Cushings Disease

[Malamum]

Does anyone have any experience with cushings disease?

We don't know for sure yet (and still need to do further tests) but all the signs are pointing towards Indy having cushings disease. I can and will ask my vet a thousand questions and I can of course do some reading up on the internet (which I've done a bit) but I was interested in getting some first hand stories of people experiences. The types of things I'm curious about are;

What were your dogs symptoms?

How many tests were required to pinpoint that your dog actually had cushings and what type?

Did you decide to treat?

How did treating or not treating impact your dogs quality of life?

[Every Greyhound]

SYMPTOMS

Bloated belly, excessive panting, drinking lots of water, lethargic, hair not growing back for a long time after being shaved for tests/poor coat

TESTS

2 abdominal ultrasounds (I needed more than one opinion :) ), and a number of stim tests. The ultrasound showed adrenal glands were the same size and normal. I was told it was likely the issue was in the pituitary gland and that there was no test to be able to allow me to "see" this tiny tumour and that I was better of spending the money on treatment.

TREATMENT

Yes - trilostane 120mg ordered from the compounding pharmacy and regular stim tests were done for my boy. I managed his movement, which got worse, with regular visits to the animal chiropractor. He had laryngeal paralysis at the age of 11 and had a laryngeal tie back operation which lead to the identification of heart issues, he then went on Sotalol and Vetmedin. Cushings levelled out and stim tests became less frequent (much to my boys disappointment because he loved his vet visits), and this issue faded into the background.

QUALITY OF LIFE

Was great! Only because I managed the other problems (mainly movement was the thing that deterioriated).

Hope this helps! With supportive vets and specialists, after the initial panic shock and upset my boy got through from 10yrs old to 12yrs old and did very well - they were the best years of our lives! I lost him just before his 12th birthday, most likely because of changes with the pituitary gland, his breathing was perfect, his heart issues were addressed well, his movement slowed a little more but his entire wellbeing dropped off and I had to let him go

[julesluvscavs]

I have a feeling Renae has this condition to some degree, probably not severely. One of her tests when she was having some liver issues showed some of her levels not being right , one of which pointed towards Cushings. She was put on medication at the time, more so for her liver and months later she is reasonably ok. She does crave food obsessively (even for a Cav) and does drink more now and does pant a fair bit even on colder days. I have read other posts in here about Cushings which people have said you need to have more specialized tests done. Shes 11 and since shes not too bad atm haven't chosen to put her through any more tests.. She does seem to have 'some' of the tell tale symptoms of Cushings.

If you do a search this topic has come up quite a few times, you might find those threads also helpful.

Edited September 27, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[Malamum]

Thanks guys,

I have done a bit of search and read some of the other threads so some helpful info there too.

[fieldsy63]

Hi there,

My 10yo Chihuahua Milo has Cushings and has just started treatment on Trilostane.

The first thing we noticed was that he drank alot of water and swallowed his food without chewing it (plus begged for food all the time). I would say from the beginning of this year we noticed Milo's coat was very very thin along his back, plus we were starting to feel and see his spine and hip bones. He also has had a potty belly for quiet some time now, doesn't tolerate the heat or little exercise very well, and pants all the time. His weight was around 5kg so we thought all was ok, but the vet told us all his symptoms point to Cushings, so did a basic blood test which proved this. She also told us we needed a specialized blood test to verify Cushings, and when we asked about treating vs not treating, she told us the animal doesn't suffer, their life is shortened, and its very expensive to treat.

Taking all this info into consideration, we opted to leave things be until we saw the vet recently. He told us that the increased production of Cortisol in Milo's body was breaking down his muscles, thus leaving him with muscle wastage along his back, and left un treated was only going to get worst. He told us that this muscle breakdown was leaving the fat behind and putting pressure on internal organs. There is also the risk of Diabetes, Liver & Kidney disease. We were never told any of this info in April, and if we had we would have started this process earlier.

He currently is on 10mg Trilostane, once a day and has had his ACTH test, which shows him in normal dog range. We have noticed a slight change in amount of water he drinks, he isn't always ravenous, and he has a bit more energy. As he has only been on the meds for 2 weeks, the vet told us it should improve over time. We have opted to wait a month then re ACTH test him and see what the results are then. He definitely has pituitary Cushings, as an Ultrasound of his Adrenal Glands showed them both enlarged.

Whilst looking around, the vet noticed Milo's Gallbladder has a thickened wall, plus some kind of 'sludge' in it that moved around when he moved Milo. The vet told us it could be Gallbladder Disease, or just an infection.....we are now treating him for both, for now. My poor darling now is on medications for Heart Murmur, Dry Eye, Cushings, Gallbladder Disease & infection, plus 2 antacids. We know our boy isn't going to be with us for a long time, now he has been diagnosed with Cushings, but I want him to have the best, most comfortable life that I can possibly give him.

My gorgeous boy, I just love him to bits and I wish I could take some of this away from him its just not fair.

[julesluvscavs]

I really feel for you fieldsy63 its very heartbreaking to watch but like you said you can only make him as comfortable for the time they have before they lose all their quality of life .

When i read your reply it even convinces me more our 11 year old has Cushings, altho not every symptom you wrote.. They said something about her gall bladder at the time, and she was some artificial bear bile meds for a while which did seem to help her for a while. She also was on high dose of AB's. I haven't taken her back for any more tests since.. shes ok for now.. well apart from the excessive hunger all the time and she does pant a fair bit, hate to think how shes going go when it get hotter than it is now!

Thinking of you and thanks for sharing your story with us x

Edited October 1, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs

[Malamum]

Thanks for sharing fieldsy63. Sorry to hear about you boy.

The only symptoms Indy doesn't have are seeming to be ravenous (he's never been a big eater though) and excessive panting. I was keeping an extra close eye on him over the weekend and the poor things was spending most of his day drinking a hell of a lot of water then going straight outside to go to the toilet and then doing it all over again. He's also got very skinny and boney (can easily feel his spine and his chest is very boney too) and he's got so many bald patches that he's going to start looking like an overgrown Chinese Crested soon.

We've got another vet appointment tomorrow morning so I guess we'll talk about doing the next round of tests.

Edited October 5, 2013 by Malamum

[julesluvscavs]

Malumum it sounds a lot like diabetes to me ! Sometimes it can take a few years of tests to show up positive in dogs and cats (I have read). I am a diabetic and when i was at my worse point of it i was always wanting to drink and wee all the time ! and i lost a lot of weight which i thought was a good thing but it was because i was so sick at the time,..

Hopefully the next lot of tests shows something so you can then go on to treat it..

Edited October 3, 2013 by Jules❤3Cavs