Shetland sheepdog Ayla; Cushings?

[Aylalover]

Hi, my name is Mariëtte and I'm the mom of an almost 8 year old shetland sheepdog named Ayla.
About a month ago I noticed she was drinking an aweful lot and didn't seem quite herself. So I took her to the vet and after some tests done the next day( she needed to be off food for at least 12 hours) she was diagnosed with diabetes. We started her on insulin twice a day and tested her bloodsugar every day. So far we haven't been able to get it stable. After the first week my vet pointed out she also has a form of acromegaly and that that might be the reason she is so hard to stabilise. So I read up on this condition and wasn't really too scared. Then yesterday he came up with the idea that she might have Cushings. I surfed the net again and what i found was pretty scary. Because of her acromagaly it is very likely that when it is Cushings it will turn out to be pituitarydependent, since that is a possibility for acromegaly too.
I hope I'm spelling all this oke, being Dutch English is a second language to me and under stress I might make some silly mistakes.
We're not going to test for Cushings just yet, the vet prefers to wait till next week. Espescially since my husband and me own a butchersstore, so we're enormously busy at the moment. I don't think I could handle the extra stress at this particular time. However, when I found this site I thought it we be a good idea to register and introduce ourselves. We might need you in the next couple of weeks.

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi Mariëtte,

Welcome to you and Ayla from me and my boy Harley. So sorry for the circumstances that brought you here but very glad you found this forum. We will help you and Ayla in any way we can.

I will recommend that you join our sister canine diabetes site, they have a wealth of knowledge on canine diabetes and are great people who will support you too. Here is their link: http://k9diabetes.com/forum/

Sorry I only have a moment to post right now but I wanted to welcome you and I am sure others will be along to do the same.

Love and hugs,
Lori

[mytil]

Hi and welcome from me too.

I am not familiar with the condition you mentioned, acromegaly, so looked it up. It has similar symptoms to cushing's. Cushing's is a slow progressing condition so waiting until next week to test if fine.

Take a look through these links that describe more of the testing performed for cushing's http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180.

It is more difficult to with the combination of the two (diabetes and cushing's) but we have several members who are doing fine. Here is another link for you - http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=190.

Don't worry your english is just fine. :)
Terry

[SasAndYunah]

Hi Mariette and Ayla,

welcome from me as well :) First of all, I am, like you, Dutch and it's so nice to meet another "Dutchy" here.

About Ayla's problems. It would make perfect sense to think "pituitary" straight away when acromegaly is mentioned. However, in dogs , the "growth hormone" responsable for the acromegaly is produced predominantly in the milkglands, contrary to humans and cats, where the regulation of growth hormones predominantly is arranged by the hypofysis.

By far, most cases of acromegaly in dogs is based in the milkglands, not the hypofysis. Some of the symptoms of acromegaly in dogs are almost the same as the symptoms in a dog with Cushings, namely increased tummy, increased thirst and increased urination.

And the acromegaly is responsable for the diabetes. So, it is very important to have the acromegaly treated, also because otherwise you won't be able to control the diabetes. Treatment depends on the cause, milkglands or the pituitary gland. If I were you, I would take Ayla to a specialist centre like "De Wagenrenk" (http://www.dewagenrenk.nl/) in Wageningen (dr. Paul Mandigers) of anders naar Utrecht, naar de Universiteitskliniek.

This is so rare and specialised, it needs a specialist :)

Best of luck

en als je meer wilt weten, geef maar een gil,

Saskia and Yunah :)

[Aylalover]

Thanks Teri and Lori for your reaction.

The sites you mentioned were the very ones that lead me here, so i have seen them. Thanks for mentioning them tho, they do provide a world of info for someone who's just starting treatment as we are.
I have to say that the more I read, the bigger my doubts if Ayla really has Cushings. (This might be wishful thinking.) She doesn't display any other symptoms than the ones also caused by the diabetes and they have subsided with insulintreatment. Just the fact that we have trouble getting her regulated doesn't scream Cushings to me. But as I said...that might be wishful thinking.
Just wanted to thank you for your warm welcomes.

Mariëtte

[Aylalover]

Hey Saskia,

Great to find another Dutchy here. It might make talking about treatments a lot easier as far as the possibilities in The Netherlands.
We're really not sure what to do about all this. Ayla has a cancerous growth on her left front leg too. This has been there for several years now. We had it removed about 2 years ago, but it couldn't be taken away completely and we were warned that it woul be back. As ofcourse it is. It's now about the size of a golfball, but that varies from time totime with the amount of water retained by Ayla. My husband has had bad experiences with dogs with cancer (dogs dying fast in spite of treatment)and is somewhat reluctant in putting our girl through a lot of tests and stress. And I don't want to cause her any more discomfort than is really neccesary.
Well...we'll just see what happens over Christmas...

Merry Christmas everybody
Mariëtte

[SasAndYunah]

Hoi Mariette,

I understand :) But in a "normal" case of acromegaly (in dogs, that is) Ayla would benefit greatly from a simple "spay"...that is, if Ayla isn't spayed already.

I would definately seek the advise of a specialist and get a thourough diagnosis. Then once you know what the options are, you can always decide wether you decide to treat or not...

And oh dear, you must be indeed incredably busy right now with the slagerij and kerst voor de deur :)

Saskia and Yunah :)

[Aylalover]

Ayla hasn't been spayed yet. The vet wants to get some hold of her sugarlevels before surgery. It looks like it might all blow over at the moment. Cushings doesn't seem very likely anymore and even her insulinneeds are dropping to levels where my vet thinks we might have a pre-diabetic dog. In that case the spay might even cause her to stop needing any insulin..... I think I might have joined this site too soon..... Anyway, things look a lot less glim than a few days ago. I'll keep you posted till we know for sure.

[Aylalover]

Well, Ayla has been spayed just before the new year started. When we went back to have her stitches removed her bloodsugar was way up again. So now we're back on insulin. Her vet is a litlle baffled by the developments. We had stopped the insulin completely just before Christmas and she seemed to be doing ok..... He hasn't tested her for Cushings yet, because he feels she looks and does too good for having Cushings. At the moment I don't know what to think. I'll keep you posted.