My old collie, Scout, sounded like a coffee grinder every time he inhaled. The first vet shook her head: “Asthma–rare in dogs, but it happens.” She scribbled Prednisolone 5 mg, twice daily on the invoice and sent us home. Forty-eight hours later Scout was panting through the night, water bowl drained dry. I’d eyeballed the pill like it was a sugar cube. Lesson learned: milligrams matter, and so does the dog in front of you.
Scroll through any forum and you’ll see the same panic: “My Beagle is 22 lb–how much pred is safe?” The answers swing from “half a 20 mg” to “give whatever stops the itch.” That’s how steroids blow out knees and turn Chihuahuas into Cushing’s teddy bears. Below is the field chart we tape inside the clinic cabinet, the one the interns photograph when they think no one’s looking. Copy it, stick it on your fridge, but promise you’ll call your vet before you pop a single triangular pill.
Standard starting scale (anti-inflammatory, not emergency shock dose):
1 mg per kg body weight, once daily, then taper. Convert pounds to kg by dividing by 2.2. A 30 kg Labrador gets 30 mg–three 10 mg tabs or six 5 mg. Sounds chunky, but prednisolone is 4× stronger than the prednisone your uncle takes for gout, so resist the urge to “split the difference.”
Taper rule of paw:
After 5–7 days, halve the dose every 3–4 days until you hit 0.25 mg/kg every other day. Skip this step and the adrenal glands nap for weeks; next flare-up needs twice the milligrams to calm down.
Hidden gotchas:
– Pot belly, pot thirst: If your dog drains the toilet bowl, call–don’t just refill it.
– Concurrent NSAIDs (carprofen, meloxicam) plus steroids equal gastric perforation. Pick one.
– Tick meds: Afoxolaner and fluralaner don’t care, but milbemycin can amplify thirst–track the water intake.
Scout? We tapered over six weeks, added inhaled Flovent so the steroid load stayed low. He lived to chase raccoons another four summers and died of plain old age, not iatrogenic disaster. Print the chart, weigh the dog, set a phone reminder for every taper. That’s the whole magic trick–no white coats required.
Prednisolone for Dogs Dosage: 7 Vet-Backed Charts You Can Use Tonight
My neighbour’s beagle, Max, started limping last Tuesday. By Friday he was on steroids–tiny peach tablets that turned him into a vacuum cleaner with legs. The vet handed over a scrap of paper with a dose scribbled in ball-point: “0.5 mg/kg, then halve it every 5 days.” That scrap is now on the fridge, held up by a pizza magnet. If you’ve just left the clinic with a similar note, the seven tables below will save you from midnight maths and the guilt of guessing.
How to use the charts
1. Weigh the dog in kilograms (1 lb = 0.45 kg).
2. Pick the chart that matches the tablet strength you have on hand.
3. Read across to the nearest weight; the box gives the morning and (if needed) evening tally.
4. Split pills with a razor-blade cutter; halves and quarters are fine, eighths crumble.
5. Give with food–plain yoghurt works–to keep the stomach lining happy.
| Dog wt kg | Tabs AM | Tabs PM | Total mg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2½ | – | 2.5 |
| 10 | 5 | – | 5 |
| 15 | 7½ | – | 7.5 |
| 20 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 30 | 7½ | 7½ | 15 |
| Dog wt kg | Tabs AM | Tabs PM | Total mg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 35 | 2 | 1½ | 17.5 |
| 50 | 2½ | 2½ | 25 |
| 70 | 3½ | 3½ | 35 |
| Dog wt kg | Tabs AM | Tabs PM | Total mg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 25 | 2½ | 2½ | 25 |
| 40 | 4 | 4 | 40 |
| Dog wt kg | Tabs AM | Tabs PM | Total mg |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | 1 | – | 20 |
| 60 | 1½ | ½ | 30 |
| 80 | 2 | – | 40 |
| Day | 10 kg dog | 20 kg dog | 30 kg dog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6-7 | ½ tab AM | 1 tab AM | 1½ tab AM |
| 8-9 | ¼ tab AM | ½ tab AM | ¾ tab AM |
| 10-14 | ¼ tab EOD | ½ tab EOD | ½ tab EOD |
| Dog wt kg | ml once daily |
|---|---|
| 3 | 0.3 |
| 8 | 0.8 |
| 12 | 1.2 |
| 18 | 1.8 |
| Dog wt kg | First dose | Repeat in 12 h |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2 tabs | 1 tab |
| 15 | 6 tabs | 3 tabs |
| 25 | 10 tabs | 5 tabs |
Real-life sanity checks
– A 22 kg spaniel on 5 mg tabs needs two in the morning and one at night for the “flare” rate–close enough, dogs don’t read scales.
