Advice needed as to whether or not sonogram is needed.

[dogsrule]

My 7 yr. old, 185lb. Newfoundland has tested positive for Cushings with the blood work. My Vet said you can get false positives. But when reading up about Cushings, my dog can be the poster child for it. He has ALL the symptoms. Has anyone on here ever opted to avoid the sonogram and just go ahead with the treatment?
Please don't get my wrong, my 4 dogs are my babies and I want the best for them. But my husband was out of work for one year and the sonogram will cost $450.00 ..I just strongly feel he has it and don't want to shell out $450. for a sonogram when it could go towards his Trilostane.
Please let me know if anyone opted not to do a sonogram and went for the treatment?

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and your boy,

Sorry for the reasons that brought you here but glad you found us, as we wll help in any way we can.

If you could round up copies of all tests that were done on your boy and post all abnormalities that are listed it would help us to provide you with more meaningful feedback. Also, could you tell us exactly what symptoms your boy is displaying. Is he on any other herbs/supplements/medicines? Does he have any other health issues?

An ultrasound can be a very useful diagnostic tool as it can show abnormalities in all the other internal organs and if visualization of the adrenal glands are seen then many times the ultrasound can differentiate between ADH or PDH.

But lets see the results of all the tests that were done and we can go from there, ok?

Please know you are not alone on this journey as we are right there beside you.

Love and hugs,
Lori

[Harley PoMMom]

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[addy]

Hi and welcome,

Cushings is a hard disease to diagnose because other diseases mimic it and no one test is perfect. Not every member had had an ultra sound as part of establishing their pup's diagnosis and I can surely understand that money is tight and you need the best bang for your buck so to speak.

But please know that Cushings is never an emergency to start treatment.

So if you could do as Lori requested and round up any and all tests for us we can give you feed back and see what makes sense for your dog without costing you a second mortgage;)

I am really glad you found us.

[dogsrule]

Thank you guys for your responses! I am so happy I found this site.

About 3 years ago Chucky's coat started turning gray and coarse on his back hind legs and started to spread on his hips and stomach, he was also very over weight. My old Vet tested him for thyroid problems and they came back normal.
About 4 months ago, Chucky started drinking excessively and urinating in the house. We took him to a new vet who diagnosed him with an under- active thyroid, and also a bacterial infection in his kidney. Chucky was given Thyrovet for his thyroid and an antibiotic for the infection. His thyroid levels are now back to normal, he lost weight but he still drinks a lot of water, urinates in the house and his coat has shown no improvement. The Dr. did blood work and urine cultures..that show his urine was very dilute, then he had him for 8 hours for the Dexamethasone Suppression test. The Vet said everything came back pointing to signs of Cushings disease.
When reading about Cushings, Chucky has all the symptoms, I noticed a few times that his pads were all red on the sides, he has a very bloated looking belly, his hair looks as if it burned, it's all brittle and gray, drinks excessively and can't hold his urine for more then 1-1/2 hours.
I was just wondering if treating him with the Triostane to see if we see signs of improvement would hurt if we avoid the sonogram?
I hope all this information can be of more help to you. When talking to my Vet..I get so confused with all his medical terms but he did do a lot of testing on him so far.
Once again, Thank you for your help.

[addy]

Was he tested for Diabetes? Are his thyroid levels good now?

Call the vet's office and ask the receptionist to email you the test results Has any blood work been done like a super chem panel? Ask the receptionist to email ALL tets results to you because you want to start a file of your dog's tests to have at home.
You dont have to know the medical jargon. We can give you an eamil address to forward the tests to so we can look them over, okay?

So the question is, can you start treatment based on history and symptoms and only one low dose dex test? We need to see the results of that test and any other blood work done, okay?

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome from me too :) My neighbor has a Newfoundland, not even a year old yet! Just gorgeous but my oh my, they are a big one. Gentle giants. :)

Addy and Lori have got you well on your way with the lab questions. I believe you did say that his thryoid is now normal.
I'll second that getting the lab results and keeping your own file at home. You just never know when you'll want to take a look at them and compare, especially if and when you start treatment. Numbers become important. Yep, you don't have to understand the medical jargon, there are web sites to help you if need be and a lot of people here know what most of the jargon on the tests stand for. (we've had them done so many times you see :) )
You don't Have to have an ultrasound. It Can be helpful, but it depends on how definitive the other tests results are. Yep, many of us understand has Addy put it, bang for the buck, when it comes to cushings.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin