best food to feed dogs with cushings?

[cheryl]

i am new to the sight my dog is Star and she is on the border of having cushings disease, her blood test was high but not enough to label her at this time, but she has all of the symptons already plus she has had seizures the last couple of years. but i am trying to find a good food that will support and help her with the disease. i am feeding her the blue buffalo wild salmon with no corn wheat gluten etc..does anyone else have any other suggestions?

Moderator's Note: I have moved your first post to the main forum where other members with pups undergoing treatment are more likely to respond & offer suggestions. This thread for Star is where you can post any information or updates on Star for us, & where other members can respond to you.

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi and welcome to you and Star! :)

Blue Buffaloe is a good quality feed and if she is doing alright on it, I wouldn't worry too much about switching right now. In general, cush pups need a high protein, low fat feed - but there are a whole host of factors that come into play when talking diet so it will help to get to know Star a bit better first.

Can you tell us more about your baby? How old is she and how much does she weigh? Is she a certain breed? How did the suggestion of Cushing's come about? Did you take her in due to the signs you were seeing? It would help us a great deal if you could get copies of the actual test results and post them here on this thread. Include the units of measurement (ug/dl, nmol/l, etc) and the normal ranges for each result posted. Don't worry about those that are normal, just post the ones that are too high or too low.

What meds does Star take for the seizures? Do you know what type they are/what causes them? Does she take any other meds, supplements, herbs, ect?

I hear ya..."ENOUGH with the questions!" :D We play 20 Questions with everyone so we can get as clear a picture as possible in order to give you the most meaningful feedback. So bear with us. The more you can tell us, the better - we LOVE details so don't worry about writing a novel. ;)

Some tips that will help you - make it a habit to always get copies of the actual results for any test Star has and keep a file at home. This way you can take it with you on vacation or if she has to see a different vet for any reason. You walk in the door with her history in hand. Start a diary/journal of Star, noting her sleep pattern, moods, eating and drinking behavior, pee and poop history, physical changes, meds and any reactions, anything out of the ordinary. This will allow you to be able to look back and see patterns as well as providing a reference.

Now, the most important thing you can do - educate yourself. Start reading threads here and be sure to check out our Helpful Resource section. Ask any and all questions you may have and we will do our best to help you understand. We are not vets, but we do live with Cushing's, as well as many other conditions, on a daily basis so we have a great deal of experience to offer in addition to knowledge.

On top of all that, you have found the very best bunch of folks in the world. We will stand by you through thick and thin; we walk every step of this journey with you. You and Star are no longer alone.

Hang in there!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[cheryl]

well she is a black lab that just showed up in our yard 6 years ago.
she weighs 95 pounds( yes she is a big girl she is very tall. she has what i call grand mall were she seizes up and jerks i hold her head to keep her from banging it on things or worse bitting her tongue. she usually has 3 to 4 when she has them sometimes she will go a 6 weeks or 2 full months without anything her food seems to trigger this after putting her on the medication it starts with a" p" i dont have the bottle in from of me i noticed after a couple of weeks all of these symptons started i thought it was the medicine they were giving it really changed her just in the last 6 months during this heat wave she started drinking allot of water but the main thing she started peeing in the house. and it smells horrid! and she started stealing food off of the counter which she never did. they test her blood for how the medicine affects her body and this last one last month the vet mentioned it in passing but he said she was high in the levels but not over the threshold of being labeled with cushings disease. so i read and did research, how depressing they all in out tell you your dog just has a couple of years to live she just turned 7. so yes it is very overwhelming....

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Star's Mom,

Ok, put that 2 year thing right out of your mind. That is not exactly accurate. We have pups here who have been on treatment and doing well for long past that 2 year hooey. ;)

Why do you feel the food is triggering her seizures? It's the Blue Buffalo you feel this way about?

If the drug she is taking for the seizures is Prednisone, then this could be the source of much of what you are seeing. So ck the bottle and let us know.

If her urine smells strong, she may have a UTI and will need antibiotics. You vet can check this easily.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[StarDeb55]

One of the routine meds used to treat seizures in both people & pups is phenobarbital. I betting that this is the med your baby is presently taking.

Debbie

[labblab]

Hi Cheryl,

I have a black lab, too, who started having seizures at the first of the year. As Debbie has suggested, my dog is taking phenobarbital, and I'll bet that's the anti-seizure medication that your dog is taking, too, if it starts with a "p."