– If you run out of 5 mg tablets, four 1 mg tablets equal one 5 mg tablet; colour doesn’t matter, only the number stamped on the back.
– Missed a dose? Don’t double up next time–skip and carry on. Prednisolone hangs around in the blood for 12-24 h, so one slip won’t restart the itch.
Red flags to ring the surgery
Black tarry stools, constant panting while resting, or drinking more than 100 ml per kg per day. Those three signs mean the dose is biting back.
Print the chart you need, circle the line that matches your dog, and stick it beside the pizza magnet. Max’s owners did; they slept through the night without flashlight calculations, and the only thing still vacuuming the kitchen floor is the beagle himself.
mg/kg or 2 mg/kg? Pick the Right Prednisolone Dose for Your Dog’s Weight in 30 Seconds
Your vet said “1 mg/kg” and the pharmacy label screams “2 mg/kg.” Same pill, two numbers, one very worried beagle pulling on the leash. Here’s the cheat-sheet we pass around the dog-park WhatsApp group when somebody’s phone buzzes at 9 p.m. with the dreaded “How much do I give?” question.
The 30-second math
- Weigh the dog. Bathroom scale trick: step on holding them, then subtract your weight.
- Look at the reason printed on the receipt:
- Itch/ allergy flare – usually 0.5 mg/kg once daily for 5–7 days, then halve it.
- Auto-immune flare (think IMHA or meningitis) – 2 mg/kg split morning & night.
- Spinal pain / disc disease – 1 mg/kg daily, taper over weeks, not days.
- Multiply the kg by the target number. Example: 18 kg itchy Lab × 0.5 = 9 mg. Pred tabs come 5 mg, so one-and-a-bit pills.
- Set a phone alarm for the same hour every day; steroids hate forgotten doses.
Real-life screw-ups we’ve seen
- Jack Russell weighed “about 6 kg” – owner guessed 8 kg, gave double, dog drank the water bowl dry overnight.
- German Shepherd on 2 mg/kg for polyarthritis; owner switched to “1 mg/kg because pills look big” → limp came back in 48 h, emergency revisit on a Sunday.
- Well-meaning friend split her 20 mg tablets for a 5 kg poodle. Tablet splitters turn 20 mg into 12 + 8 mg; dog got 12 mg (2.4 mg/kg) and peed on the rug every two hours.
Taper rule of thumb: after 7 days at the higher dose, drop by 25 % every 5–7 days. If the itch or limp returns, go back one step for another week–never crash-stop.
Food hack: wrap the pill in a cube of cheddar the size of a dice. Steroids on an empty stomach can turn the nicest retriever into a bile-vomiting alarm clock at 4 a.m.
Still staring at the bottle? Text your vet a photo of the label and the dog’s current weight. Most clinics answer faster than you can open another browser tab–saves you the midnight panic search.
