Dorothy Jean

[dj'smom]

Dorothy has just gotten a diagnosis of Cushings. We have an appt. with her vet Mon Aug 11th. What question should I ask? I will have no other info until Mon but want to be informed before then. Thanks for any help.

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Dorothy!

Glad you found your way here and we will help in any way we can. Cushing's can be hard to get your head around so please ask all the questions you want, ok?

Some of the questions I would ask the vet are:

1) How many dogs with Cushing's has s/he successfully treated?
2) Which medication does s/he have the most experience using (Vetoryl/Trilostane or Lysodren/Mitotane).
3) What are their protocols regarding treatment: what dose do they want to start Dorothy on, how do they perform the monitoring ACTH stimulation tests and what stimulating agent do they use.
4) Are they against having the medications for Cushing's compounded?

They are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head, I am sure the others will be by to add more. ;)

Please do get copies of all tests that were done on Dorothy and post those results here as that will help us to provide better feedback, we need only the abnormal levels. Also, how much does Dorothy weigh? Is she taking any other herbs/supplements/medications? Does she have any other health issues? What symptoms does she display that led you or your vet to test for Cushing's in the first place?

I am sorry for all these questions but in order for us to provide you with meaningful information we need to know as much as we can about Dorothy, ok?

Hugs, Lori

[Mackenzie]

I'm new here and still learning (others will be giving you tons of great info), but as I understand it a dog who has been given an initial diagnosis of Cushing's may need further tests such as an abdominal ultrasound and/or HDDS to determine whether it is pituitary-dependent Cushing's (85% of cases) or adrenal-dependent Cushing's. Differentiating between the two is important because they have different treatment options, including possibly curative surgery for the less common adrenal form.

The first vet I saw did not even suggest doing any further investigation beyond a positive ACTH stimulation test, and just recommended putting my dog directly on trilostane therapy, which he said was no big deal. That's when I left and sought out a different vet.