Cushings with Calcinosis Cutis

[blazesmom]

My Pitbull mix Blaze was diagnosed with Cushings Disease last fall. We treated her with Lysodren which worked quite well, but saw some regression late winter. My vet suggested increasing her maintenance dose of the Lysodren. When I did not see results I contacted a very well respected holistic vet. Four months later and hundreds of dollars poorer I returned to my previous vet. We reinducted her and it seems that she has gone in the other direction to Addison's disease which we have been treating with a low dose of Prednisone. Now she has developed Calcinosis Cutis. The vet has suggested reducing the Prednisone and using DSMO on her skin. I have read in posts herein to keep the skin dry to reduce the incidence of infection on the skin, however if I don't bathe her twice a week she smells terribly. Any suggestions what to bathe her with? It's tough to get her into the tub and keep her there so an oatmeal bath may not work.

[addy]

Welcome,

I am really sorry to hear of your difficult journey but I am glad you have found your way here. One thing we always ask is for as many test results as possible and as many details as possible to try to help put the pieces of the Cushing puzzle together.

If you have any ACTH tests results, please post them along with the date preformed. If you have any blood work with abnormal results, please post them along with the normal reference range.

Calcinosis Cutis can really only be diagnosed with a biopsy. Was one done?

Are you still using any supplements or drugs from the holistic vet?

What symptoms were not controlled with Lysodren? How was the Cushing originally diagnosis made? Are there any other health issues?

When and how was it confirmed your pup is now Addisons?

I am really sorry for all the questions but, the more info we have, the better we can advise.

Glad you found us and again, welcome.

[Budsters Mom]

Hello and welcome from me too. :)
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! So again, welcome to you and Blaze.

[Robert]

Hi had a maltese with the same condition but was taking the steroid for an autoimmune disease. The advice I got was only use oatmeal based shampoo for her. Cannot comment on frequency.
And used DMSO and it took time and never fully cleared the prob but did help heaps. It may have on time but tammy passed from a heart prob so it may have in time.
Cheers

[Squirt's Mom]

I would double check the oatmeal shampoo. Oatmeal shampoos can lead to yeast infection if the skin is already compromised so double check with the derm vet.