Severe Calcinosis Cutis, 5yr old Puggle Lebron

[Bronbron623]

Hi everyone.

I am writing in about my dog, Lebron. He is a 5 year old puggle.. He is our sweet little bron bron and very much an important part of our family. One month ago almost to the day we took him into the vet for a raw looking dry patch on the back of his neck.. There was very minor hair loss but enough for concern. Vet was stumped and gave us some antibiotics ... Within a week we noticed the hard skin traveling down his back, we got some routine bloodwork followed by a biopsy and where we stand today is that he has Calcinosis Cutis, and a bacterial infection. Our Dr is ready for us to test for cushings... But I am so overwhelmed from how fast this all came on I am hesitant, especially after reading about the different medications, treatments and problems associated with cushings. I have a feeling that's what he has; we should have seen signs- in December following a surgery he began acting overly thirsty, we noted he seemed lethargic and the hair never grew back on his stomach where he was shaved. We contributed it to recovery and didn't think much of it... So now we are here.
I am wondering if there is any shot of clearing up the calcinosis naturally... Or rather, treat the cushings and thus help the calcinosis? We are currently using an antibiotic for the infection and our vet is telling us to use DMSO on him ... If there is a natural way to get this under control, what might it be??? If not, what is the best direction for him treatment wise?

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and Lebron! He sounds like a sweetie, and I'm so sorry you are facing these problems. But given the confirmed diagnosis of CC alongside other typical Cushing's symptoms, the odds are extremely high that Cushing's is indeed the culprit. This is assuming that Lebron has not been taking any medication that contains steroids, since these same symptoms can be externally caused in that way.

If Lebron does have Cushing's, in order to control his skin problems it will be necessary to lower his cortisol via medication, and you will really want to jump on this as quickly as possible so as not to allow the skin lesions to get out of hand. So I would allow your vet to proceed with testing and treatment recommendations. The two drugs that are effective in lowering cortisol are Vetoryl (trilostane) and Lysodren (mitotane). Your vet may have a preference for one or the other; we have folks on the forum who are experienced in the use of both, so we can help guide you either way.

In the meantime, we also have other members who are actively treating the calcinosis cutis lesions. DMSO has helped some; not others. It can be a matter of trial-and-error in terms of things that help any given dog. If you plug "calcinosis cutis" into our search function, you will pull up other threads where the issue is discussed. For instance, here is a link to another thread that gives you some helpful info. In the case of this member, the lesions were caused by steroidal medication instead of naturally-occuring Cushing's. But the management of the lesions remains the same:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7022

Take a look, and please continue to ask all the questions that come to your mind. I am very glad you've found us!

Marianne

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

If it is CC then it is likely cushings.

We have a member whose pug Tobey, has had cc due to cushings too. Here is her thread. She had to bring the cortisol down to below 5 ug post ACTH to get her pugs under control.

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5908

Welcome again.