My 8 yr old bichion/shitzu just diagnosed Cushing's

[Tinalou23]

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this site as my baby girl was just diagnosed with Cushing's. Her liver test alk phos. was 1100 so the vet decided to do an X-ray of her belly. She does have multiple bladder stones with a slightly enlarged liver. So we went for the sonogram and they confirmed Cushing's. The only symptoms she has is that she loves to eat. My vet does not want to put her on any medication. After reading many articles, I am not sure if we should not treat the Cushing's disease. The vet does want to surgically remove the bladder stones and I am just afraid with having this disease, she may become sick. Has anyone had a pet who needed surgery with Cushing's disease and if so did they do well. Any information will be helpful.

[Roxee's Dad]

Hi and welcome to you and your baby girl :)

I am not sure you can get a confirmed case of cushings by just a sonogram. What did the sonogram reveal that led the vet to cushings diagnosis, maybe enlarged adrenal glands? Was there a blood test performed, maybe an ACTH or an LDDS? If yes, please do let us know the results.

Please tell us more about your baby girl, age weight. Does she have excessive thirst, panting, looking for cool places to lay?

Cushings is a slow progressing syndrome / disease so no rush to treat until you have a positive diagnosis.

My Roxee had knee surgery in her early stages of cushings and came through it with flying colors. :) She also had a few dental s with no problems. :) I would be a bit concerned about the liver condition and values.

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[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Tinalou and welcome to you and your baby girl! :)

Cushing's is a very difficult condition to diagnose and it cannot be done via an Xray or basic lab work that shows things like liver values. There are tests that are specific to Cushing's - they are the LDDS, HDDS, ACTH and a urine test that can be used called the UC:CR. If you baby has had none of these tests, your vet cannot confirm Cushing's. ;) But I am very glad to hear he is not wanting to start treatment.

It would help us if you could tell us what the comments were from the sonogram about the organs they saw. These should be listed on the sonogram report. What they had to say about the adrenal glands is especially pertinent.

The presence of the bladder stones puts the whole diagnosis of Cushing's you have been given in the "questionable" category because any non-adrenal illness, like bladder stones for one, can skew the tests. Cortisol is the enemy in Cushing's and that is what those tests I mentioned look at. Cortisol is also the bodies natural response to any stress, internal or external, so when there is another condition present, like these stones, you do not want to do any cush testing NOR can a confirmed diagnosis of Cushing's be determined.

So, the first thing is to treat the stones - probably by surgical removal. If they are not removed, your baby is going to experience a great deal of pain and infections. This is a fairly common surgery and shouldn't present a problem for a qualified surgeon. Talk to your vet, talk to the surgeons he recommends, then decide who is best for your baby. You do want to find out what kind of stones your baby has as that will dictate the type of diet she will need as well as well as provide other indicators. It is important to know what kind of stones your baby is producing. ;)

So put the fear of Cushing's affecting anything with your baby out of your mind for now. The diagnosis has NOT been confirmed and is in question due to the stones. Cushing's is not a factor for your baby today...getting those stones removed asap is.

Keep in touch and let us know how things are going! And hang in there!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Tinalou23]

They did not do the blood test to confirm Cushing's Disease. The vet is confident that she does have it. Yes she did have enlarged adrenal glands on the sono. She weights about 18 pounds and is very active. Bella does love laying on the cool floor during the day (not all the time as she does lay on the couch too) but does sleep in her bed at night. She does pant but would I say excessive not really. I am glad to hear that your Roxee had surgery with no complications . At this point this is my first concern about having Bella have surgery to remove the stones and the Cushing Disease take over her body.

[Squirt's Mom]

They did not do the blood test to confirm Cushing's Disease. The vet is confident that she does have it.

