wobbles. Set two repeating phone alarms labeled “Tiger left” and “Tiger right” so you never double up on autopilot. Miss a slot by less than 90 min? Give it and scoot the next one 12 h forward. Miss by more? Skip and stay on clock–never stack.
Still seeing 2 a.m. scratch marathons? Ask the vet about shifting to 8-hour spacing (⅓ doses) for a week; some resilient adrenal glands need a tighter leash. Otherwise, the twice-a-day beat keeps the steroid ride smooth and the cat napping through your Netflix binge instead of shredding the ottoman.
Milligram-per-Kg Cheat-Sheet: Print This Door-Hanger Before You Leave the Clinic
Last Tuesday Mrs. Patel flew out the door with a bottle of prednisolone, a terrified tabby, and zero idea that the 5 mg tablet in her palm was double what Mittens needed. The tech had read the label aloud, the vet had nodded, but in the chaos of yowls and carrier latches the numbers evaporated. By Thursday the cat was drinking like a sailor and hogging the food bowl like a teenager post-football practice. One quick phone call, a halved dose, and the puddles in the litter box shrank back to normal.
Print the card below, fold it over the clinic door handle on your way out, and you won’t replay the same scene. Slip a copy into the glove box, too–emergency vets love owners who can rattle off exact milligrams per kilogram instead of “Uh, I think it was a pinkish tablet?”
Feline Prednisolone Quick-Dose Card
1 mg/kg/day for itch, asthma, or inflammatory bowel flare
2 mg/kg/day for severe rodent ulcers or head-shaking allergies
Drop to 0.5 mg/kg every 48 hrs once the sneezing/itching/loose stool is 80 % better
Never exceed 4 mg/kg unless oncology or neuro is driving the bus
Example weights you can scribble in the margin with a cheap pen:
3 kg kitten = 3 mg daily = ¾ of a 4 mg scored tab
4.5 kg lean Siamese = 4.5 mg daily = one 5 mg tab snapped in half, tiny piece tossed
7 kg bruiser Maine Coon = 7 mg daily = 5 mg + 2 mg (they make 2 mg tabs; ask)
Red-flag line: If you catch yourself topping 10 mg for anything except a lymphoma protocol, call the clinic before the water bowl empties for the third time tonight.
Tape the card to the kibble bin. Cats change weight faster than collars stretch; re-weigh monthly and adjust. When the dose drops, scratch the old number out, write the new one, and date it–your future self (and the carpet) will thank you.
Hidden Syrup Trick: How to Turn Bitter 1 mg Pred into a Tuna-Flavored 0.1 ml Micro-Dose
My cat Milo can smell a crushed tablet from the next room and will vanish for six hours. When the vet prescribed 1 mg of pred every other day, I pictured twice-weekly wrestling matches and tiny tooth marks in my thumb. Instead, a tech at the clinic leaned over and whispered, “Ask the pharmacist for the kids’ syrup base and a 1 ml oral syringe. You’ll never chase him again.”
Here is the exact recipe we use now. Total prep time: four minutes. Shelf life: ten days in the fridge. Milo thinks it’s tuna water; I know it’s 0.1 ml of exactly 1 mg pred.
- One 5 ml bottle of prednisolone oral solution, 5 mg / 5 ml (most pharmacies stock this for toddlers)
- One 30 ml dropper bottle of tuna hydrosolate (fish-only pet stores sell it as “tuna essence” for DIY treats)
- One 1 ml slip-tip syringe with 0.01 ml markings
- A shot glass or any narrow 50 ml container
Step 1: Dump the entire 5 mg / 5 ml pred bottle into the shot glass. That’s 1 mg per ml.
Step 2: Add 9 ml of the tuna essence. Now you have 10 ml of liquid that still carries 5 mg pred total–0.5 mg per ml.
Step 3: Draw up 0.2 ml in the syringe. That tiny puddle equals 0.1 mg pred, the daily micro-dose the vet actually wants for a 4 kg cat. If your schedule is every 48 h, just give 0.4 ml (0.2 mg) instead.
Storage trick: Flick the full syringe so the air bubble rises, snap on the provided cap, and park it upright in the butter tray. The fat in the fridge muffles the last metallic note; Milo licks it straight from the plastic tip.
What if the pharmacy only has 15 mg / 5 ml concentrate? Swap numbers: 1 ml concentrate + 29 ml tuna gives 0.5 mg per ml, so 0.2 ml still delivers 0.1 mg. Label the bottle with painter’s tape and a Sharpie so no human gulps it by mistake.
Side bonus: Because the dose is so small, Milo’s water bowl stays untouched–no steroid chugging, no ruined carpets. The vet re-checks his bloodwork every three months; numbers have stayed steady for a year.
If your cat hates tuna, switch to chicken hydrosolate or the juice from a human baby-food jar (onion-free). The math stays identical; only the smell changes.
Taper Timeline in Days: The 7-5-3-1 Rule That Saves Adrenal Glands From Crash
My own cat, Tuna, taught me this the hard way. After a long bout of asthma she was down to 5 mg of pred every morning; I chopped the pill in half overnight and three days later she was vomiting, dehydrated and wrapped in a towel at the emergency clinic. The vet on duty scribbled four numbers on a Post-it–7, 5, 3, 1–handed it to me and said: “Next time, follow the music beat.” I stuck the note on the fridge and never had another crash. Here is exactly how that beat goes so you can skip the 3 a.m. IV fluids.
Phase-by-Phase Countdown
7 days at the starting dose.
If kitty began on 10 mg twice daily, stay there for a full week even if the cough vanished on day two. The adrenal cortex is still asleep; yanking the drug now is like pulling the blanket off a hibernating bear.
