Dog Lovers: Need Some Advice (Cushings Disease)

[OhioChick]

To make a long story short, a few weeks back my mixed breed started scratching herself like crazy. I let it go a few days, as she does have allergies and as soon as we get a good frost....she stops.

This time it was different, she woke me up all through the night and in the morning (she has longer hair) the kitchen floor was covered with her hair. She had a bloody skin irritation all over her body.

I took her to the vet, who prescribed antibiotics, told me to give her Benadryl, and did some blood work. Might I also add that she's epileptic and is on phenobarbital and just turned 11 years.

Well, the blood work came back and everything was okay, other than her liver enzymes. Normal is under 200 and hers was over 500. The vet said that her best guess at this point would be Cushings Disease. The dog has the rash, pants, eats like a horse (without any weight gain) and drinks enough water to fill the lake.

I'm supposed to take her back in a month for repeat blood work. The vet said that Cushings is treatable (she told me chemo-type drugs, which I cannot afford) but since my dog is epileptic....she would likely be difficult to treat, if possible.

I don't know what to do, or what I can do. Is this a rapidly progressing disease? Is treatment (if possible) that expensive? If all we can do is "make her comfortable") approximately how much time does she have left?

Any advice is appreciated. I'm not ready to lose another dog. My other "best friend" died not that long ago from hemangiosarcoma. :cry:

[doublethink]

1. Hey Ohio Chick ...... just sending prayers and a hug.

I changed my dogs diet awhile back from reading things in this DU pet forum. It's a good place to post concerns and look for advice. I don't really know anything about Cushings Disease or solutions. But am curious that you said her allergies go away when you get a good frost (colder weather ... less pollen whatever) .... one of my mutts seemed to have had the same problem or something similar. I was told to start clearing their bodies of toxins by putting some vinegar/apple cider into their drinking water, giving them a bit of raw liver a couple of times a week, get them off of processed dog food and more on a natural diet without all the gluten and chemicals in it. That seemed to help the one mutt of mine with the allergies .... anyway prayers again and a big hug to your doggie and hope someone gets you some good advice on this.

[OhioChick]

2. Thanks, doublethink.

I completely forgot that we had a Pet Forum until someone in the Lounge suggesting posting my dog's problems here.

I have two dogs and they both seem to scratch like crazy from mid-August until the first good frost that we have. My best guess was Goldenrod allergies. My vet suggested that I give them both Omega 3 about a month prior and that seemed to help a little.

I switched them to a ground beef, veggie and rice diet when the melamine problem occurred with pet foods a while back and saw no difference in their allergy symptoms. They both currently eat Science Diet. Processed, I know, but I ran out of time in making them homemade food.

Your mention of vinegar/apple cider, as well as raw liver has me intrigued. I'll look into that. Thanks for the ideas.....and the prayers and hug. :hug:

[a la izquierda]

3. Oh boy..I'm very sorry for you.

In 2001, my little super chihuahua (or chi-weenie as some prefer) was diagnosed with Cushings. There are two kinds, the one coming from the kidneys and the other coming from the pituitary gland. Kidney kind was treatable...and of course, that is not what our little man had.

The vet kept him on meds to keep him comfortable, and it did not progress too rapidly, at first. However, one day we found he had peed in the house, and there was blood. From that point, it was a rapid two week decline that positively broke our hearts. We had to put him to sleep and it was one of the bravest things my husband ever did up til that point, holding him as he died. I couldn't even GO to the vet, let alone deal with that. Gosh, that was 6 years ago and I'm tearing up thinking about it.

Enjoy what time you have left, because when the disease progresses, things will move rather quickly.

I'm really sorry for you. My most recent doggie loss was my Shetland mix, who I'd raised since he was 6 weeks. He'd been bitten by a fiddleback spider and we didn't catch it until it was too late (also, the dog was 15). Heartbreaking is the only way to describe that week that my vet tried to save him...

