Sad update on Cushing's dog - Page 2

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

How kind of you to tell me what you went through.

I am so sorry to hear your beloved Cairn was lost to the embolism. Devastating. (Sorry, I always feel tears rising when I learn of a dog's passing.)

Thanks, too, for being concerned about the size of the type. That made me smile.

If you're interested, I can post more as we continue on this road. Right now I'm waiting to get few questions answered by the vet once she finishes her day.

[was Homegirl] Love to be home . . . thus the screen name. Joined 2003.

GSPgirl · ‎01-03-2012

@Renata22wrote:
Hi Homegirl. You may or may not find this helpful. I have a dog that tested very high on the scale for cushings twice. I didn't go any further to get the final diagnosis, but my vet said he most probably had it. I asked what the treatment was and he told me if it was one kind of cushings, it was treatable. If it was the other one, it doesn't respond to treatment. But he ultimately told me that it doesn't really do anything to them long term. The only thing is the symptoms of drinking and eating and urinating more. With this information, I decided not to do any further testing. Your vet may totally disagree, but that's what we came up with here. He has been my vet for 25 or so years, so I trust him completely.
I hope you find the solution you are comfortable with and you have a long happy life with her.

This is exactly what my doctor told me for my 11 year old dog. We chose not to treat her as was suggested by my dog’s vet. I could have run more tests, but I didn’t want to put her through that. She’s doing fine and has had no accidents on the carpet. She’s a bit bloated, but doesn’t seem to be drinking a lot of water. She’s eating, too.

BadWolf · ‎10-10-2014

One of my male maltese was diagnosed with Cushings at about 8 or 9 years old. The in depth test was simply blood tests over three time periods in one day. He was put on Trilostan, which I give him daily religiously. He will be 14 in October and outisde of a little rounder belly and hind end marginal weakness (which could also be due to his arthritis) you would never know. He is still a little pistol. Good luck to you.

pupwhipped · ‎03-11-2010

@GingerPeach, yes, please continue to post with updates. I truly like to help when I can because when I was going through this there were so many who helped me. Way back then there was the most wonderful Cushing's Support Group on Yahoo Groups. It was fantastic. It had a tremendous amount of info and very kind people who you could commiserate with. I thought it had moved to Facebook, but now I just don't know...I'm not really on or into Facebook. Anyway, FWIW, it was called CanineCushingsAutoimmuneCare@YahooGroups.

Wishing you the best!

bichon mom · ‎04-18-2011

Hi homegirl

I have a 13 year old bichon who was diagnosed with Cushing's disease last year. She was panting like crazy, eating alot as well as peeing. She has the pot belly.

We decided to treat her. She is also on trilostane and is doing very well. She does have to go for bloodwork every few months now. In the beginning it is alot more until they get the right dosage. We did have a setback once as the vet tech gave us the wrong dosage which I didn't noticed.

My bichon has multiple health issues and we treat for all. I guess it is a personal decision but I definitely am happy that we decided to do so. Best of luck with your furbaby!

CamilleP · ‎03-09-2010

Homegirl, my experience with Cushing's Disease is not very recent, but I'll share it, since it includes all four kinds of Cushing's, it might be helpful to you as well as others. If your vet is suggesting Trilostane, your dog probably has Typical Cushing's. Do you know whether it is Pituitary Typical or Adrenal Typical? Adrenal is usually much harder to treat, since the adrenal tumor is cancerous about half the time, and thus quickly fatal. Thankfully, Pituitary Typical is far more common than Adrenal. Two of my last Scotties had Atypical Cushing's, and Trilostane does not work well for it, they were diagnosed at a University laboratory in Tennessee, and once diagnosed were treated with melatonin and lignans, and both had resolution of symptoms very quickly, thankfully. I took in a Rescue dog many years ago who had bad allergies, and instead of buying a good dog food they got prednisone from their vet, and gave their dog the totally preventable Iatrogenic Cushing's. It destroyed his liver, and despite all I could do for him, we lost him to liver failure just three months later. My last Typical Cushing's dog was diagnosed in 2007, before Trilostane was available in the US, and the University endocrinologist treated her with Lysodren, which totally destroyed her adrenal glands and gave her Addison's Disease. She lived another five years and died of something else at 12.5 years of age, we managed her Addison's with prednisone (very low dose) and DOCP.

Cushing's Disease causes many problems other than the observable ones of excessive thirst, drinking, urination and hunger, muscle wasting, skin disease, baldness etc. It also causes abnormalities in blood clotting, thus the pulmonary embolism risk, and a sudden-onset blindness can occur as well. It severely impacts a dog's quality of life, and IMHO should always be treated. Now that Trilostane is available, it is very safe and much easier to use than older drugs, and can add years of good quality of life for dogs with Pituitary Typical Cushing's Disease.

I wish you the best of luck with your newly diagnosesd girl, and, if you find difficulty in getting good control with daily dosing, try a smaller dose twice a day. Trilostane interrupts the cortisol synthesis cycle, and once-daily dosing can cause a wider swing in cortisol levels than some dogs can tolerate, so they do better on twice daily dosing.

Murphymom · ‎02-14-2017

I'm so sorry to hear about your dog's recent diagnosis. We have a cocker spaniel who was diagnosed at almost 4 years of age. It has been draining emotionally and financially but he is doing well and will turn 7 in June. He has been on Trilostane (Vetoryl) since his diagnosis however, it has been a long road to get him to the correct doseage based on his levels determined by frequent blood work. I believe he started on 15mg, then 30mg, then 30mg twice a day. In the past couple of months, he stopped wanting to eat and was sleeping all the time. Blood tests revealed that his cortisol levels had dropped too low and he was exhibiting symtopms of Addison's disease (the opposite of Cushing's). Our vet put him on a steroid for five days which seemed to "re-set" his levels. He is doing much better now, his appetite is back (wanting to steal food again from my five year old). We now have him back on Vetoryl once a day and will be re-tested in two weeks. Cushing's dogs can have additonal complications as well. An ultrasound last year revealed that he also has gall bladder issues and will be on a daily medication to control the effects of that for the remainder of his life. To say that his diagnosis was devastating is an understatment. We bought him from a reputable breeder near our home who after sharing the diagnosis with him, said to his knowledge Murphy is the only one of their dogs in 20 years to be diagnosed with Cushing's disease. This has been our experience, since Murphy is like a member of our family and was diagnosed at such a young age, there was no question about whether or not we would treat him in any way possible. It has been a financial hardship at times but I am so thankful that he is still with us. Good luck to you and your pup!

GingerPeach · ‎03-12-2010

This is my little 16 year old girl. I'm asking the vet to see whether we can start on an even lower dose of trilostane than the low dose typically prescribed in the beginning. She doesn't always take well to medication. She was fairly cooperative about posing today.

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