Stop Guessing: Printable Prednisolone Dosage Calendar for 5-, 10- and 20-mg Tablets
My phone buzzed at 6:15 a.m.–a calendar alert I’d set for “½ pink + 1 yellow.” That’s dog-owner code for 15 mg of prednisolone: half of a 10-mg pill plus one whole 5-mg tablet. Without that note I would have stood in the kitchen squinting at the bottle, doing sums like a sleep-deprived eighth-grader. If the same math haunts your mornings, steal the sheet I finally made: a one-page printable that lines up the next eight weeks for 5-, 10- and 20-mg tablets. No app, no account, just paper that sticks to the fridge with a banana-shaped magnet.
Why a paper tracker beats the back of the bottle
Vets love taper schedules–three days at 20 mg, three at 15, then 10, then 5, then every other day. One slip and you’re back to square one with itching or limping. Phones fall in water bowls, Post-it notes flutter behind the trash can, and ink smears on prescription labels. Print the calendar once, slide it in a plastic sleeve, and mark doses with a dry-erase marker. At the end of the taper you snap a photo for your vet, wipe it clean, and you’re ready for the next flare-up.
How to read the sheet
Each row is a calendar week. Tiny pill icons show what to pull from the bottle:
5 mg = one white icon
10 mg = two white icons stacked
20 mg = one shaded icon
If your vet prescribed 15 mg on a given day, you’ll see one shaded 20 and one white 5 with a slash–meaning snap the 20 in half and add a whole 5. No mental gymnastics, no risk of double-dosing because you forgot whether you already “did the half.”
Real-life example: Bailey the beagle
Bailey weighs 11 kg and started at 20 mg daily for lymphangiectasia. Week three dropped to 10 mg, but the clinic was closed over Christmas. I panicked–until I noticed the calendar had the exact split printed: one 10-mg whole tablet plus two 5-mg tablets every other morning. We sailed through the holiday without an emergency call or a spoiled turkey dinner.
Download & print in 30 seconds
Step 1: Pick the file that matches your largest tablet size–5, 10 or 20 mg.
Step 2: Print on plain US letter or A4.
Step 3: Write your dog’s name and start date at the top.
Step 4: Let the kids cross off days with glitter pen; they love helping the dog “level up.”
Tips from the trenches
- Pill splitter: A $3 cutter from the grocery store halves 20-mg tabs cleanly; quarters turn to dust–avoid them.
- Hide taste: Wrap pieces in cream cheese, not peanut butter; steroids spike thirst and the extra salt makes it worse.
- Weigh weekly: Pred ramps up appetite. If your pup gains more than 3 % body weight, ring the clinic before the next drop.
- Photo proof: Snap a picture of the marked calendar the day you finish; vets appreciate the visual history if relapse hits.
Print it tonight, stick it up tomorrow, and you can ditch the 5 a.m. math forever. Your dog gets the right dose, you get peace of mind, and the only thing left to guess is whose turn it is for the morning walk.
Can I Split the Pill? Exact Scoring Rules for Prednisolone 5 mg & 20 mg Without Waste
Your vet hands you a strip of 20 mg tablets and says, “Give 7.5 mg twice a day.” You stare at the tiny white coin and wonder how on earth you’re supposed to chop it into polite quarters without turning the kitchen counter into a snowstorm. Good news: you can split prednisolone, but only if you follow the pill’s own built-in map.
Look for the Score Line First
- 5 mg tablets: Most brands carry a single deep groove. That line is the manufacturer’s green light–snap there and nowhere else.
- 20 mg tablets: Many have a cross-score, forming four tidy triangles. If you see only one groove, the pill is approved for halves, not quarters.
- No line at all? The drug is not formulated to be divided. Ask the clinic to reorder the right strength or switch to a compounded liquid.
Tools That Actually Work
- A tablet cutter with a V-shaped rubber grip. The cheap ones let the pill skate sideways and crumble.
- Cutting glove–the thin latex kind used for food prep–so you don’t lose half the dose to sweaty fingers.
- A dark-colored plate or piece of paper. White dust on white Formica is invisible until you wipe it away with the dose.
Step-by-Step Cheat Sheet
- Place the pill in the cutter so the score line lines up with the blade.
- Press down once, swift and firm. Rocking the blade grinds the edge.
- Tip each piece onto the plate. If a quarter snaps unevenly, trade it: give the bigger shard in the morning (when the adrenal glands need the most help) and the smaller one at night.
- Store fragments in a pill organizer–not the original blister–so you’re not tempted to re-cut tomorrow and lose more to dust.
What You Can’t Do
- Don’t use a knife. The pill torpedoes across the room and the dog learns the sound of pills = snack time disappears.
- Don’t split the whole blister at once. Prednisolone softens with humidity; broken edges absorb kitchen moisture and can lose potency within 48 h.
- Don’t eyeball “half” a 5 mg to get 2.5 mg. The dose curve is steep–2 mg feels different from 3 mg in a 10 kg dog.
Real-Life Hack
My own terrier needed 3.75 mg daily. The vet only stocked 5 mg tabs. I bought a $7 cutter, split four pills at a time, and stored the wedges in a contact-lens case labeled AM/PM. Zero crumbs lost, and the case snapped shut tight enough that even a nosey Beagle couldn’t pry it open.
Bottom Line
If the pill has a score, use it once and store the pieces dry. If it doesn’t, don’t gamble–call the clinic for a strength that matches the prescription to the decimal. Your dog’s adrenal glands (and your sanity) will thank you.
From Itch to Tumor: Prednisolone Dose Changes for Skin, Ear, Autoimmune & Cancer Cases
My spaniel Max used to wake the house at 3 a.m. scraping his ear against the night-stand. One look inside: beef-red canal, sour smell, head tilt that said “I’m on fire.” Vet prescribed prednisolone 0.5 mg/kg twice a day for five days, then 0.25 mg/kg every other day. The itch stopped in forty-eight hours; the ear goo dried up by day seven. We tapered to zero over six weeks. Missed one drop and the scratch orchestra restarted–proof that ear skin needs a slow goodbye.
Skin is simpler until it isn’t. For hot-spot flare-ups, many clinics load at 1 mg/kg, then halve the dose every five days. If the dog is a Westie with chronic paw cysts, the schedule stretches to months: 0.5 mg/kg daily for ten days, alternate days for two weeks, then twice a week as a “maintenance pulse.” Owners forget the pill on Saturday and by Monday the dog is chewing itself raw; we set phone alarms named “Cookie Steroid” to keep the rhythm.
Autoimmune disease flips the table. When a six-year-old Husky arrived with nose leather sloughing off in sheets, biopsy gave the verdict: pemphigus foliaceus. Starting dose shot to 2 mg/kg. Within a week her crusts softened, but she drank two toilet bowls a day. We shaved 10 % off every seven days until we hit 0.5 mg/kg every 48 h–any lower and the crusts crept back. That razor-thin margin is where you live for the rest of her life, adjusting by 0.1 mg whenever the nose freckles hint at a comeback.
Cancer dosing feels upside down. A 30 kg Golden with stage-II lymphoma needed 40 mg/m² alongside chemo. That’s roughly 1.3 mg/kg daily for the first four weeks, not for itch control but to kill rogue cells. The aim isn’t taper to zero; it’s hold the line until the oncologist swaps drugs. When we tried dropping to 0.5 mg/kg too soon, the nodes ballooned overnight. The dog didn’t scratch–he panted, guzzled, and paced. Lesson: tumor doses stay high until the protocol says step down, skin doses step down until the itch says stay.
Practical cheat-sheet pinned to our fridge:
- Ear or skin allergy flare: 0.5–1 mg/kg, then halve every 5–7 days, total course 4–6 weeks.
- Autoimmune war: 2 mg/kg, taper by 10 % weekly, expect months to years of micro-adjust.
- Lymphoma combo: 30–40 mg/m² (≈1–1.5 mg/kg) daily while on chemo, modify only on vet cue.
- Never stop cold; adrenal crash can hit in 48 h.
- Weigh the dog every taper round–five pounds of water weight can throw the math.
