New to this site today (12 y/o lab/hound mix)

[hippyteacher]

This looks like a really friendly website! Our story: Rudy was diagnosed about 8 months ago with Cushing's disease. He is a 12 year old lab/hound mix and was adopted from a research lab at our local university. I took him to our vet about 8 months ago because he was drinking so much water and constantly urinating. After much testing we discovered he was missing one kidney, had a mass on his spleen, has a huge bladder (due to excess water drinking) and had Cushing's. He has since had to have his spleen removed because the mass began to bleed.

Well this past week we had (in our opinion) a huge scare. We noticed that Rudy had become very lethargic, was barely walking with a hunched back, and was not eating. He had quit barking and seemed to be very depressed. I called my vet and after much discussion he came to the conclusion that Rudy is phasing in and out of his Cushing's. He stated that this might start to happen more often and even said that he was fairly certain that it would happen again next week. When it does he wants to do testing at that time and then make a decision about adjusting his meds.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this before with your fur babies ?

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi Hippie and welcome to you and Rudy! :)

Bless you, bless you, bless you for saving this baby from a research facility! That poor, poor boy to have been put through such horrors and for US humans. :(

As for what you are seeing with the hunched-back walking - that is certainly indicative of pancreas problems and I cannot believe your vet didn't test Rudy for that immediately! :eek: If I were you, I would call them right this second and ask that he be tested today. Do not give any more meds until he is back to a more normal state. None. I don't know which treatment you are using, Trilostane (Vetoryl) or Lysodren (Mitotane) but it doesn't matter at this point - do not give any more of the med for now. How is his appetite? Has he vomited? Does he have loose stools? If you are seeing any of these things, take him in asap for an ACTH to check that he hasn't gone too low with the cortisol and have them check the electrolytes at the same time. This is critical if you are seeing a loss of appetite, vomiting/nausea, or diarrhea/loose stools.

Cushing's doesn't "phase in and out". It is either present or it isn't. There have been cases of pups on Trilostane (Vetoryl) who go into a sort of remission, not requiring any meds for a period of time, but the signs do come back in full force and treatment is restarted. It would help us a great deal if you could post the actual test results from the tests given to diagnose the Cushing's in Rudy. I have a little bit of concern about the validity of the diagnosis based on his history. With such trauma in his background, elevated cortisol is to be expected yet that does not necessarily mean Cushing's. Cortisol is one of the bodies natural fight or flight hormones and any time the body is under stress of any kind, internal or external, the cortisol is going to rise and can skew the tests for Cushing's, giving false-positives. So if you could give us details about the timing of his coming to you, what issues he had, when / how they were addressed and how the cush testing falls in line with all of this, that would be a huge help!

Let us know how things are going and what the vet has to say. I'm glad you found us and look forward to learning much more very soon.

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

PS. I just LOVE hippies! Perhaps because I still are one! :p

[goldengirl88]

Dear Hippy Teacher:
Welcome, this is the best place to help your dog. First off God Bless you for saving this dog from research. That is absolutely wonderful, and I wish more people did it. I am newer on here so I will let the ones with the expertise help you. It does sound rather strange to me this phasing in and out, I would tend to think he has it or he doesn't. You may need to go to someone more experienced in this disease. It will save you a lot of heart ache in the long run. Hope it all works out. I am sending prayers to you both.
Patti

[Simba's Mom]

Welcome Rudy and Hippy teacher, thats awesome that you saved a dog from research, who knows what he has been thru..Hang in there, and glad to have you and Rudy!

[mytil]

Hi and welcome to you and Rudy!

When you can, post any Cushing's tests performed (and the actual results) that your vet has done to date. I agree with Leslie, Cushing's does not "phase in and out."

Walking around hunchbacked could be also a sign of kidney troubles (due to discomfort and pain) or back problems (again trying to relieve some the pain). How is his current kidney function, especially with just one kidney? Pain can also cause depression and no appetite.

I hate to ask, but when you adopted Rudy from the research lab, did they mention at all what had been done to him? This could be some of the root of the problems so just checking.

Is Rudy on any meds at all right now?

Terry

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome from me too. :) Glad you found us.
Hunch back is usually a sign of pain. This is in fact, probably, the most common sign of pain that a dog will display.
Yea, not a clue as to what your doc is thinking, cushings is or it isn't, it doesn't phase. Probably more than a few wish it would.
I'd be suspect at this point of your vets diagnosis of the cushings to start with, and with what is going on now.
So, hope that you have the test results and can post any abnormals. Also what led the vet to think cushings, when so many other things mimic cushings symptoms and cushings test themselves can be false until the other things are ruled out.
It is however, the seemingly go to diagnosis for over drinking and peeing these days. I'm not sure why, but there you have it. Because of that, we all have to be even more vigilant and become practically textbooks for cushings disease to get the best treatments once that word is entered into the mix.
As in all things, knowledge is your best tool. We'll help you out all we can and hopefully get Rudy on tract to figure out what is going on and what needs to be done.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[Squirt's Mom]

Mornin',

How is Rudy this morning? Did you get to to talk to the vet? Did they see him? Let us know how things are going when you can!

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[Doccy]

Hi Hippyteacher,
Welcome to the boards. This is a great, great place. I just wanted to address the back hunch with my own experience. Doc (my pup) does that sometimes and it is usually him trying to get relief from his arthritis (in the spine). However, one time he was hunching a lot and always after peeing. He had a urinary tract infection (the hunch back was accompanied by licking his penis). After the UTI cleared up, he started doing it again and licking a lot, he also had a green discharge in penis area. Urine test came out good, but he had a staph infection in the penis. We finally cleared up the staph. But he still sometimes does the hunch back thing if he's been resting for a long time or in the morning after sleeping all night. This seems to be clearly pain related and him trying to "stetch" his back. Has Rudy had an xray for arthritis? What about a test for UTI? I hope it is as simple as that.

Jessica and Doc

[Dodie]

Hi Hippymom,

Bless you for rescuing Rudy! I'm very new to this site too, but you may want to get a second opinion from another Vet. My own Vet whom I have dealt with for many years seems quite confused and unsure about my dogs diagnosis, so I'm taking her to a Specialist on April 10th to get everything sorted out. Confusion among Vets seems fairly common with this illness, so I'm wishing you and Rudy all the best!

[Squirt's Mom]

How are things going? Update us when you can!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang