New Member, 7yo Maremma just diagnosed with cushings

[Chevy_Impala]

Hello folks. Have ended up here probably the same way most of you have, researching cushings mostly. I have two dogs, Ted and Regal. Regal is a rottweiler/rodhesian ridgeback cross whom is 10 in january, and Ted is my Maremma. I resuced him as a 9month old with a broken hind leg. (vet nurse friend worked where he got 'dumped') He is now 7, 8 in January. His health has gotten somewhat out of hand in the last 6months. A none healing nose wound the start of it it all. He was then diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Pemphigus. I am not sure which of the four types he has as cannot remember. But was started straight away on a large dose of blue pills (the name escapes me but they are steroids essentially) After it settled a lot, and his fur started to look grand again, the dose was dropped. The pemphigus started to return, at the same time his hind legs developed a lot of weakness. Was initially thought to be related to athritis from the hind leg break when he was younger. (broken in several places) He also was suddenly thin and he has always been good doer of a dog. Then even faster in the last week his belly swelled! he has horrendous sores on his hind legs from excessive licking. Horrible rash type thing on his stomach, he has an unsatiable hunger (even started stealing the horse food!) my normally polite dog snatches treats out of your hand now! He is always thirsty and panting. So our regular vet referred us to a specialist small animal vet this week. He is basically currently a walking chemistwith all the medicine he is on. Through it all he is still a happy camper. Bless him. I am not sure if the cushing is a bad side effect from the steroids he was/is on, or if it is an underlying thing. Or what, too early to tell I suppose. He is being treated for stomach ulcers suspected from the little blue pills. (chronic soft poos) I have been told he is a critical care dog, as is immune suppressed, somehow has a broken tooth which is high risk infection,and the wounds on his legs are high risk. So my poor boy is bandaged, wearing a bucket and getting lots of medicine. I do not know what is going to happen. I am hugely overwhelmed by it all. I am a disabled person and it is getting to the point I am struggling to afford all the treatment. I hope it gets better from here. I think the blue pills are trying to be switched gradually to Imuran i think its called? What ever it is have to handle with gloves!

Has anyone else had to deal with this in a similar way? Are your dogs still here or now on rainbow bridge? My poor boys seems to have been going along ok, then all of a sudden took a drastic and fast turn. I do not really understand any of it. And whilst i watch the time tick by until midnight when he gets the stuff for ulcers for the last time today, was researching and ended up here!

Thankyou for reading anyways folks :)

[Squirt's Mom]

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[addy]

Welcome to our forum. I am so sorry to read bout everything you and your beloved dog are going through. Steroid use can cause a form of Cushings. Once the steriod is stopped, Cushings symptoms will go away; it can take some time for that to happen. Are steroids still being used? If not, when were they stopped?
I apologize if I missed that info in your post.

[Chevy_Impala]

hello addy, the vet did say it could be from the steroids, either the fact he was on a high dose to start for about 3 months, or complications from a sudden drop in dosage. He was on 3.5 of the blue pills, then was dropped to 1.5 which we have been on for about 6ish weeks now? It has only been the last two weeks where everything suddenly took a downward turn and he has presented cushinoid. He has just been started (as of yesterday) on imuran every 2nd day, plus still on the 1.5 of the steroids, plus cetaphorte twice daily. and then one that gets disolved in 10mm of water, i then syringe it in his mouth eveyr 8 hours. (just disolving the last one for tonight as is midnight here) He was originally dropped from the initial high steroid dose when the nose settled right down as to avoid cushing type complications. But it has all gone pear shaped. He is on current medicine for 2 weeks, and back at vet on wednesday again. He also has to have his teeth brushed every other day to try keep infection risk in the broken tooth down. I hate having to give him the liquid stuff. All of the pills are not so bad as I feed AM and PM anyways and they just get spread out across his food and he almost inhales rather than chewing. He is not keen on the liquid at all. So I hope that isnt a rest of his life type thing and will taper off as the ulcers come under control. He does also have arthritis which he cannot be on pain relief for due to the other medications. I do not believe the arthritis to be hugely bothersome for him however. But then dogs can be tricky in they hide stuff, like most animals i suppose. He is such a good dog. I know mareemas are normally hard to train/do not make good pets/etc. But he has been amazing. Comes when called and I have taught him many tricks over the years. I am scared I will lose him. If it is best for him I will make that choice. But fight is not over yet. He is happy even through it all. Always aloof. Are we allowed to share photos in here, or is there a special photo thread?

[Chevy_Impala]

oh and thankyou for the welcome :)

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and to both of your dear furbabies!

Addy is correct, Iatrogenic Cushing’s syndrome, which is Cushing's caused by steroid use, can definitely cause the exact same symptoms as spontaneous Cushings disease. Treatment for Iatrogenic Cushing’s is to slowly taper the use of the steroid, however; in certain situations this may not be feasible because of a health issue, such as in your sweet boy, Ted, circumstances. I do hope that the imuran will help with the Pemphigus and then, hopefully, the steroid use can be reduced.

I was wondering if you would post the exact names and dosages of the medications Ted is taking. Also, if you could get your hands on copies of all tests that were done on Ted and post only the abnormal values that are listed, this would be of great help to us.

Sorry for the reasons you need us but sure glad you found us, and we will help in any way we can.

