Hi,

Our Bengal, Leo, developed a problem walking very shortly after we got him. He then 'miraculously' recovered and was developing normally and settling in. Then, unfortunately, he relapsed. We weren't too concerned as we'd gone through it before, but this time around he didn't recover. At that point I found this forum, and following other's lead, our vet (having read through some of the threads here) put him on a course of Prednisalone.

His recovery was not as quick as when it happened naturally, but, over a 2 week period, he was better - running & jumping, etc. But, once the course finished, he's pretty quickly gone back to where he was before.

What I wondered if people could share was their dosages & length of the course (our vet only prescribed a fairly short course with low dosage.) I have read that some people were on long courses of relatively high dose. (It may also be useful to share your Bengal's weight/size as this will have a bearing on dosage.)

Our vet was very keen not encourage long-term use of steroids, as they can have pretty serious impact on health.

Any other thoughts would be welcomed!

Very sorry to hear of your boy's trials. It's an awful, terrifying condition for both bengal boy and owner. There were tears, but the plucky kid took it bravely.
In our case with poor 11 month old Satai his back legs and tail were completely paralyzed, but he made a complete recovery and belts around the house chasing his burmese brother with alarming speed .
5 months later he's still fine (and we're naturally desperate for this to continue into old age!)

The neurologist prescribed liquid Prednisolone.

The dosage was 0.8ml twice daily for 2 weeks (I guess that's 4mg), then 0.8ml once daily for 2 weeks, then finally 0.8ml once every SECOND day. So the total regimen took 6 weeks. It was the neurologist's view that this dosage was relatively light at the time, and he was prepared to crank it up if it wasn't providing the goods (He didn't have to)

My wife and I mixed it with some catfood paste, and hand fed it to him on a tiny spatula. Naturally this NOW means that the spoilt brat now gets this every night (sans prednisolone)
As for his weight I'm not sure (his jabs are due next week!): 3 kilos perhaps - he lost a startling amount of muscle mass very quickly and it took some months to regain.

The immunosuppressive behaviour of prednisolone was a concern (we were warned to keep him indoors, and hold off on innoculations as they might react badly, for example), and cortisone/corticosteroid is nasty stuff to take long-term.

Naturally I do not presume to provide vet advice for your boy (who could well be an entirely different situation): I'm a computer engineer not a Vet. I have, however detailed our experience as you have asked.
I wish you all the best, and really hope you have a successful outcome.

Our boy:) (taken after his recovery)

Thanks @Callan - I'm struggling to work out the ml to mg conversion to compare the courses.

But, essentially, I'm going to pass on the info to the vet, and see what they think.

Charlie

What a terrifying ordeal! I'm surprised you have not been sent to a vet neurologist to see what might be going on.

Charlie. Is there any news to report?

Callan

Hey @Callan, so, yes, Leo is gradually improving. Thanks for asking.

He's still not 100%, he can't jump, but he is now running. He's definitely very much improved from his condition before the course of prednisalone. I wonder if a longer taper would have been better (although this is a bit tricky with tablets.)

Praying Leo gets back to 100% soon.