My black lab might have Cushing's

[kaliek]

I have a black lab who is 11 years old. She recently had blood work and her liver enzymes were elevated. Especially her alk phos. The vet suspects Cushing's disease. She doesn't have a lot of symptoms, except sluggishness, excessive thirst and urination. I have been doing some on line research and came across a herbal medication called Supraglan. Just wondering if anyone has heard of it, and if there has been any good results with it?

[lulusmom]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I'd like to tell you that there are easy online concoction that will help dogs with cushing's but company's who hawks their snake oil, like Surpraglan, are unscrupulous and prey on shell shocked pet owners who are reeling from the diagnosis. I've written to all of them, a few never responded, despite my following up; one avoided the question and simply repeated the same bogus claims found on their site.
Supragland was at least honest and copped to having absolutely no proof of their claim. Please see their response to my email asking them for proof of clinical trials or studies proving the efficacy of their product for cushings.


RE: Supraglan‏
From: Pet Wellbeing - Customer Service (orders@petwellbeing.com)
Sent: Mon 5/11/09 6:47 PM
To: 'Glynda Pomerantz' (gpomerantz@hotmail.com)
Hi Glynda,

Unfortunately no scientific tests or trials have been conducted on this product to support the claims you inquired below about.
The items we offer on www.petwellbeing.com are not drugs or medicines, but rather all natural herbal alternatives. Please be aware that these products are not guaranteed to cure or treat all animals, as each individual animal and their situation's are different.

PetWellbeing Customer Service
1-877-633-2401
http://www.petwellbeing.com

Save your money for additional testing. If your dog has typical cushing's, there are only two effective treatments, Lysodren and Trilostane. They are serious drugs but side effects can be minimized or eliminated if the vet is experienced and the pet owner has taken the time to educate themselves about the treatment choice. We can help in that respect as we have valuable information on both drugs in our Helpful Resources section

It would help us greatly if you could post the results of the tests done this far. With respect to the blood chemistry and/or cbc, please just post the abnormal values (high and low) and include the normal reference ranges. If a urinalysis was done, was a culture done?

Looking forward to hearing more about your precious pup.

Glynda

[kaliek]

Hi, thank you for your response. She has arthritis in her hips, so she has been on Meloxicam for awhile. The vet has been checking liver enzymes while taking that, and this is when the abnormal liver enzymes were discovered. I have since taken her off of this. She was also on Green Lipped Mussel, which I have taken her off of. So right now, just letting things settle down before I start putting her through anymore tests. Is there anything else you recommend for the arthritis, that isn't as harsh?

[lulusmom]

Hi Kalie,

Do remember to get copies of the most recent blood chemistry and any urinalysis that may have been done and post the results here. When your vet checked the liver enzymes the last time, how long had your pup been off of Meloxicam?

Dogs with cushing's produce too much cortisol, which is an adrenal steroid that is a superb anti-inflammatory. If your girl has excess cortisol, her arthritis should not be bothering her. We've had many members who had no idea their dog was arthritic until it was unmasked once treatment lowered cortisol. This happened to my Jojo and he has done well on Cosequin. You can buy it online at Amazon.com. I've included a link which also has 250 reviews of happy customers who have used it for their dogs.

http://www.amazon.com/Nutramax-Cosequin-Double-Strength-Chewable-Tablets/dp/B00028ZLTU

Glynda