Natural Corticosteroids- do they exist?

For those dogs out there that have been prescribed some type of steroid medication such as prednisone and other corticosteroid medication, most of us know how nasty a drug this can be. Of course, in certain situations steroids are indeed life saving and they do also stop the inflammation process by way of essentially shutting the immune system. But these drugs are not ideal and certainly not for long periods of time so are there other safer alternatives that we can look at instead? Let’s take a look in todays short video.

. So what are the main reasons your dog might be given a steroids medication of some kind? At the top of the list are all autoimmune diseases as these are caused by inflammation which leads to the immune system attacking your dogs body in some way- this might be polyarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, thyroiditis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus and so on. Other reasons for taking steroids will be basically any condition that is inflammatory in nature such as allergies, skin conditions, asthma and other respiratory problems, osteoarthritis and injuries and so on. They are certainly one of the most commonly prescribed drugs and while they can appear very effective, the side effects of these drugs and the long term implications of using them are not good. Typically, dogs on steroids will tend to have an increase in thirst and hunger and easily put weight on. Many dogs lose their vitality. Panting and lethargy along with a lack of stamina as well as anxiety are common. Cushings disease can also develop in some dogs along with cataract, infections, thinning hair and skin, nausea, muscle wasting, diabetes poor wound healing and general lowered immunity – the immune system becomes very weak. And unfortunately did you know that it is possible for your dog to develop what is known as corticosteroid resistance which means that the more steroid medication that your dog has taken the more likely they are to develop a resistance to the drug, stopping its effectiveness much in the same way that we are seeing lots of antibiotic resistance today as well. So as you can see these drugs are very problematic especially if used over long periods of time. So knowing all of this what can we do about it?? If not steroids then what can be used instead.