shannon_pyle
02-19-2015, 08:26 PM
Hi,
I am the proud owner of a beautiful 7 year old Doberman who has always chomped at us when she is hungry or needs to go outside. Recently she was eating upwards of 8 cups of food a day, still hungry, decreased activity, pot-belly, dry flaky skin. In April of 2014 she had surgery because she ingested clothing and developed a bowel obstruction but she lived through the surgery with some decreased activity afterward. She went for her vaccines and I told the vet that I was concerned because she seemed to be developing more fatty tumors than she had 6 months ago but they grew slowly. He checked her cholesterol which was normal but her triglycerides were 418 and her ALP was also in the 400 range. He said he suspected Cushings. The following week we did a low dose dexamethasone test which showed a fasting cortisol of 1.9, a four hour of less than 1 and an 8 hour of 4.9. In April she had normal ultrasound of her adrenals and she had a CT scan which showed a normal liver as well. She has been on Vetoryl 60 mg for the past week because he suspects pituitary cushing's. She incidentally also has a TSH of less than .5 and we are going to check her free T4 tomorrow. He said that even though she isn't doing well and that could affect her results they are done at the same lab. I am just frustrated. Can hypothyroid make a dog look like they have Cushing's disease when they truly do not? I feel like even though she is more hungry and can't walk as far as she used to be able to (3 miles versus 5 but less in the heat) she otherwise has been doing pretty well. She had started shedding more but she didn't have any bald spots. With her being through so much this year I just don't want her to suffer.
I am the proud owner of a beautiful 7 year old Doberman who has always chomped at us when she is hungry or needs to go outside. Recently she was eating upwards of 8 cups of food a day, still hungry, decreased activity, pot-belly, dry flaky skin. In April of 2014 she had surgery because she ingested clothing and developed a bowel obstruction but she lived through the surgery with some decreased activity afterward. She went for her vaccines and I told the vet that I was concerned because she seemed to be developing more fatty tumors than she had 6 months ago but they grew slowly. He checked her cholesterol which was normal but her triglycerides were 418 and her ALP was also in the 400 range. He said he suspected Cushings. The following week we did a low dose dexamethasone test which showed a fasting cortisol of 1.9, a four hour of less than 1 and an 8 hour of 4.9. In April she had normal ultrasound of her adrenals and she had a CT scan which showed a normal liver as well. She has been on Vetoryl 60 mg for the past week because he suspects pituitary cushing's. She incidentally also has a TSH of less than .5 and we are going to check her free T4 tomorrow. He said that even though she isn't doing well and that could affect her results they are done at the same lab. I am just frustrated. Can hypothyroid make a dog look like they have Cushing's disease when they truly do not? I feel like even though she is more hungry and can't walk as far as she used to be able to (3 miles versus 5 but less in the heat) she otherwise has been doing pretty well. She had started shedding more but she didn't have any bald spots. With her being through so much this year I just don't want her to suffer.