Cushings Disease in Dogs? - Updated

[MeanLaureen]

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Cushings Disease in dogs?

We made an appointment for Reilly at the vet tomorrow because he woke Matthew up 3 times last night because he wanted something to drink. This isn't completely unusual, but not exactly a nightly ritual. He may wake up one of us maybe a couple of times a week. I always thought it was because he chews on bones right before bed and he gets thirsty. Now I'm worried that it's something else.

Looking up the symptoms online, it came up with Cushings Disease which is common in his breed. He doesn't have the majority of the symptoms (hair loss, panting) but does have the thirst issue. Of course having to go peepee goes hand in hand with the thirst issue shortly afterwards. Excessive hunger is a symptom He is always looking for something to eat but then again, he's always begging food off of us. Our dogs are allowed to "graze". They have a full bowl at all times and eat when they want to but he doesn't gorge himself on kibble. He just wants to gorge himself on whatever people food he can sucker us out of.

When they say "excessive thirst" in Cushings, how excessive are they talking? Reilly is a 10 pound Poodle and drinks maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of a Dixie cup of water when he wakes us up for a drink. To me, that's not much, but I guess it worries me that he is thirsty enough to be waking us up and that is kind of excessive. Of course, he is a demanding little guy

I'm scared to death over the outlook that most of these websites gave for dogs with Cushings.. 2 yrs after diagnosis? Reilly is only 5 and he is my life right now. I can't lose him so early and I am so scared something serious is wrong.

 

[2BigKIdz]

The symptoms also sound like diabetes. My SIL's poodle had diabetes, she drank constantly and ate like a pig, but lost weight any way. My SIL is not good about taking her animals to the vet so the dog was skin & bones by the time she took her and found out she was diabetic (don't get me started on this). She opted not to treat the dog as the dog was 10 or 11 and had cancer as well. But it could have been treated (I would have treated my dog).

Our vet thought our collie, Jack had cushings earlier this year because of hair loss issues but luckily he did not. I was so worried waiting for his lab work.

Hope everything turns out okay.

 

[Cyndirella]

I have no experience with Cushings but just want to say that I hope everything is OK with Reilly.

 

[nomie74]

My horse had cushings for over 10 years before she passed, she was 25 years old. The vet said there was a medication that would help slow down some of the symptons, excessive drinking and she wouldn't shed her hair in the spring and had to be shaved. Towards the end it affected her balance and she could no longer stand and thats when it was her 'time'. Hope your dog is okay, the medication was pretty inexpensive and I was giving a much larger dose than you would probably need!

 

[dawnsb]

My dog is diabetic.

We had just returned from a two week vacation out to the National Parks in Utah, and that is the longest he's been away from us. He was staying with my mother in law, and she just mentioned that he wouldn't eat some days, but that is normal for him when we are away.

I would have to get up and let him out at 3 am and give hime some water; we just thought that he was trying to get back at us for leaving him. A couple days later there were "piddle puddles" in the basement.

We called and made an appointment at the vet, and researed online. Cushings and diabetes came up. All the tests showed diabetes so we give him 16 units insulin twice a day.

He's a beagle/shepeard mix now 7 years old. He's gained weight back, but has to eat special food and treats. It was difficult at first, but it is routine now. My mother in law has learned how to give him the insulin, and she is going to watch him while we are in WDW in a couple of weeks!


Dawn

 

[MeanLaureen]

Thanks for the replies I'm hoping that there isn't anything wrong with him. He hasn't lost any weight, still round and chubby in the middle (not overweight, just meaty like a boy dog should be - I'm so used to having skinny girls)

We did find out that the little bugger somehow got a hold of a half a bag of Dentasticks. He was staring at the desk in our bedroom like he wanted something. I knew I had a bag of Dentasticks up there and thought he wanted one, but they were gone. When we looked under the bed, there was the torn open and now empty package. He had either 4 or 5 of them that night. Salt is on the ingredient list so I'm hoping his thirst came from that. Although he did wake us up again last night for a drink.

I wonder if chewing on Rawhide makes them excessively thirsty? Right after he got his drink he went back and picked up a bone he had been working on.

The odd thing is, he doesn't get overly thirsty when we have him out doing things all day. We can take him shopping all day in Williamsburg. We will stop on the way down and get a cup of water for him from a fast food place. During the entire trip 2 weeks ago he only drank maybe an inch of water out of the entire cup. Wouldn't exercise make his thirst even more intense?

 

[hiwaygal]

I hope everything goes okay at the vet.

The symptoms you are describing don't seem all that serious to me (I mean, they CAN indicate something worse, but they can also indicate something that is no big deal)...yes, sometimes too many bones/treats can make a dog thirsty. So can a change in the weather (for example, is your heat on yet?)...but you say he is completely normal otherwise? My guess is it's nothing serious, but it's good that you are taking him to the vet to be sure.

Let us know what the vet says!

 

[MeanLaureen]

Well Reilly spent the better part of the day at the vet today, much to his dismay. If it wasn't for his shy bladder and not wanting to go peepee anywhere but his backyard it would have been a lot quicker.

The vet didn't think he was showing any of the other signs for Cushings outside of his sudden habit of waking us up for water, but since Poodles are known for that illness and since she knows how important he is to me, she ran the blood test anyway, and also wanted to run a urinalysis to see if he might have a UTI. He wouldn't go for them so they said if he hadn't tinkled by 2 PM he was going to get a cathater <--Reilly. I told DH Matt to go over to the vet and get Reilly all reiled up about going "peepee" like we do at home and hopefully he'll get so excited he won't have any choice but to go in front of the doctor.. it worked. Of course Matt looked like a fool jumping up and down and telling this 10 pound dog "Let's go PEEPEEs!"

Anyway, they called back around 6pm and gave Reilly a clean bill of health. The doctor thinks that a lot of it can be behavioral because Matt recently started working during the day when he had been home with him for the past year, so it could be a little bit of brattiness (or he's getting too much sleep while we are gone)

I'm so happy that he is okay. He really had me worried the way he was acting over the past few nights. Had it been a one time thing I wouldn't have thought much of it, but it was happening more and more. After the year I've been having, I couldn't bear the thought of him being sick.