Without blood tests, there is no way possible for your vet to be confident she has Cushing's. NONE. ;) It is impossible to arrive at a diagnosis of Cushing's without blood tests and even with the tests, the diagnosis can be wrong if there is another condition present - like bladder stones. The best thing to do today is to put Cushing's completely out of your mind and address the stones. Then, after she is completely recovered, IF you start to see signs you can have the cush testing done. ;)

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome to the forum. We have had several members whose dogs have cushings that have had to have surgery for one thing or another. I think they were, at least the majority being treated at the time, so the diagnosis had already been done before. It's true that it's down right impossible to say something is cushings without all the diganositic tests that go along with it. Even then it's difficult. My dog for instance, shows all the signs on an ultrasound and tested positive on an ACTH test. She only has the pot belly and no other symptoms. After seeing an IMS, an LDDS test was ordered. She has now had 3 LDDS tests in the last two years. She is negative for cushings on all of them and her urine isn't diluted. So, we are not treating for cushings at this time and continue to monitor via testing.
I do understand your hesitancy. My own dog has to go for a dental extraction this spring and it's going to be nerve wrecking till it's all over and some time has passed and she's okay. You'll just worry no matter what I think.
However, it's important to get the stones taken care of, and yes, my dog has crystals too. So far no need for surgery, but it does depend on the type of crystals (there are 2 different types and it should say on your testing which type she has)

Hang in there. You'll get some very good support here. We've had members dealing with both types of crystals and some who have had to have them removed also, even while dealing with cushings.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[Tinalou23]

Thank you everyone for your support. Bella is scheduled for her surgery next Tuesday. For the time being I will not worry so much about the disease and focus of the removal of the stones. Once she recoups from surgery and we also know what kind of stones she has we can focus on the blood work for Cushing's disease. She is such a good girl. She never seems to be in pain and is very active. There has been a few accidents in the house only when we would leave them for awhile but we always blamed it in her stubborn brother who is also a bichion/shitzu.

[molly muffin]

Awww, I'm sure they are both just adorable. :) You will let us know how things go on Tuesday right? :) We'll worry right along with you, because that is just how we are. Dog lovers to the core.
It amazes me sometimes how resilient these sweethearts can be. They just gon on about their business without a sign in the world that anything is wrong.
Of course that makes us worry twice as much if they seem to be in any kind of pain.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi TinaLou,

Good plan! ;):D Stick around and let us hear from you, especially concerning the surgery. Like Sharlene said, we will be worrying right along with you.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Tinalou23]

They moved Bella's surgery to March 28th. My vet will be going away end of next week and I wanted her to be available in case I needed her. I just wanted everyone to know as you are all are so caring. Of course i will keep you all updated. Sharlene, My Bella looks just like Molly muffin. What kind of dog is she?

Tina

[molly muffin]

I totally understand wanting to make sure that your vet is available if needed. Thanks for letting us know.
Molly is we think a shihtzu/llahso mix. Those are the two characteristics that we see in her anyhow. It's hard to know, she was a rescue baby from northern Quebec and it was hard to get any reliable information.
There are pictures of her in her photo albums. Just click my name, go to public profile and you'll see photo albums. You can do this for any member to see if they have pictures of their babies. You can also start your own photo album. :)
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[Tinalou23]

Just want to let you all know Bella did well with surgery. 6 large stones were removed and a bunch of gravel. Waiting to find out what kind of stones. She is doing well other then some bleeding when she urinates( which the vet says is normal). We are going to wait 6 months to see if her alk phos goes down. She told me her adrenal glands were slightly enlarged so if anything it is the beginning of Cushing's . So we won't start testing for another 6 months. Will keep you all updated.

[addy]

I am so glad surgery went well. Sometimes non adrenal illnesses can slightly enlarge the adrenal glands. I am not positive that stones equal non adrenal illnesss, but just a thought.

Waiting six months sounds like a solid plan.

[Simba's Mom]

Hello and welcome, so glad to hear the surgery went well for Bella! Sending healing hugs!

[molly muffin]

Yay glad the surgery went well. I don't know if the stones would make the adrenal glands enlarge or not either. Maybe if it was a long term situtation? I know molly's ALP started to go up when she started to get crystals, so perhaps.
Do keep us informed. I hope Bella makes a full recovery and never has to look back. :)

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[molly muffin]

Hi, I just wanted to check in on you and Bella and see how things are going.
Hope all is well.

Let us know when you get a chance.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin