Help , up and down with Cushings & pancreatitis

[Rocco]

I have an 8 year old Yorkie who after a couple of years of dealing with several diagnosis has actually been diagnosed with Cushings . He also has had several assurances of pancreatitis . Just when I think we are out to the woods things go bad. The longest he has gone without being back in the vet very sick has been 4 months . He is currently on vetoryl 2x per week , and ursodiol 1/4 tab. Everyday .
He's had several ultra sounds and they show the pancreas inflamed when that is hurting him .
I have researched till my eyes hurt . My vet bills are overwhelming with my boy still not doing any better . Is this what his life will be ? Any advice , help. , tips , anything ?
Thank you for any help

[labblab]

Welcome to you and your boy, although I am very sorry you are having these problems. First off, can you give us some more details about his overall health history, and also the testing that led to any diagnoses? We are especially interested in the symptoms and the testing that determined he has Cushing's.

It is thought that dogs with Cushing's may be more vulnerable to pancreatitis. So if he does have Cushing's, it will be important to keep the Cushing's under as consistent control as possible. This where I am puzzled, though -- dosing with Vetoryl only twice a week. Vetoryl is a medication that must be taken daily in order to be effective. Can you tell us how much your boy weighs and what dose he is taking? Was there ever a time when he took it more frequently?

I apologize for so many questions :o, but your answers will help us sort out what may be going on with him. :)

Marianne

[Harley PoMMom]

Pancreatitis can be very challenging, does your boy have chronic or the acute type? When my boy was diagnosed with pancreatitis there were few changes that I made for him; started him on a very low fat diet; feed him several small meals throughout the day; made sure he was hydrated ( I would add water to everything he ate). I monitored my boy's pancreatitis with the Spec cPL test, has the vet mentioned performing this test on your boy?

It sure would help us to provide you with more meaningful feedback if you would get copies of the test results that were done on your boy and post them here, you only need to post the abnormal levels with their reference ranges and units of measurement....ALT 150U/L (5-50)...thanks.

How is your boy doing now? Is he eating normally? Any diarrhea? Does he take any other herbs/supplements/medications?

Hugs, Lori