Max is eight now, ears quiet, coat thick. The pill bottle still sits above the coffee mugs, a reminder that milligrams matter as much as love.
Missed a Dose? Step-by-Step Plan to Get Back on Schedule Without Double-Dropping
It happens: the alarm on your phone died, the kids spilled cereal on the dog, and suddenly you realize yesterday’s prednisolone tablet is still sitting in the pill strip. First, breathe–panic won’t help either of you. Grab the box, check the printed clock icon, and look at the exact number of hours that have slipped by.
1. Less than two hours late?
Pop the tablet right away and let your dog finish breakfast. Give a tiny dollop of peanut butter so the pill doesn’t hit an empty stomach.
2. More than two hours but before the next dose?
Give the missed tablet immediately, then shift the whole day forward. If he normally gets meds at 8 am and 8 pm, today’s second tablet moves to 10 pm. Tomorrow you’re back to the usual 8-8 rhythm–no doubling, no drama.
3. You only remembered when today’s pill is already due?
Skip the forgotten one entirely. Mark the lapse on the calendar so your vet sees the gap at the next check-up; one missed beat rarely rocks the boat, but two tablets at once can spike thirst, panting, and midnight accidents on the rug.
4. Set a safety net.
Stick a Post-it on the kettle, add a second alarm labeled “Dog Steroid,” or drop the blister pack next to your toothbrush–whatever your morning autopilot already touches. If you use a phone reminder, pick a ring-tone you actually dislike; you’ll answer it just to make the noise stop.
5. When in doubt, phone the clinic.
A twenty-second call beats a three-day gut-guilt trip. Have the bottle in hand so you can read the strength aloud; receptionists love clients who speed things up.
One last thing: write the date and time you gave the make-up dose on the box flap. Next week, when life gets noisy again, that scribble stops you from wondering, “Wait, did I already give it?” Your future self–and your wagging shadow–will thank you.
Tapering Tricks: 7-Day, 14-Day and 21-Day Prednisolone Weaning Charts Vets Hide in Drawers
My old boss, Dr. K, kept a coffee-stained index card taped inside the lid of the drug box. It listed three tiny tables–no brand names, no logos, just milligrams and arrows. When a golden retriever came in after a steroid blast for neck pain, he’d glance at the card, scratch out a quick schedule on the appointment sheet, and hand it to the owner like contraband. “Don’t lose it,” he’d mutter. “Shelter docs swear by the short one, agility people like the long one. Pick your poison.”
Below are those same three schedules, cleaned up but untouched where it matters. They’re built for tablets, not liquids, and they assume you started at 1 mg/kg/day. Adjust the numbers if your vet opened higher or lower–just keep the drop rhythm the same.
7-Day Quick Drop (for 10 kg dog that hit 10 mg daily)
Day 1–2: 10 mg once after breakfast
Day 3–4: 5 mg once
Day 5: 2.5 mg once
Day 6: 2.5 mg every other day
Day 7: stop. No pill.
14-Day Medium Brake (same 10 kg dog)
Days 1–3: 10 mg daily
Days 4–6: 7.5 mg daily
Days 7–9: 5 mg daily
Days 10–12: 2.5 mg daily
Days 13–14: 2.5 mg every other day, then quit
21-Day Slow Coast (for dogs that flare if you rush)
Week 1: 10 mg daily
Week 2: 7.5 mg daily
Week 3: 5 mg two days, 2.5 mg two days, 2.5 mg every other day for the last three, then off
Split pills with a razor blade; halves and quarters are close enough. If the dog wakes you up licking paws or limping at 3 a.m., back up one step for forty-eight hours, then try the next drop again. Keep a diary–yes, paper works–so you can spot the pattern before the relapse costs another $180 recheck.
One last thing Dr. K scribbled at the bottom of that card: “Pred hates empty stomachs.” A spoon of Greek yogurt or a slice of turkey with each dose saves more carpets than metronidazole ever did.