parje1
05-24-2014, 01:31 PM
Hello Cushings Forum,
The K9Diabetes Group suggested I post Mia's diagnosis here and see if you had any suggestions.
Mia is an 11 year old, spayed Lab. She was diagnosed with diabetes on 1/21/14. She has been a super healthy dog until now. In December, she started to make this huffing and coughing noise. I took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything conclusive with xrays and bloodwork. Here's a video of what she sounded like.
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/Mia/IMG_3730.mp4.html
At this point, she could still hike with us and had no exercise intolerance. She was starting to move a little slower. Over the next month, the noise didn't go away. They thought it might be a reaction to the pollution in our air. Winter air in Utah is bad. She was treated with antibiotics then Rimadyl. The Rimadyl was for bad days and it helped some.
I took her back the middle of January as the noise had not improved. They did bloodwork on her and found out she was diabetic. We started her on Humulin. That was 1/21/14
Since that time, Mia's health has continued to decline. She has lost 18lbs and she has back leg weakness. Her calories have been doubled and she is still losing. Voraciously eats her dinner but won't eat on her own and she eats out of my hand. She always lays down to eat. Sometimes her back legs seem to cross on her and she will drag a back toe. It's difficult for her to squat to poop. About the same time we started the insulin, she began panting alot about 2 hours after the insulin. I had read that was normal. It has progressed and she pants heavily in the night and is restless. She will be asleep and then she sits up abruptly pants for a few minutes, goes back to rest, and a few minutes later is back up again panting. She does pant during the day now but nights are always worse.
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/IMG_3907.mp4.html
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/IMG_3968.mp4.html
The huffing noise went away about 2 months after diagnosis.
She does drink alot but she doesn't have accidents in the house (we have two dog doors). She doesn't seem to need to go outside more often even though she drinks alot. I think it's alot of effort for her to move around. She has battled diarrhea or very loose stools for 3 months. We even tried another round of antibiotics and probiotics. The probiotics help a little. She no longer has puddles of liquid poop but they have very little form to them. At first there was some mucous in stools but not now. Poop is very stinky.
Mia has been xrayed 3 times and nothing has shown up. She's had 3 series of bloodwork done, fecal exams, several urine tests. At first, they thought she had LarPar or pancreatitus but the tests were negative. She hasn't had a UTI through all of this either. Then we thought it might be heart problems but negative also.
Mia was on Humulin for 2 months and then I switched to Novolin for almost 3 months. She is 50lbs now. She was at 21 units of Novolin. Her BG numbers never greatly improved. She typically ranges from 250-450. Once in awhile we will get a 150 number but it isn't typical. The vet didn't like the way she was responding to NPH and I had heard of some dogs not responding to a synthetic, so 3 days ago we switched to Vetsulin. Her numbers haven't changed nor has the panting but it's early to tell.
I have been also taking her to acupuncture when her back legs get wonky and it helps.
I asked the vet about Cushings and she said not likely. Here is her latest blood test. I'm sure you've all been down this road but I am running out of funds (I have another senior Lab with health problems). The vet has run so many tests that she kind of says now, I don't think it's this but we can run this test just to rule it out.
Would you mind looking over her information and see what you think?
http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g350/parje1/Scan00671copy.jpg
She doesn't have a pot belly (quite the opposite), she isn't losing anymore fur than normal, she doesn't have white patches, she does pant alot, has rear leg weakness, lost most of her muscle, and she has a hard time moving around, and loose stools for months. It's alot of effort for her to move around. She seeks out cold places, she has always been a nervous dog, she does this snake tongue thing, she still wags her tail, she has a slight arch to her back end but the regular and holistic vet didn't seem to think it was anything, and we haven't been able to find any sore spots as a source of pain.
Thank you,
Jen & Mia
The K9Diabetes Group suggested I post Mia's diagnosis here and see if you had any suggestions.
Mia is an 11 year old, spayed Lab. She was diagnosed with diabetes on 1/21/14. She has been a super healthy dog until now. In December, she started to make this huffing and coughing noise. I took her to the vet and they couldn't find anything conclusive with xrays and bloodwork. Here's a video of what she sounded like.
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/Mia/IMG_3730.mp4.html
At this point, she could still hike with us and had no exercise intolerance. She was starting to move a little slower. Over the next month, the noise didn't go away. They thought it might be a reaction to the pollution in our air. Winter air in Utah is bad. She was treated with antibiotics then Rimadyl. The Rimadyl was for bad days and it helped some.
I took her back the middle of January as the noise had not improved. They did bloodwork on her and found out she was diabetic. We started her on Humulin. That was 1/21/14
Since that time, Mia's health has continued to decline. She has lost 18lbs and she has back leg weakness. Her calories have been doubled and she is still losing. Voraciously eats her dinner but won't eat on her own and she eats out of my hand. She always lays down to eat. Sometimes her back legs seem to cross on her and she will drag a back toe. It's difficult for her to squat to poop. About the same time we started the insulin, she began panting alot about 2 hours after the insulin. I had read that was normal. It has progressed and she pants heavily in the night and is restless. She will be asleep and then she sits up abruptly pants for a few minutes, goes back to rest, and a few minutes later is back up again panting. She does pant during the day now but nights are always worse.
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/IMG_3907.mp4.html
http://s1097.photobucket.com/user/parje1/media/IMG_3968.mp4.html
The huffing noise went away about 2 months after diagnosis.
She does drink alot but she doesn't have accidents in the house (we have two dog doors). She doesn't seem to need to go outside more often even though she drinks alot. I think it's alot of effort for her to move around. She has battled diarrhea or very loose stools for 3 months. We even tried another round of antibiotics and probiotics. The probiotics help a little. She no longer has puddles of liquid poop but they have very little form to them. At first there was some mucous in stools but not now. Poop is very stinky.
Mia has been xrayed 3 times and nothing has shown up. She's had 3 series of bloodwork done, fecal exams, several urine tests. At first, they thought she had LarPar or pancreatitus but the tests were negative. She hasn't had a UTI through all of this either. Then we thought it might be heart problems but negative also.
Mia was on Humulin for 2 months and then I switched to Novolin for almost 3 months. She is 50lbs now. She was at 21 units of Novolin. Her BG numbers never greatly improved. She typically ranges from 250-450. Once in awhile we will get a 150 number but it isn't typical. The vet didn't like the way she was responding to NPH and I had heard of some dogs not responding to a synthetic, so 3 days ago we switched to Vetsulin. Her numbers haven't changed nor has the panting but it's early to tell.
I have been also taking her to acupuncture when her back legs get wonky and it helps.
I asked the vet about Cushings and she said not likely. Here is her latest blood test. I'm sure you've all been down this road but I am running out of funds (I have another senior Lab with health problems). The vet has run so many tests that she kind of says now, I don't think it's this but we can run this test just to rule it out.
Would you mind looking over her information and see what you think?
http://i1097.photobucket.com/albums/g350/parje1/Scan00671copy.jpg
She doesn't have a pot belly (quite the opposite), she isn't losing anymore fur than normal, she doesn't have white patches, she does pant alot, has rear leg weakness, lost most of her muscle, and she has a hard time moving around, and loose stools for months. It's alot of effort for her to move around. She seeks out cold places, she has always been a nervous dog, she does this snake tongue thing, she still wags her tail, she has a slight arch to her back end but the regular and holistic vet didn't seem to think it was anything, and we haven't been able to find any sore spots as a source of pain.
Thank you,
Jen & Mia