Re: OT - Cushings Disease Beagle - Page 2

Peggs · ‎04-02-2010

I had a 12 year old Shih Tzu that had Cushins for about 5 years before she passed away. Our vet had it under control with medication and it didn't affect her quality of life. She passed away about 8 years ago- not from Cushins. It was so long ago I don't remember her symptons or the medication she was on.

kimblue12 · ‎01-23-2014

He's overweight as a lot of Beagles are, and the vet is amazed that there isn't much else going on besides his heart issues. He also gets baby aspirin once in a while for arthritis.

He did say the Cushings test is $ 210.00 with an overnight stay and a steroid shot. I don't know.

By looking at him, he's just the cutest thing! Nothing seems to be slowing him down. I am not looking at this as 'the end' by any means.

I couldn't live without my best friend !

peace6576 · ‎03-09-2010

On 2/3/2014 kimblue12 said:
He's overweight as a lot of Beagles are, and the vet is amazed that there isn't much else going on besides his heart issues. He also gets baby aspirin once in a while for arthritis.

He did say the Cushings test is $ 210.00 with an overnight stay and a steroid shot. I don't know.

By looking at him, he's just the cutest thing! Nothing seems to be slowing him down. I am not looking at this as 'the end' by any means.

I couldn't live without my best friend !

My cocker has had several of the Cushings blood tests while we were tweaking her med to determine the right dose. She never had to stay overnight…I just dropped her off in the morning and then picked her up in the afternoon. The cost was approx. $250. Good luck to you with your sweet beagle…they are angels on earth aren't they? Love my girls!

CookyJ · ‎07-19-2011

Our Cocker lived with Cushings for several years. It can be managed and we were happy to take our fur baby in for testing and administer medication to keep her happy and healthy. She also lost a good deal of her beautiful blond coat....a thinning coat is another sign of the disease. Beat of luck to you and your beagle!

makeup addict · ‎03-29-2010

Hi! My 13 yr old beagle is sitting at my feet as I type this. She originally had Cushings last year. She wasn't on any meds prior to this. I thought she had a UTI or bladder infection because she was drinking a lot of water and having accidents. Her belly was hanging a little low, but her weight was normal. When I took her back to the vet a few months later for what I thought was another bladder infection, the vet checked her urine. When they checked her urine, she had casts in it. This is what caused the doctor to think Cushings. Did the test and she had it. I did think it was a death sentence,but later learned they can live a normal life span with meds. She was placed on Lysodren. It caused her system to over produce the hormone and she became Addisonian. ( now has Addison's instead of Cushings). Takes prednisone daily, very low dosage and a liquid steroid, fleuirdinprhine. She acts like her normal sweet self: digging holes, tearing up the dryer sheets, howling at the neighborhood cat.

she gets tested every four months to make sure her levels are in normal range. This test is less expensive than the .cushings test and the medication is cheaper too. With the Lysdren, I had to watch her closely to make sure the dosage wasn't too much.she got lethargic and had to go to the ER Vet to get regulated. I would ask the vet to rule out other impairments before testing for Cushings. If anyone needs pet meds, DiamondbackPharmacy is great. My beagle gets the liquid med in peanut butter flavor.

ItsME · ‎03-10-2010

My friend's bischon was recently diagnosed with Cushings. She is going to a holistic vet, who has her on something that is helping a lot. I don't know what it is. My soon-to-be 13 year old poodle has Addison's, which is easy to manage with low doses of prednisone, and he's doing well. Good luck to you and your baby.

HappyDaze · ‎06-13-2012

On 2/3/2014 peace6576 said:
I have a 9 year-old cocker spaniel with Cushing's. Her only symptoms were panting and elevated liver enzymes. The vet did a special blood test called an ACTH stimulation test to confirm Cushing's disease and started her on a med called trilostane. She is doing very well and her liver enzymes have normalized. I'm not sure why the previous poster's vet wanted to do chemotherapy for Cushing's disease as that is not the standard of care for the disease. Not to mention that prednisone-induced Cushing's generally resolves on it's own once the animal is off steroids for a period of time. My dog unfortunately has primary Cushing's disease not steroid-induced so she will have to be on daily medicine…but she is doing great on the medication and has much more energy.

I wondered the same thing. It makes no sense I've never heard of that.

FinnyMinny · ‎09-01-2013

I'm so sorry, this is so rough to go through with a pet.

My Bad Cat (that's his actual real name) became cushanoid a few years ago because my vet was overmedicating him with steroids as a treatment for IBS (Bad Cat has about a thousand things wrong with him medically speaking!!). A lot of his fur fell out and his belly was totally bald -- just floppy pink skin! Luckily we could immediately start tapering him off the steroids and eventually he bounced back. But since then vet after vet (I move a lot) has wanted to put him back on steroids!! A few months ago I made the decision to take him off all meds and I worked really hard to find a food he could digest, and now he's medication free and he's never looked better. I actually had to buy him some toys because for the first time in years he suddenly wanted to play, and he's been frisking around and attacking the other cat!

Now, obviously I'm not saying that anyone should ignore their vet and throw all pet meds in the trash. It was a long complicated road that led me to make that decision, and I'd put him back on his meds in a heartbeat if I thought it would help him.

My point is simply that a diagnosis like that can sound really scary, and searching the web for advice and support can often lead you to more scary stories, so I wanted to offer this happy image of my Bad Cat, fully recovered and frisking around happily, as a nice thought to help you in this hard time.

Best of luck to you and your fur baby!!!

drkcharger · ‎03-16-2010

I have a dog now with cushings. She is only seven. First i want to say they are usually given the ACTH stim. test to help determine this. yes they can be expensive and my dog has had three. The first was an 8hr. test the other 2 only about 2hrs.

She is now on trilostane to help control it.

If a dog is on something such as prednisone it can cause cushings like symptoms but is not cushings. Usually when weaned off the meds. those symptoms will disapear.

That is not the case with my dog.(i wish it was as it would be much easier)

Most symptoms are panting, pot belly(not fat) excessive thirst, and for lack of a better discription eats like theres no tommorrow. May also have thinning or loss of hair.

Unfortunatley my dog has all of the above except panting.

I have found most vets are not very well educated about this disease.