rick24
05-22-2012, 03:49 PM
Hi everyone,
New here and had a couple of questions. Simba our 13 year old male Dachshund was diagnosed with Cushing's about 13 months ago.
I don't have any of the lab data and have kind of ruled out treatment as in Trilostane, etc. As I understand it from reading on here quite a bit there is no cure for Cushing's, only drugs to make the quality of life better.
Up until about six months or so ago Simba's quality of life wasn't all that bad. Yes there were issues but he still did fairly well. Of course he had the tremendous thirst and hunger and the pot belly but that was the biggest issues.
The Dr. noted back a year ago that he had about a 20% loss of vision and had cataracts, but said that wasn't all that unusual for a dog his age and he had a urinary tract infection which we treated him for.
The biggest changes in the last six months have been that wanting food has taken his personality completely over. "Everything" about Simba relates to eating. To clarify it's like his personality is gone. He'll only give kisses or pretend to play if he thinks it's going to get him some food. Even with all the extra weight and weaker leg muscle he can still go up and down stairs which Dachshunds are not suppose to do anyway but he can if he really wants to, especially if he thinks he can get food.
He lays around a lot now and doesn't care as much to hunt lizards, play and even hump his blanket.
To clarify his obsession with eating it's strange that it's not everything...He's very picky and will patiently wait for the table scraps and by that I mean roasted chicken. His meals about 95% of the time consist of roasted chicken cut up and mixed with his dog food. He will pick the roasted chicken out of the dog food and walk away. He may go back later if the dog food is Moist and Meaty, but it's all about the chicken.
Simba is going to the Vet this Saturday and he doesn't seem to feel very well lately and no telling what the Vet will want to test. Also his hearing has gotten really bad here lately..
My real question is if I decide to continue to let this run its course, what are the do's and don'ts that I can apply to make Simba's life as pleasant as possible. Thanks for your time and listening.
New here and had a couple of questions. Simba our 13 year old male Dachshund was diagnosed with Cushing's about 13 months ago.
I don't have any of the lab data and have kind of ruled out treatment as in Trilostane, etc. As I understand it from reading on here quite a bit there is no cure for Cushing's, only drugs to make the quality of life better.
Up until about six months or so ago Simba's quality of life wasn't all that bad. Yes there were issues but he still did fairly well. Of course he had the tremendous thirst and hunger and the pot belly but that was the biggest issues.
The Dr. noted back a year ago that he had about a 20% loss of vision and had cataracts, but said that wasn't all that unusual for a dog his age and he had a urinary tract infection which we treated him for.
The biggest changes in the last six months have been that wanting food has taken his personality completely over. "Everything" about Simba relates to eating. To clarify it's like his personality is gone. He'll only give kisses or pretend to play if he thinks it's going to get him some food. Even with all the extra weight and weaker leg muscle he can still go up and down stairs which Dachshunds are not suppose to do anyway but he can if he really wants to, especially if he thinks he can get food.
He lays around a lot now and doesn't care as much to hunt lizards, play and even hump his blanket.
To clarify his obsession with eating it's strange that it's not everything...He's very picky and will patiently wait for the table scraps and by that I mean roasted chicken. His meals about 95% of the time consist of roasted chicken cut up and mixed with his dog food. He will pick the roasted chicken out of the dog food and walk away. He may go back later if the dog food is Moist and Meaty, but it's all about the chicken.
Simba is going to the Vet this Saturday and he doesn't seem to feel very well lately and no telling what the Vet will want to test. Also his hearing has gotten really bad here lately..
My real question is if I decide to continue to let this run its course, what are the do's and don'ts that I can apply to make Simba's life as pleasant as possible. Thanks for your time and listening.