barbarosa
02-12-2013, 07:44 PM
I am new to this forum as a participator. I have come here to get invaluable information over the past year, when our 11yr. old beautiful dog Harley was diagnosed with Cushing's disease. Sadly yesterday morning Harley lost his battle with this disease, and we had to make the heart wrenching decision to let him go.
We had to reload him once again with Lysodren. He had been on a maintenance dose for a couple of months, then through the testing found his numbers back up to 14. Harley was a beautiful 96 pound mix of golden retriever and ridgeback. We were near the end of loading and monitoring his water and food intake closely, along with the other physical signs. He was getting 4 lysodren split in half during the day after each meal. After 6 days nothing changed. The drinking water was out of control, and he was whining for more. He ate his food without pausing, and his back legs were even more unsteady. At this point we were so confused because he didn't exhibit any behaviors as in the first time we loaded him. He then refused to go out to the bathroom, and urinated laying down, then starting drinking his pee. At this point we administered prednisone to bring him back. The next morning he was able to get up but his breathing was labored. My baby boy had lost all quality of life. The last month has been drinking water without ever having enough, and just making it out the door to go potty.
We took him to the vet, and at that point realized how very distended his stomach was, he had sores on different parts of his body, and his breathing was labored. I made the heart wrenching decision to let him go, because his life lacked any joy and quality. When I am able to put my records together, I will post numbers of bloodwork over the term of this disease.
We made informed decisions and knew all the right questions to ask the vet, and that was because of the wonderful threads on the Cushing's forum.
We had to reload him once again with Lysodren. He had been on a maintenance dose for a couple of months, then through the testing found his numbers back up to 14. Harley was a beautiful 96 pound mix of golden retriever and ridgeback. We were near the end of loading and monitoring his water and food intake closely, along with the other physical signs. He was getting 4 lysodren split in half during the day after each meal. After 6 days nothing changed. The drinking water was out of control, and he was whining for more. He ate his food without pausing, and his back legs were even more unsteady. At this point we were so confused because he didn't exhibit any behaviors as in the first time we loaded him. He then refused to go out to the bathroom, and urinated laying down, then starting drinking his pee. At this point we administered prednisone to bring him back. The next morning he was able to get up but his breathing was labored. My baby boy had lost all quality of life. The last month has been drinking water without ever having enough, and just making it out the door to go potty.
We took him to the vet, and at that point realized how very distended his stomach was, he had sores on different parts of his body, and his breathing was labored. I made the heart wrenching decision to let him go, because his life lacked any joy and quality. When I am able to put my records together, I will post numbers of bloodwork over the term of this disease.
We made informed decisions and knew all the right questions to ask the vet, and that was because of the wonderful threads on the Cushing's forum.