Hugs, Lori

[Chevy_Impala]

Thankyou :)

I do not have copies of any of the test results, vets have never given them to me, it is always on their computers. I will ask for print outs next week though. The biopsy of the nose was done about 6 months ago when it came back positive for the Pemphigus. It is only manageable and not curable. But seem to not be managing it effectively at the moment.
But his current dosage of medicine is

Sucralfate 1g every 8hrs, dissolved in 10mm of water. given one hour before food/medication. So at 8am, then 4pm, then again at midnight. It is lucky I do not work at the moment as I do not know what would happen if I was. And today I would like to go to the royal adelaide show (just love the atmosphere) but i cannot unless my mum or sister can give him his 4pm sucralfate dose. lol

Then daily in his breakfast is Cephaforte 600mg, he gets 2 and 1/4 tablets every 12 hours. Then every 2nd day in his breakfast he gets the Imuran tablets, one of them a 50mg and the other a25 mg.

Then every dinner feed he gets the same Cephaforte dose, plus macrolone 20mg tablets. He gets 1 and a half of them nightly.

He is also only allowed to eat the Hills science diet I/D food. And any meat is only allowed to be chicken at the moment.

Here is my big fluffy bucket head. (My other dog is also in the photo LOL) Hope it is ok to post photos in here. But the two beach ones are him only a few years ago the picture of health!

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/Epic_Dragon1985/16726_10152287773862344_3278568874697518472_n_zpsb 8b85b30.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/user/Epic_Dragon1985/media/16726_10152287773862344_3278568874697518472_n_zpsb 8b85b30.jpg.html)
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/Epic_Dragon1985/10646683_10152287774007344_3316370365462478234_n_z ps13f1f0e8.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/user/Epic_Dragon1985/media/10646683_10152287774007344_3316370365462478234_n_z ps13f1f0e8.jpg.html)

http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/Epic_Dragon1985/1930232_22021467343_4367_n_zps9619679a.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/user/Epic_Dragon1985/media/1930232_22021467343_4367_n_zps9619679a.jpg.html)
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af326/Epic_Dragon1985/1930232_22021447343_3178_n_zps63085cb9.jpg (http://s1020.photobucket.com/user/Epic_Dragon1985/media/1930232_22021447343_3178_n_zps63085cb9.jpg.html)

[Harley PoMMom]

Thanks so much for the list of Ted's medications, I didn't see a steroid listed, is Ted not taking a steroid right now?

[Chevy_Impala]

the macrolone are his steroids, they are the blue pills, they have different names as the vet has called them a couple of different things. He has 1.5 tablets every evening still of those, and is due back to the vets on wednesday. His chronic runny poos have returned more normal, though now he seems a little on the straining to go side. He is also currently sad, he doesnt like the whole syringe of the stuff for the ulcers an hour before he gets fed, so wonders why hes not been fed yet. another half an hour and then he gets breakfast!

[Harley PoMMom]

Ted and Regal are really beautiful! Yes, it is ok to post pics in your thread, however, you can also create an album for images/pictures that are linked to your public profile.

Here's a link with info regarding this: Albums and Pictures (http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/faq.php?faq=vb3_user_profile#faq_vb3_albums)

Could you tell us how much Ted weighs and what strength (mg, g) the macrolone is?

Hugs, Lori

[Chevy_Impala]

thanks :) cool, I shall have a look at creating an album. Ted weighs 38.4kgs. He had lost weight and that is with the fluid filled abdomen. He will be weighed again today as we are due back at the vets this afternoon. the macrolone are 20mg tablets. he gets 1.5 tablets of those every night. Prior to that he was originally on 3.5 of those nightly, then my first and regular vet (just started seeing the small animal specialist vet) dropped the dose to the 1.5.
I am just getting very worried as all the money I have is going to the vet for him. I have my own health needs and other bills I am not able to pay due to this :( it is making me upset at the realisation the affordability of his treatment is something I am probably not going to be able to sustain for much longer :'(

[molly muffin]

I just want to say I loved the pictures of your boys. They are beautiful.

Let us know what the vet says today. We all understand how expensive vets and treatment can be. Sometimes you have yo pick the battles and find what will give the best quality of life and go with that.

Sharlene and Molly muffin

[Chevy_Impala]

he is going ok at the moment, vet was happy with his progress, and the steroids have been swapped to every 2nd day, with the imuran every 2nd day as well, so he has steroids, then next day imuran, then steroids etc. He is happily, also minus the bucket at the moment. His wounds on his legs have healed up. i am moisturizing the bare skin nightly. but he has left them alone which is great. he had a sudden 10 kg weight gain over a week which is a bit of a concern. The vet is concerned about him developing pancreantitis. But i do not know more about that or how it comes about. But he seems to be coping ok with treatment at the moment. I have had a very tough week as a very close friend of mine passed away suddenly. my last conversation with her was her ringing to see how ted went at the vets. so it has been very difficult this week.

[molly muffin]

Oh I am very sorry to hear of your friends sudden passing. :( Yes that is a tough time for sure.

Glad to hear that Ted is doing well.

Here is a link that talks about canine pancreatis:

http://pets.webmd.com/dog-pancreatitis-symptoms-and-treatment

Sharlene and molly muffin