Walter (17 y/o Maltese/Shih Tzu)

[Gayemel]

Hello my name is a Gayemel I have a 17 year old Maltese Shih Tzu called Walter. Apart from an eye disease he is also blind.
He has arthritis and has just started injections? He has just been diagnosed with Cushing's and has the common traits of hunger, thirst and lots of peeing. Due to his age I have chosen not to put him on any Medication for the Cushings. Lately he has been displaying signs of severe sneezing with a mucous and vomit spray. A severe urgency to run which makes it dangerous as he can't see, and uncontrollable scratching of his eyes. Each episode last about 10 minutes. Could you please let me know if you know are these symptoms part of cushings's or it sounding more like a severe reaction to something else. Looking forward to hearing back from you .... Gayemel

[mytil]

Hi and welcome to our site. I am so very sorry your boy is having these troubles.

To answer your question, no these are not the typical signs of Cushing's. I am wondering if the urgent need to run could be some signs of the onset of canine dementia. The eye scratching could be a number of things here - trying to removed an irritant or again dementia - but you mentioned eye disease - can you tell us more about this?

What has your vet mentioned about the sneezing episodes?

Keep us posted
Terry

[goldengirl88]

Welcome to the forum. I am so sorry your Walter is having these problems, I know it must be a lot to deal with. Has he ever done this sneezing and spraying vomit before? About how many episodes a day is he having? Did the water drinking and peeing a lot start at the same time? Has he ever been tested for diabetes? Has he had any gastrointestinal problems in the past? When is the last time you had an early detection panel run on him and what did it show that was abnormal? I hope we can come up with some answers and help for you. Blessings
Patti

[addy]

Hi and Welcome,

This may sound too basic but is it possible he has some type of nasal infection or tooth issue?

[Roxee's Dad]

Hi Gayemel and Walter and welcome from me too. :)

it's kind of strange or a coincidence that you bring up this subject. Our Rozee who does not have cushings also has episodes of sneezing, and some vomiting / vomit spray and running.

She is over 18 years old, is deaf and pretty much blind. What I found was she would do this after she drank water. It seemed to me that because she could not find the water level in the bowl, she snorted up some of the water up her nose while trying to find the water level to lick.

She is a ShihTzu which is also a short snouted breed. So now I keep the water bowl elevated and shallow which seemed to help a lot. If she does start sneezing, both forward and backward sneezing, I pick her up to comfort her until she settles down. Then she will be okay and usually take a nap. :) I think the running away is part of trying to get away from an uncomfortable feeling such as a snout full of water.