Think my corgi has cushings

[melindamorrison]

Hello. I am a foster failure and I have a 6 yr old corgi that i got last december. He was only 15 pounds when i got him, very aggressive with food and always hungry at that point. also always seemed fairly thirsty and had some sores on his paws, which later moved to his head (patches of hair loss). so now he weighs around 20-23 depending on the scale and his coat is nice and soft, but recently he exploded with those horrible scabs and patches of missing hair. He's been tested for just about everything, so they are treating it as most likely auto immune problems, but going with a strict diet to see if it's food allergies. He's been on it for about a month, so far the itching has mostly stopped, but the scabs look horrible. Here are his sypmtoms :
excessive thirst and urinating (increased lately plus lots of house accidents daily)
Poop eating
always hungry and looking for more
caved head
skin problems
excess pooping (most poops being loose)
some panting but not excessive
no bloating, but problem with keeping weight on, but consistent since gaining 5 pounds from december
grouchiness
pretty good energy, not really lethargic

I'm thinking of getting him tested for diabetes and cushings as the next step. i don't think food allergy would contribute to excessive peeing and drinking.

[frijole]

Hi and welcome. Usually the first thing vets do is a blood panel to look at what's going on. Have you had one done yet? If so, please post any values that were high or low. If not, get that done. Hang in there! Kim

PS If you can post photos of the skin issues it might be helpful

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome.

An easy test and not as expensive as the others to get done is the UCCR. A urine test. It can definitely rule out cushing, but can't diagnose cushings, if that makes any sense. That might be an easy start point along with a regular blood panel.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[Steph n' Ella]

Also, remember that if anything else is going on with your little guy medically, it can cause a false positive in your testing for Cushings. So check your blood panel, get some good poops going on and rule out everything else before testing for Cuchings. You'll only be wasting your $!

Have you tried Slippery Elm Bark for the poops? You can order it online or if you are desperate to get the poops under control ASAP (like I was) larger GNC stores carry it (call ahead) and so do Whole Foods stores (ask someone to help you find it...their supplement section is insane!). If they do not carry the powder, you can buy the capsules and open them up and shake the power out. Below are some good recipes.

http://www.holvet.net/slippery_soup.html

http://www.herbcompanion.com/pets/slippery-elm-stomach-soother.aspx

You still may need to get a prescription from the vet to correct the poo problem long-term but the Slippery Elm Bark should with help with the symptoms immediately!

[Boriss McCall]

I am moving my response into your thread just in case you need to look back. I love my IMO. Dr. Purcell at Hillside Vet in Dallas. If you want a referral of someone in your area I can ask her.:)

Hi Melinda,
Yes. I live in the Whiterock lake area near downtown. We are lucky here in our area. Seems to be a lot of good specialist coming from the school at Texas A&M. I love the specialist that Boriss is going to. We just started treatment. She did all the proper test before he was diagnosed. Make sure you do that. Honestly as soon as he did his senior blood panels & they said his levels were high after that point I didn't even bother wasting my time or money with a normal vet. The specialist is the way to go. I know it costs more.. but, I really feel like I saved money going straight to her instead of poking around ideas with a vet for months & months. Cushing's is such a tricky disease which I am sure you read on this forum. You definitely don't want to end up with a doctor that will misdiagnosis your dog. I did as much research as possible to figure out what I was going to be dealing with. I had never even heard of Cushing's before all of this