New to site and need help

[Zoey]

Hi I have a 8 year old boston terrier female zoey that has been going down hill, she has no energy,walks with stiff hind legs always thirsty and is having accidents in house lately. I took her to the vet and they ran a regular blood test and this is what came up
Result Ref range
Alt phosphates. 1635. 5-131

Chloride. 99. 102-120

Cholesterol. 440 99-324

Urine results

Blood. 1+. Neg

Rbc. 21-50. 0-3

After those test they recommended a ldds test and here are those results.

Sample 1. 2.1
Sample 2. <0.7
Sample 3. 1.4

Now they have told me they can not treat her because she is not positive but borderline, but would recommend a urine culture and a ultrasound. My thinking is why if they are not going to treat her because of her ldds test? She has not lost any hair and her belly skin does look wrinkled and aged more than normal. Please give me your thoughts on these test thank you and sorry for the long post

[Squirt's Mom]

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[Budsters Mom]

Hello and welcome:)
You have come to the right place! There are many K9Cushing's angels standing by to help and stay with you every step of the way. They love details, test results, any information you can get your hands on. The more the better. We will do all we can to help, but be ready for lots of questions! Others will be dropping in shortly to welcome you too. So again, welcome to you and Zoey. :)
Hugs,

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Zoey,

Sorry for the circumstances that brought you here but glad you found us.

The LDDS test that Zoey had does not suggest Cushing's. With the elevated RBC found in the urine I believe that an urine culture is needed. Any inflammation or infection of the urinary tract will cause increased drinking/urination in a dog. UTI's can also be painful, so lethargy could be seen.

An ultrasound is another useful diagnostic tool that can show irregularities in the internal organs. A good quality ultrasound/interpretation depends on a few things; the tool used, the technician performing it, and the physician interpreting it. The person that will perform this procedure should be one that has the most experience with capturing good windows and images. That would be a board cert radiologist or board cert Internal Med. Spec. Likewise the one interpreting it should be the most experienced as well, and that's one of the 2 above.

Is Zoey taking any other herbs/supplements/medicines? Is she spayed? Does she have any other health issues?

Please know we will help in any way we can so do not hesitate to ask all the questions you want.

Love and hugs, Lori

[Simba's Mom]

Welcome to you and Zoey, so sorry your furbaby is having a hard time, this is a great place to be lots of wonderful Cush parents and their precious babies...settle in and get comfortable, we are here for you!

[Zoey]

Hi this is John zoeys father and thank you for all your replays and help, she is spayed and is on no other medicines or herbs and has always been in great health. She just seemed to be getting really lazy the last 6 months and when she became really bad I new it had to be something. She has always had blue buffalo or royal canin, I have noticed in the recent days she is really upset when u try to pick her up like her rear is sore. I am going to get a urine culture done ASAP since it was recommended by you, so at these test levels do you all think no cushings? thank you John and zoey

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome to the forum. If it were me I would definitely have the urine culture done.

When my dog's ALKP went up at first, she was having accidents, lethargic, drank lots of water and it turned out that she had both a urinary tract infection and she had crystals, there was some blood in the urine from that. We put her on antibiotics and florifora probiotic.

Once the infection was cleared up the accidents stopped, the excess thirst stopped and she got her energy back. Her ALKP number never did really go back down, it sort of has fluctuated up and down throughout the years since and she is still prone to getting infections and crystals, although we have this mostly controlled by putting her on diet for urinary issues.

I'd pursue that as your vet has suggested. The LDDS isn't conclusive and the drugs are powerful ones that if she doesn't have cushings you wouldn't want her to be on. You want to be sure before going down that road. The glucose I take it was normal on the test? and was there a T4 value on the test as thyroid is another issue that can also cause the same symptoms.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[goldengirl88]

Hello:
I just wanted to pop in and welcome you to the group. I second the advise on the drugs being powerful and not wanting to put your dog on them unless they absolutely have Cushings. Another help may be for you to keep a daily diary on your dog. It will serve it's purpose when conversing with your vet, you will be able to look things up and give exact dates and what your dog was doing. If in fact your dog does have Cushings you have definitely come to the right place for help. This is one big family here where everyone helps each other. God Bless and I hope your baby gets his problems solved.
Patti

[Zoey]

Hi this is John zoeys dad and I wanted to give u an update sorry it's been awhile, last week she had a urine culture done that came back negative nothing growing, so I took zoey to another vet with all her info and test results and the vet watched how she walked and took her time looking at zoey. And said she thinks the next thing to do would be to get an ultrasound done at a place she recommended that also has a neurologist and if nothing came out of the ultra sound she would think an MRI would be the next step. In the mean time I just keep trying to comfort zoey and make her more relaxed but she is really scarring me lately.

[Simba's Mom]

oh John, sending hugs and prayers for you little furbaby....

[molly muffin]

I think this is a good plan since the culture has come back negative. That is one thing eliminated. It would have probably been the easiest to handle, but onward we go.
An ultrasound can be very helpful to see what is going on . I hope that it will give you some answers for Zoey. A path to follow to get her better.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin