New member to cushings club!

[Amandas retreat]

Hi Everyone,
i came across this forum by chance and i have already read lots of interesting information.
I have a 15 1/2 year old Shih Tzu who has today been diagnosed with Cushings. This was diagnosed through a blood test which i requested due to her having a bout of difficult breathing. She also had an X-ray which showed an enlarged heart and liver so the vet has given her heart medication, which seems to have given her diarrhoea.
I feel guilty that i did not pick up on this sooner but i thought she was just getting old and after discussion with the vet I'm unsure what to do about treatment with all that has been revealed, i don't want to put her through treatment that will cause her more discomfort at her age... or risk her life with the medication as she is quite frail now. It is such a dilemma and it breaks my heart, i wish she could tell me what she wanted me to do!
Has anybody else had any experience of a really old dog that was treated for cushings?

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and your sweet girl! So glad you found us and we will help in any way we can.

In order for us to provide you with meaningful feedback we need to know more about your girl. Could you tell us her weight? What symptoms is she displaying? If you could get copies of all tests that were done on your girl and post any abnormalities that are listed that would be a great help. We are especially interested in all results from any tests for Cushing's...Thanks! What medicines/herbs/supplements is she taking?

The medications for Cushing's do not cure it, the goal of treatment is to remedy problematic symptoms of Cushing's. Cushing's is not a painful disease, dogs are usually quite okay with it, especially dogs with arthritis. Excess cortisol is a strong anti-inflammatory so these dogs are self medicating, masking signs of arthritis and/or allergies.

I certainly do understand your concern in treating an elder dog, and I do agree that quality of life is utmost important. If your girl were to actually have Cushing's, lowering her cortisol with treatment could be quite painful for her so this is something to consider. I don't tell you any of this to dissuade you from treating if you and your vet agree this is the best path forward for your girl. Only YOU know your girl best.

Cushing's is a slow progressive disease which generally affects senior dogs. Some dogs with Cushing's go years before a confirmed diagnosis is made because the symptoms can be attributed to a dog being elder, so please stop being so hard on yourself, ok?

I am providing links that have a wealth of information regarding Cushing's. If you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to ask them: Links to Cushings Websites (especially helpful for new members!) (http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=180)

Helpful Resources for Owners of Cushing's Dogs (http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=10&order=desc&page=3)

Hugs, Lori

[Amandas retreat]

I do not have all the readings from the blood test as the vet confirmed over the phone. Daisey has all the symptoms of cushings, when i read about it everything fell into place, thats why i asked for her to be tested. The vet said its complicated to treat her as she has an enlarged heart and liver and a couple of other readings on her liver were high but i do not know exactly what they are. She said that trying to treat each problem is hard because it could make the other problem worse and she is unsure if the enlarged heart and liver are related to the cushings or a separate issue. Since she's been on the heart tablets this week she's had diarrhoea and is not eating very well so I'm going to talk to the vet about stopping them. I was considering just treating her for the cushings as it may all be related, but i have no idea if it is too advanced to make any difference and i did not know it would be painful for her. I just don't want her to suffer and i want to help her to live out her life as she would want it.... and the tears have already
started!

[Squirt's Mom]

i want to help her to live out her life as she would want it....

I can't tell you what you should do for your baby. What I can tell you is what I did for my baby. When she was 15 she had a seizure I will always believed caused by drug called Proin. It took her 3 months to recover and day to day I didn't know for sure she would. I decided then to stop all her meds, herbs and supplements...and I did. When she started getting some of her strength back and regained her appetite, I slowly added back ONLY those things I felt she had to have - and her Cushing's treatment was NOT one of those things.

By that time, I wanted for her only what you said above - to let her live out the remainder of her life on her terms. No more car rides that now terrified her as she feared the vet, no more pokes and prods, no more tests - nothing but good food, treats, and loving. She lived another year plus. I am sure some questioned my decision to stop treatment but they didn't know my Sweet Bebe like I did, they didn't know her heart like I did. It meant more to Squirt and I to have how ever many days together we could that were as stress free for both of us as possible than it did to worry about numbers and schedules.

My decision was right for Squirt and I. Your decision, whatever that may be, will be right for you and your Daisey, too. She already has the most important medicine in the world - the love of her mom.
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

If you decide to try and treat the cushings, then I'd suggest starting at a very low dosage and seeing how she does on it. Depending on how much she weights, I'd try maybe 1/2 that in mg. Just because you want to see how she does, you don't want to affect any joint issues she might be having but hopefully bring down the cortisol a bit to give her some comfort. It really is all about quality of life and what makes her feel best.
It is often a balancing act with older dogs. That is my first thoughts without seeing any test results.

Sharlene and molly muffin

[Amandas retreat]

Thank you for your replies, it is a comfort hearing others stories and feeling the love for their dogs through their words, i know that people understand my heartache and have experienced exactly the same things that iam now. I do wonder if i should not have dogs because when i lose them i fall apart......i still cry about my boxer i lost 2 years ago and i wonder if I'm abnormal, ha ha!
It is so difficult to know what to do especially hearing that treatment may cause her pain, if she was younger theres no question for me, but being the frail pensioner she is, makes me so torn and i want to do whats right for her and not me!
Ill just have to plod on and hope i do the right thing for her!x

[StarDeb55]

Here's a late welcome from me! I know it's an extremely difficult decision as to whether or not to treat a senior citizen pup. I faced the same decision with my Shih Tzu, Harley, who was 13 1/2 when he was diagnosed. I will say that he did not have any other medical issues that can plague our senior pups. The one thing that was going on was the presence of a non-healing corneal ulcer. His eye would appear to get better after a round of antibiotic drops, along with other meds, but would then re-ulcerate. His only other problem was a bile duct problem that was discovered on his ultrasound when his Cushing's was diagnosed. If I remember, one of the re-ulceration episodes, along with abnormalities in his lab work, led his general practice vet to test for Cushing's.

One of the symptoms of Cushing's is infections that can be difficult to cure. This is due to the suppression in the immune system that Cushing's causes. Harley did pretty well, being treated with lysodren for 2 1/2 years, until he crossed the bridge from causes unrelated to Cushing's. I will tell you this that Harley seemed to do better when we let his cortisol run a little higher than the recommended therapeutic range. I won't sugar coat Harley's treatment, we did have our ups/downs, but overall I'm glad I did treat him, as I feel that I probably would not have had him the 2 1/2 years that I did, if he hadn't been treated.

I do know that treating Cushing's with a concurrent heart problem can be very tricky as some of the common heart medications can't be used with vetoryl (trilostane) which a large number of vets seem to prefer to treat. It might be worthwhile to seek a consult with an internal medicine specialist who has the extra training & should be able to handle both the heart issues & Cushing's treatment, if you choose to proceed.

Please keep us posted. We are here to help in any way we can.

Debbie

[Harley PoMMom]

It is so difficult to know what to do especially hearing that treatment may cause her pain, if she was younger theres no question for me, but being the frail pensioner she is, makes me so torn and i want to do whats right for her and not me!


In an arthritic dog treatment may cause pain, I wanted to clarify that because I don't want you to think that Trilostane in itself would be painful to Daisey, ok?

Hugs, Lori

[Amandas retreat]

Oh thank you Lori i did not realise you meant that....and thank you Debbie it is really useful hearing other peoples experiences of treating elderly pooches :)