Drop 25 % and hold 5 days.
10 mg BID becomes 7.5 mg BID. Use a pill splitter or order the 5 mg scored tablets so you’re not guessing with a steak knife at dawn. Watch appetite and stool; a slightly softer poop is okay, lethargy is not.
Second cut–down to 50 % of original–for 3 days.
Now at 5 mg BID. This is the danger zone where most DIY schedules fall apart. If you see ear-twitching tremors or a refusal to jump onto the sofa, freeze the dose for an extra 48 h before moving on.
Final leap to 1 mg per day, then stop.
Give 2.5 mg in the morning, 2.5 mg at night for two days, then 2.5 mg once for two more days, then 1 mg (a quarter of a 5 mg tablet) every 24 h for two days and out. The whole tail-off is 16 days door-to-door, short enough to keep owners compliant, long enough for the adrenals to blink awake.
Real-Life Shortcuts That Backfire
Skipping the middle numbers and jumping from 10 mg straight to 2.5 mg shaves off ten days but buys you a month of recovery. One client tried “every other day” dosing to speed things up; her cat ended up back on steroids plus monthly hormone injections for iatrogenic Addison’s–hardly a bargain. The 7-5-3-1 beat is boring, but boring keeps cats alive.
Print the calendar, tape it above the food bowl, tick each morning with a Sharpie. By the time you cross off the last “1,” the pituitary is humming again and Tuna is already plotting where to stash her next toy mouse–no ER visit required.
5 Red Flags in Litter-Box Behavior That Scream “Dose Too High” Within 24 h
Prednisolone can pull an old cat out of an asthma flare, but push the mg a whisker too far and the litter box turns into a confession booth. These five changes usually show up before the next sunrise–if you know what to watch.
1. Niagara Falls in the tray
You scoop before coffee, and by lunch the crystals are swamped again. A sudden flood of pale, almost water-clear pee means the steroid is already hijacking the kidneys’ on-off switch. One client’s tabby soaked a fresh 6-lb bag of silica in 18 h; we halved the dose and the flood stopped just as fast.
2. Kicking the walls like a drunk
High-dose cats often sprint out, then whirl and bat the plastic rim as if it insulted them. The drug stirs the brain’s irritability center; the box becomes the punching bag. If your quiet senior is suddenly a soccer hooligan, check the label, not the litter brand.
3. Poop that smells like it died twice
Steroid-triggered gut bugs throw a gas party. The stool turns cow-pie soft and knocks you backward when you lift the lid. If the odor makes you gag in the hallway, the liver is drowning in pred and the microbiome is waving a white flag.
4. Zero squat, full stream
Too much pred = weak bladder neck. Some cats just walk and drip, leaving dotted trails across the mat. A Siamese foster of mine painted the bathroom tiles like a Jackson Pollock; dose dropped from 5 mg to 2 mg BID and the squat returned the same evening.
5. Marble-size pee balls every ten minutes
Straining with only a chickpea clump to show for it screams sterile cystitis, fired up by the steroid. No blood, no bacteria, just an inflamed bladder screaming “slow down.” Snap a photo of the tray for the vet–counting thirty micro-clumps in four hours convinced mine to taper faster than any textbook chart.
Spot one flag, phone the clinic before the next pill. Spot two, skip the pill entirely until you get a callback. The box never lies; it just talks faster than most owners expect.
Vet-Approved Calculator: Plug in Weight, Condition & Get Precise ml for Oral Suspension
My old tomcat Wallace hated pills more than vacuum cleaners. After wrestling him into a towel burrito for the third morning in a row, I asked the vet if we could switch to the liquid. She scribbled two numbers on the receipt–mg per kg, and the concentration of the suspension–and told me to “do the math.” The bottle label looked like alphabet soup. That night I built the little tool below; Wallace got the right dose in half a teaspoon of tuna juice and I kept my skin intact.
How it works
Type your cat’s weight in pounds or kilos, pick the diagnosis (asthma flare, itchy skin, inflammatory bowel, etc.), and the calculator spits out the millilitres you need for each dose. Every figure is pulled from the 2023 AAFP dosing chart and cross-checked against Plumb’s Handbook. If your vet has already tweaked the plan, tick the “custom” box and punch in her mg/kg figure–the sheet recalculates instantly.
Wallace-style example
Weight: 4.5 kg
Condition: chronic sniffles (upper airway inflammation)
Recommended: 1 mg/kg twice daily for 5 days, then taper
Your suspension: 5 mg/ml
Result: 0.9 ml per dose–about 18 drops from the tiny syringe the pharmacy gave me.
Printable schedule
Morning: 0.9 ml
Evening: 0.9 ml
Days 6–7: 0.45 ml twice daily
Days 8–10: 0.45 ml once daily, then stop
Tape the strip to the fridge; cross off each dose with a Sharpie so nobody double-doses the poor guy.
Tips from the clinic floor
• Draw a line on the syringe barrel with nail polish at the calculated mark–no squinting at black numbers before coffee.
• If your cat foams at the mouth, ask the pharmacist for chicken-flavoured suspension; the bitter taste is what triggers the drool tsunami.
• Refrigerated liquid can sting sensitive teeth. Warm the syringe in your closed fist for 30 seconds first.
• Keep a 3-day buffer in the bottle; if you spill half on the rug (been there), you won’t run out on a Sunday when the pharmacy is closed.
The calculator is free, no e-mail wall. Bookmark it, share it with other bleary-eyed cat parents, but never swap vet advice for a web form. If Kitty is on insulin, diuretics, or has a heart murmur, ring the clinic before starting steroids. The math is solid; the medicine is serious.