Cushings Disease in Dogs

[janette]

One of our dogs is sick (Amy a Catahoula about 10yrs old). I took her to the vet yesterday, but she isn't very cooperative and he decided against doing blood work since it would have upset her too much. She pretty much just freaks out for them, they'll need to sedate her to do further testing.

He said her symptoms - lethargic, panting some swollen muscles could be Cushings but also possible that it was caused by back pain. He prescribed some pain meds just to see if that would help and eliminate that possibility without needing to upset her more. He did check her vitals and they were okay. It hasn't helped at all and she just isn't herself.

Every time the sprinklers are on she barks until someone lets her out to play and this morning she didn't even make a peep.

We've got an appointment for a follow up but wanted to know more about this before we go back. A search brings up mixed reviews of the treatment and how effective it is.

Thank you so much for your help.

Has any ones dog been treated for this and did it help? Since she is so vet phobic I need to know how much treatment is required by them.

 

[makinorlando]

I can't give you specific details for the treatment, as it was my Dsis Yorkie who had Cushings, I do know that it required frequent visits to the vet, and in the end it only gave them about 1 year additional time with him from the time they diagnosed him. He was 10 years old as well. They finally had to let him go, and in retrospect in my Dsis case, she wishes that they had not put him through it all as his quality of life was not what it had been!

I hope all works our for your Amy! It makes me so sad when I hear about sick furbabies!!!!

One of our dogs is sick (Amy a Catahoula about 10yrs old). I took her to the vet yesterday, but she isn't very cooperative and he decided against doing blood work since it would have upset her too much. She pretty much just freaks out for them, they'll need to sedate her to do further testing.

He said her symptoms - lethargic, panting some swollen muscles could be Cushings but also possible that it was caused by back pain. He prescribed some pain meds just to see if that would help and eliminate that possibility without needing to upset her more. He did check her vitals and they were okay. It hasn't helped at all and she just isn't herself.

Every time the sprinklers are on she barks until someone lets her out to play and this morning she didn't even make a peep.

We've got an appointment for a follow up but wanted to know more about this before we go back. A search brings up mixed reviews of the treatment and how effective it is.

Thank you so much for your help.

Has any ones dog been treated for this and did it help? Since she is so vet phobic I need to know how much treatment is required by them.

 

[janette]

Thanks Martha,

Not the news I was hoping for but maybe it will be something else, she is such a wonderful dog but hates going to the vet so much.

 

[chibichibirei]

Our family dog just got diagnosed a little bit a go with Cushings disease. I dont know a whole lot about it though I do know that he needs to be on meds for the rest of his life

 

[mudnuri]

My 14 year old Yellow Lab has cushings.

Symptoms....

Constant drinking and eating- eating things that a dog would never eat. The dog thinks it is STARVING...though in reality its not. For instance- Saber ate a 5lb bag of hamster food, DD9's lunch box, and her homework- YES homework

Urinating in the house- also excessive urination...

Pot belly look- The dog will lose all muscle tone- and become what looks like a pot belly pig- very skinny arms and legs, but with a large belly. Generally they will have a bow in their back- from the belly hanging down.

Skin condition- They will have flaky skin, and their hair will be VERY brittle and shed a lot- for a yellow lab to shed this way- it was obvious! Sabe' also has a lot of skin 'flaps' for lack of better word- excessive skin on elbows and knee's...like skin tags i guess you'd call them.

Cushings can not be accuratly diagnosed without blood work, because they need to check the hormone levels in the blood. The dog will have too much cortisol in it's blood, from either the pituitary or adrenal glands. There are 2 types- pituitary and adrenal....you will need to find out which it is, so the accurate pill can be pescribed. My Saber- it's pituitary.

Saber is on lysodren, which is a chemotherapy drug, VERY expensive, but he now only needs 1 pill 2x a week, in the begining he was on it 2x a day to stablize his pituitary level (ACTH).

One thing- it's often misdiagnosed as 'normal aging', when in fact it's cushings. Generally it's older dogs that develop the symptoms because the tumor has been growing on the glands for some time, and only becomes problimatic when they age.

Saber use to run for hours with our quads, use to constantly be outdoors etc.. now he is much more layed back, and can not run with the quads. If by chance he does, he is laying down for 48-72 hours after wards just to recouperate. Until he is in pain- we will continue the treatment course we are on now...

Hope that helps some?

Brandy