Doctors tell you that steroids only cause side effects after many years. But new research shows that permanent damage is immediate and devastating. Studies show that steroids cause permanent, debilitating effects after a single dosage. 'Steroids are probably the most sleazy of modern day medications,' says John Mills, former professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and chief of infectious diseases at San Francisco General Hospital.

You take your dog to the vet with a skin disorder. Your vet gives your dog a steroid injection. The skin disorder clears up. Later, you discover your dog has kidney disease. Is there a clear connection between the steroid injection and your dog's diseased kidneys? You don't know. But we do know that steroids are known to damage kidneys. We also know, from the drug manufacturers' own data sheets, that steroids can cause liver damage, brittle bones, diabetes, adrenal insufficiency, inability to deal with stress, and damage to the immune system.

Like antibiotics, steroids are one of the most abused class of drugs in the orthodox veterinarian field of medicine. At one time, they were reserved for the extreme emergency cases. Today, they are being used on the most trivial of conditions. Why? They give the appearance of an instant miracle cure which matches the “expectation” level of the client. Thus, many vets turn to steroids as the first line of attack for their anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects.

Steroids mimic the action of the adrenal glands, the body's most powerful regulator of general metabolism. Far from being a wonder drug a cure all at steroids cannot cure one single condition. All they do is suppress the body's ability to express a normal response.

Steroids are all broad -spectrum- that is, they don't specify simply the area of the body you wish to treat, but scatter through every cell including the central nervous system, cells in bone, smooth muscle, blood, liver, etc.

They are considered the drug of choice for asthma, eczema, arthritis, back problems, bowel problems, and for any and all inflammations or allergic reactions

How many vets have provided their clients with any indication of the possible dangers of steroids, prior to administering the drug? How many vets are even aware that even short course application can present permanent damage?