I just want to warn you that the drug itself, phenobarbital, can make dogs very thirsty and very hungry. My black lab does not have Cushing's, but I previously had a yellow lab who was a Cushpup. And when my black girl first started on the phenobarb, I swear that she looked and acted just like my Cushing's dog -- lack of energy, drank a ton of water, much more frequent urination, and was constantly looking for food. These side effects have finally slacked off after eight months on the phenobarb. But for some dogs, they never do go away. If they remain a problem for your dog over an extended period of time, perhaps your vet can consider switching your dog to a different anti-seizure medication. But the bottom line is, what you are fearing are symptoms of Cushing's may have nothing to do with Cushing's at all, and instead may be the result of the phenobarb.

Marianne

[Harley PoMMom]

i am feeding her the blue buffalo wild salmon with no corn wheat gluten etc..does anyone else have any other suggestions?


Hi Cheryl,

Although I believe Blue Buffalo is a good quality dog food one of the ingredients listed is rosemary oil which concerns me with Star having seizures. Rosemary oil/extract is known to be a seizure trigger in humans and may be in animals as well.

Love and hugs,
Lori

[cheryl]

yes it is phenobarbital... and yes since she has been taking the medication she has had all of those symptons, the wild salmon blue buffalo seems to be the best she has less seizures when eating that food if i change it she has more and they last a little longer so i put her back on it. but when she had her last blood test 2 mths ago the said mentioned that her levels were high but not over the threshhold to label her just yet but it still has me very worried because all these treatments are very expensive and allot of them except one doesn't seem to cause more damage. so i have been looking at homopathic ways to treat, still researching.

[lulusmom]

Hi Cheryl,

I just wanted to validate what you've already heard from Marianne and Debbie. The fact that the symptoms you are seeing started after treatment with phenobarbital, it is highly unlikely that Star has cushing's. Phenobarbital causes a lot of the symptoms that are associated with cushing's, as well as the same abnormalities in bloodwork....particularly elevated liver enzymes.

Cushing's is a serious disease, requiring serious meds but with an experienced vet and an educated pet owner, most, but usually all, adverse reactions can be avoided. Cushing's is a very graded disease and all of the symptoms you mentioned simply don't start overnight, like they do with phenobarbital. You might see the appetite slowly increase, then the panting starts, then the dog loses it's ability to concentrate the urine resulting in excessive drinking and peeing. It can take months and months to see all of the symptoms Star has. Any dog with those kind of overt symptoms, who has cushing's, does not have borderline cortisol bloodwork. I am, therefore, wondering if your vet may not have much experience with phenobarbital or diagnosing cushing's. :confused:

Please try not to worry too much about cushing's until your vet or, preferrably a specialist, can eliminate phenobarbital as the cause. I'm not a vet but based on everything we've seen here over the years, I am pretty certain phenobarbital is causing all of Stars issues.

Looking forward to seeing the results of Star's tests.

Glynda

[cheryl]

the symptons i was aware of the being hungry; the behavor changes; the pot belly. she has the excessive scratching and the peeing and drinking allot of water started this summer( i thought because it was so hot this summer i did not give it any thought) so when they did her last blood work he mentioned her levels were high on the edge of being diagnosed with it. so i started looking it up and finding information about it because he talked about they use steriods i wont give her steriods i told him he was also telling me it was very expensive. so i am trying to be pro active and do my research and find out my options. and about the disease so i am prepared and understand it, the whole thing is just very overwhelming to say the least.

[lulusmom]

Hi again,

Hopefully, you can round up copies of the all testing your vet has done so far and post the abnormal results here. I would be most interested in the results of the tests your vet thinks is under the threshold of being able to diagnose cushing's just yet.

You also mentioned in one of your posts that Star was peeing in the house and it smells horrid. Dogs with cushing's have very dilute urine. It is as clear as water and has little to no smell. A horrid smelling urine is more likely with a urinary tract infection. Was this ruled out? It is possible that Star could have cushing's; however, it won't be easy to diagnose her. Diagnosing an otherwise normal dog is difficult enough but diagnosing a dog on phenobarbital is extremely difficult. The gold standard in diagnosing cushing's is the low dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDS) but unfortunately, phenobarbital causes false positive results in this test so an ACTH stimulation test is the preferred diagnostic. Hopefully that is the test your vet did and we'll be able to figure that out when you post results.