Cushings syndrome in dogs

CA_WhaleTail · 03-04-2019, 01:20 PM

We've been treating our 7 yr old dog for Cushings for the past year or so. The disease is a result of overactive adrenal glands. Triggers catabolic steroids (opposite of anabolic- causes muscle weakness), increased thirst, immune suppression, and kidney irritation (adrenals are just above).

He's a lab/dane mix, now around 80#. Was closer to 100# when healthy.

So he's on Trilostane (Vetoryl), low carb diet, some supplements, etc. Has helped but he is getting weaker. Has anyone been through this and have any suggestions?

rockfan4 · 03-04-2019, 03:23 PM

My wife had a Lab/Husky who was diagnosed with it at 10 years.
The vet told her it was treatable but not curable.
They treated them the best they could at the time, and he eventually went into liver failure and developed ascites (fluid buildup in the abdomen) It was about a year from when he was diagnosed until he stopped eating, and then it was time. This was about 20 years ago.

Sorry.

Googam · Googam's Garage

Arlo, the dog I described in the Chemo thread, also had Cushings. Blood work revealed it about 4 years before Leukemia set in. Never could get a straight answer if one was related to the other. The Veteryol controlled his adrenal gland production, evidenced by semi-annual blood work. We gave him every other doses of the 120 mg capsules & it seemed to control things. Never suspected anything wrong with him to begin with. He always drank a gallon a water daily, peed on any bush/tree in his path & shedded contrantly.

RWebb · RWebb's Garage

see if you can get him in at the UC Davis vet clinic - they will be up on the most modern tmts. & research

Best Wishes

Alan A · 03-04-2019, 06:57 PM

Our brown one lasted about year.
He was 14 when he passed. Lost about 15% of his body mass and all of his joie de vivre over that year. Became incontinent towards the end. I miss that dog.

CA_WhaleTail · 03-04-2019, 09:03 PM

I appreciate the insights. We do have access to a UCDavis vet hospital and they share info with local vets. Hard part is seeing him age quickly. We're also glad to have tile floors- accidents are becoming much too common despite his best efforts.

One confounding problem is that he was a young rescue and got *ahem* neutered very young. So he never got full muscle development and has little extra to spare.

We did see a vet also trained in Chinese medicine. Per a prior comment, TCM views this similar to a cancer so perhaps there was a linkage. The excessive thirst is a clear sign of Cushings, as was hair loss.

rfuerst911sc · 03-05-2019, 02:09 AM

We have three weiner dogs and our female which is almost 16 years old the vet believes may have cushings . Due to her age we are just living life as normal as possible and are going to ride it out until the end . So far other than the increased thirst for water she is fine with no other symptoms . Good luck to you and your pup .

SiberianDVM · SiberianDVM's Garage

Most Cushings in dogs (at least back when I was a pup) is iatrogenic. Caused by large, continuous doses of Prednisone in an attempt to control flea allergy. Obviously, this was back before the good flea control products became available.

gordner · gordner's Garage

My rescue mix has cushings, we diagnosed about 5 years ago. She is atypical, and getting to that diagnosis was painfully expensive, however once we knew what was going on we have seen marked improvement on vetoryl. One thing I have learned in the process is that every dog presents uniquely, the biggest hurdle we faced was preconceptions as to what dogs can get it and what treatment means for them. My guy is 80 pounds, and currently takes a vetoryl dose more appropriate for a 10 pound dog, but it works for her. We paid for a lot of Stim tests to get that dose figured, initially she was on 30mg twice a day and time and testing brought her to 5 mg twice a day. Be your own advocate and do some reading, get the treatment you want. After three years on vetoryl, our vets decided that the dose was so low we should stop the treatment as she may have been one of the rare pups that actually gets cured. We took her off for a month and the subsequent backslide in her condition was so severe we are still fighting to get her back in shape 2 years late. Addisons disease is the other side of Cushings, the result of over treating cushings. Addisons can be deadly, so vets are very leery of treating cushings too far and inducing addisons. Cushings is a quality of life affecting disease, addisons is a life ending disease, so I understand the reticence, however for us the downslide in quality of life suffering from Cushings made me feel it was worth risking addisons to get her back to enjoying life. A long life panting on the floor is no kind of life in my opinion.

Getting the dosage right is the key, unfortunately not a cheap process as each stim test for us runs almost 1K. But once she was at the right level, I would say now it has almost no effect on her day to day, other than she is an over-drinker.

gatotom · 03-05-2019, 08:07 AM

Our last Lab had cushings, probably from the first time we got her at 6 months old. She was treated for a urinary tract infection, aka UTI due to getting spayed too early and probably got it nicked in the procedure. Antibiotics got rid of it but it kept surfacing. Antibiotics become useless after too much use so started monitoring her ph level in her urine, basically what she was eating and it slowed it done a lot. During this time her coat was shiny and she was playful and full of endless energy, she would swim for hours.

Her shedding was about normal for a lab and she started drinking water like a fish at about 8 1/2 yrs old. At about 9 yrs old she got into some rat poison, damn stuff has a peanut butter taste and her nose found it. This was the beginning of the end, she was bleeding thru the mouth like a dam breaking. Vet treated with drugs stopped it but the tale was told after her belly was shaved for a ultrasound. It didn't grow back and in about two months she broke out with hot spots, her hair started falling out in clumps, her hair was not growing back anywhere it was shaved. Her hair became dry and not shiny. In about a month she turned real old, couldn't get up steps, falling, sleeping all the time and finally stop eating and drinking. When a lab puts their nose up to a piece of roast beef, its time.

At the end the vet told me that she had cushings because her hair would not grow back.

oldE · 03-05-2019, 10:20 AM

Interesting reading this.
We haven't had any of our dogs develop Cushings, but it has cropped up in two horses over the years. With the first one years ago, we were treating symptoms and finally her health deteriorated. The biggest clue was her winter coat wasn't shedding, so she had a raggedy look.
With the Icelandic, it was diagnosed about eight years ago and he has been on a low dosage of Pergolide which, if I understand correctly balances his hormonal levels. He is doing great and is now 32 years old.

Good luck with the pup.
Les

CA_WhaleTail · 03-17-2019, 02:31 PM

I appreciate the replies.

Now after more vet evaluation it turns out he's atypical cushings- trilostane (vetoryl) appears to be working based on ACTH testing, but he remains symptomatic. Some hair loss continues, seems hot, and he's drinking a lot of water. And now has a secondary skim infection as his immune system is compromised. Water leads to late night pee time, having 'accidents' etc.

Next step is to go to a different drug, Lysodren, that directly affects the adrenals. Have heard that it has been used to go from Cushings to Addisons, with the idea being that Addisons is easier to manage. Probably more aggressive than we'd like to go.

Through it all he has remained good natured.