Cushings with a healthy Kidney and Liver???

[fhenkes]

Hello, my name is Felicia, I am new to this forum. My dog has not been diagnosed with cushings, but it may be a possibility.
My 8 year old Boxer, Carter, is having some problems with urine incontinence. We have done blood work and urine analysis, and everything has come back perfect except for his dilute urine (1.009). Talking to my vet, he says it could be a few things, cushings or diabetes insipidus. He says that it is possible to have cushings and healthy kidneys and liver, he hasn't seen it, but he says he has heard of it happening.

Carter does not have a pot belly, nor hair loss. He has always, since he was a puppy, loved the water bowl and his food, and my food... and my husband’s food lol. He is showing a little bit of weakness in his back legs but, he has had TPLO surgery on both rear legs (3 years ago), plus he does have arthritis in both knees, and he is a senior.

My question to ya'll is, is there anyone out who's dog with healthy kidneys and liver has developed cushings?

Thanks in advance!

[labblab]

Hello Felicia, welcome to you and Carter! In answering your question, I will separate out kidney vs. liver abnormalities. Many Cushing's dogs exhibit no kidney-related laboratory or functional abnormalities whatsover. So a clean bill of health in that regard is not at all surprising to me. However, the vast majority of Cushpups do exhibit characteristic elevations of certain liver enzymes due to steroidal effects. But this is not true 100% of the time, either. However, the lack of laboratory abnormality coupled with only vague overt symptoms does make Cushing's a less likely option to me. I'm assuming that a urinary tract infection has been ruled out? When urine is dilute, I know that identifying the presence of infection can be more challenging.

Marianne

[fhenkes]

I am so sorry I spaced out... Yes, we ruled out a UTI. After a long discussion with our vet, we decided to place him on a low dose of urine incontinence medicine. Since he isn't exhibiting any other symptoms and minus the urine incontinence, is acting completely normal, eating and drinking, pooping an peeing. Ever since he was a puppy he has always loved the water bowl, so we are hoping that is all it is. So for now, we are going to keep an extremely close eye on him, and should anything slightly change we will take him back in.

Thank you for your reply, again, sorry I spaced out!

[molly muffin]

Just wanted to welcome you to the forum and hope that this med does the trick and no other issues come up.

Let us know how he responds.