Kerry C

Great, thanks for clarifying the belly as a Cushings thing, and that your dog didn't have an itchy belly. My dog had all the same symptoms as your dog (except for the "lack of eating", my lab has NEVER slowed her eating). I didn't know there was more than one Addison's, maybe I should do some more research on these.

Thanks for your advice Erny, will get the calendula tea and give it a go. :)

Hi everyone, has anyone got experience with Cushings disease and liver issues? Sorry this is long, apparently she is a complex case. I have a labrador retriever (Engel) who will be 13 in July. Since she was 10 she's had a spate of injuries and illnesses: torn cruciate ligament, attacked by another dog, arthritis, and a supposed growth on her liver and some other internal organs (after invasive and painful internal examination it came back with nothing and Cushings disease was diagnosed). She was having 110mg Trilostane every morning to treat the Cushings (as well as a ACTH test every 6 months). In the last 6 months she has been coughing/dry retching increasingly at times throughout the day, probably between 8 - 20 times and not related to eating. Eating sticks and bark in the park - like chewing and swallowing the whole thing (regardless of me stopping her from eating most of it), very lethargic and tires easily, not interested in other dogs, drinking excessive water, sleeping all day and has developed serious anxiety. Her regular vet did a blood test and the ALT liver enzyme came back at around 800 and the AST was also a bit high. The vet suggested she have an ultrasound, chest X-ray and ACTH at around $800-$1000. Aside from the money, my dog is old and I will only consider putting her through surgery if it's completely necessary, so I took her to another vet for a second opinion. They ran the liver enzyme test and it came back ALT around 500. The second vet then suggested just running the ACTH test and it showed her dose had become too high - she was diagnosed with Addison's (the opposite of Cushings). Since coming off her Cushings meds she instantly decided she was a puppy again, has started running, sniffing other dogs, is so alert, stopped eating bark and coughing, drinking less, no panting and is generally less anxious. Aside from feeling guilty about overdosing her for the past 6 months, I'm wondering if anyone has been trough a similar experience? Or is anyone knows why she could have developed an itchy/irritated belly that she scratches all the time? I've looked at the skin but it looks fine. She has a distended belly (symptom of Cushings and Addisions) and there's a few old lady lumps in there. I'd like to put her through the stress of being poked and prodded as much as possible. Thanks in advance, Kerry