Calcinosis Cutis

[Jake]

Hello! Our Chinese Crested boy has been diagnosed with Pituitary Dependent Cushings. We do not know his age as he was a rescue. We have had him 5 years this April and would guess him to be 10ish, maybe older. We are treating him with Vetoryl and just received his first labs back, we need to increase the dose as his numbers are better but still elevated. He will now get 20 mg instead of the 10mg he initially started on. Has anybody had any experience with the awful calcifications? Jake didn't have much hair to lose since he's already hairless but the calcinosis cutis is just progressing more and more--granted we have only been treating for 2 weeks and he was diagnosed in a pretty early stage. I would like to think that once we get him stable that the calcifications will halt. They don't seem to hurt or itch or in any way bother him, which is great. Any comments? Thanks!

[Sabre's Mum]

Hi and welcome to you and Jake!

Our Hungarian Vizsla Sabre had calcinosis cutis until he passed just under a year ago. We were treating with Lysodren but we found that after number of months of beginning treatment his calcinosis cutis did halt. Be warned though ... it can get worse before it gets better. We found that the biggest challenge was to try and halt any infections.

Here is a link of a dog who was on vetoryl who has calcinosis cutis. http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2550&highlight=Mocha

Everyone here LOVES to see the results ... so please post the stim values. Those experienced with trilostane/vetoryl may be able to give you input to his dosing regime.

If you have any further queries ... please ask away.

Angela and Flynn

[apollo6]

Welcome Jake
My Apollo is being treated with Trilostane also. His skin issues did clear up after a few weeks. But each case is different.
Hugs Sonja and Apollo

[Jake]

Thank you, Angela and Sonja, and I apologize for not introducing MYSELF--I'm Michelle (and new to posting!) My next endeavor is putting a picture of Jakey up so you can enjoy seeing him the way I am enjoying everyone else's pups!
I am encouraged that you have both seen the calcinosis cutis taper off. Infection is a concern and he initially experienced that but Dr. put him on Simplicef and that has completely turned around. No bleeding, oozing scabs any more. We are 2 1/2 weeks into treating with the Vetoryl and I am starting to see improvement! Yay! The loss of muscle on my guy is very scary and letting him be sedentary certainly doesn't help. We live in Chicago and unfortunately, it's just not always good walking weather for a hairless dog. If it's over 40 degrees I will bundle him up and off we go and that is just so important. My mission now is to build him back up because he is truly skeletal. From my reading of all your posts as well as my vet's input--Jake presented very atypically. He is not potbellied, not voraciously hungry, never pants. I brought him in because he was drinking a bit more and verrrrry lethargic. We had also just lost our boxer to lymphoma and he was very close to her but I never hesitate to have a vet check if something looks off to me and it did. At that time, Jake had a quarter sized funky looking "rash" on this back. He also seemed a bit weak and had lost the hair on his tail. Inital bloodwork showed alot of protein in the blood but not in the urine. Dr. was thinking glumerial disease of some sort and we pursued more bloodwork. That led to either the Dex test or the ultrasound next and I chose the ultrasound. Adrenals were ok, one was slightly plumper than the other but no masses anywhere. Radiologist determines pituitary based Cushings and dex test confirmed that later that week. We are doing pretty good so far on Vetoryl and I am hopeful we will get his numbers stable. I am so thrilled to have found all of you and grateful for such a great forum to refer to for knowledge and support. THANK YOU!

Also, as a tidbit of info I can share with all of you--don't forget to brush your dog's teeth. With Cushing's leaving our pups more prone to infection it is very important to get that plaque off the gums. I was guilty of letting Jake slide by as I brushed my other two dogs' teeth. He sometimes just looked so miserable and I hated to pull him off his comfy bed so I just didn't. Well, doctor busted me after last week's bloodtest--you know how they keep them for a few hours? She peeked in his mouth and on follow up conversation the next day she gives me all the lab results and discussed dosage change and nonchalantly asks if I have been brushing....here's the kicker, I'm a dental hygienist! Shame on me!

Michelle and Jake