:hug:

[OhioChick]

6. I'm so sorry for your loss of both pets.

I teared up reading your post. I wish we didn't get so attached. :cry:

I had a sweetheart of a ferret that was hypoglycemic that I lost about 5 years ago. I used to sit with her and use an IV bag with sugar water to inject under her skin. Of course, this was under the vet's supervision. She had some very happy months with that treatment. When the end came.....it was during a winter storm and came out of the blue, no warning whatsoever. The ER vet wasn't even open, no one was. I was up with her the entire night holding her while the seizures came in waves. I'll never forget the sound of her whimpering. I felt so hopeless as there was not a thing that I could do before the morning came. I had her put to sleep as soon as I reached the vet and he met at his office.

I lost my other dog about 4 years ago to hemangiosarcoma. That hurt bad....and now this dog. :(

[astonamous]

4. One of our rescues has Cushing's...

She was rescued out of a local shelter and we were told she was about 11 months old. When I picked her up from the shelter and took her to our vet, he estimated her age as being between 6 and 10 years old. She doesn't have any teeth...pulled out and/or filed down. She was emaciated and didn't have much fur left.

We found a wonderful foster home and she is comfortable, eating like a little piggy and sleeping in her foster mom's bed. She was probably used for breeding and never had any simple comforts like fresh water, food and especially love.

She is currently on a medication that is about $8 a pill. We had to have a skin biopsy and then several sets of blood tests to determine the proper amount of the medication to give her.

She has gone from 26 pounds to a whopping 39 pounds. We don't know how much time she has with us but we are going to make sure that the last part of her life is much happier and more filled with love than the first part.



This is Clover...

[OhioChick]

7. Aww.....She's a cutie.

She looks like a Golden Retreiver/Lab mix. How could a shelter confuse a 6-10 year old dog with an 11 month old puppy? Lack of teeth, perhaps?

Thank you for the information. That is one lucky pup. She may have had a tough life to begin with, but will be happy for the remainder. Give Clover a pat on the head from me. :)

[sinkingfeeling]

5. My 12 3/4 yr. old Samoyed has had Cushings' for over 6 years. She is also

diabetic and hypothyroid (both common in Cush dogs). We suspected Cushings' in 2002 but Criss kept getting negative results on ACTH-stim tests and LDDS tests. We then sent her frozen blood samples to the University of Tennessee (only lab in USA) for a complete adrenal panel workup. She has something commonly referred to as 'atypical Cushings'.

Cushings' is normally the overproduction of cortisol by the adrenals. It can be caused by either a tumor on the adrenal gland (operable) or a tiny micro-tumor on the pituitary (80% of Cush cases). There are at least three tests to get a positive for Cushings'. One is the ACTH-stim which measures both a pre and post stimulation amount of cortisol in the blood. One is a Low-dose dexamethasone suppression test and one is a high-dose dexamethasone suppression test. Some vets start with a Urine Cortisol:Creatinine Ratio urine test. Some may recommend an ultrasound of the adrenal glands.

Under no circumstances should a dog be treated with either of the two Cushings' drugs without complete confidence that the dog has Cushings'.

The two drugs used today are either Lysodren, a chemo drug that destroys the adrenal cortex and Trilostane which is taken daily. Criss has been on Lysodren for 4 1/2 years. Somebody mentioned Anipryl, but it no longer recommended. Anipryl is used for Canine Cognitive Dysfunction.

Here is a link to a free forum for owners of Cushings' pets. http://www.caninecushings.net/forums/
Be sure to check out 'Important Information and Resources'. Lots of info on the testing and treatment protocols.

Edited: Forgot to add that I buy Lysodren from Canada at about $3.80 per 500mg tablet. Criss takes 1500mg. across 8 days, taking a pill on every 4th. day.

[OhioChick]

8. I did get your message.

I really appreciate all of the information that you had given me. I'm interested in the Cushings' forum that you provided, as well.

I'm happy to hear that your Samoyed is doing well. :thumbsup:

Thanks again. :)