Andy, Miniature Schnauzer beginning treatment - Lysodren?

[Andy's mom]

I had brother miniature Schnauzers. Lost one Dec 2014 to Cushings, now his brother has it too. Treated with Vetoryl, considering Lysodren this time for Andy. Has anyone used Lysodren?.

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and Andy! I have only a moment to post, but wanted to tell you that I've moved your reply so as to create a new thread that is your very own. This way, it will be much easier for our members to reply to you directly. :)

And yes, we have many members who have used Lysodren, so hopefully some of them will soon stop by to greet you. May I also ask about your experience with Vetoryl with your other dog? I am so sorry for your loss, and am just wondering if there are specific reasons why you are instead considering Lysodren this time around.

Marianne

[StarDeb55]

Welcome to you and Andy. I'm so sorry for the loss of Andy's brother. I know that both of you are still grieving.

I was the Mom to 2 lysodren pups. Fortunately, not at the same time. I will say that I did go with lyso with the 2nd pup as it was the drug I was familiar with. Vetoryl was still somewhat new in this country. The best suggestions I can offer when using lysodren is get very familiar with what is termed the loading protocol. You also want to make sure that your vet gives you an emergency supply of prednisone, just in case Andy has a problem. We do have a section in our Helpful Resources are for lysodren loading instructions. I seem to be having a brain fade at the moment & can't locate the link.

It would be helpful to us if you could give us a little more info about Andy's medical history. What symptoms did Andy have that led you to go to the vet? What testing has been done to diagnose Cushings? Also, what is Andy's current weight & what lyso dose does the vet want to start Andy at for loading? Therapeutic dosage for lyso is 25-50 mg/kg body weight, split into 2 daily doses for loading. You want to use a loading dose as close to 50 mg as possible. Let me give you an example:

50 lb. pup converts to 23 kg.
using the 50 mg guideline, you would want loading dose of 1137 mg per day. Lysodren comes in 500 mg tablets, so you would be giving this pup 2 tablets daily, split into 2 doses.

Now, during loading you want to watch for any change in behavior. The change can be very subtle, such as the pup who eats everything in his bowl in one minute. licks his bowl spotless, & would not lookup for anything until he's done. During loading, if you would see this pup pause during eating, even only for a moment, it could be a clear sign that they are loaded. A lot of people will do what we like to call "poop patrol", any change in the pup's stools could be another sign.

The other thing I would like to suggest is monitor Andy's water intake for several days, so you get a good idea of how much he is drinking prior to starting treatment. A decrease in water intake is also a sign that the pup may be loaded. In fact, a decrease in water intake is how we caught that my first pup had loaded. This pup never showed any decrease in appetite, even when he had been successfully treated with lyso for nearly 8 years. Normal procedure for loading is that if there is no apparent change in the pup, you go in for a ACTH on day 8. This is what happened with this boy. The vet calls me the next afternoon, asks if I had checked water yet, I said no, she said she would wait. I got back on the phone & there had be a 60 % decrease in water intake. The vet said that the sim results reflected that. I had to start him on prednisone immediately for something like 4 days. We rechecked a ACTH after that, & we were good to go to maintenance.

I'm sure your head is probably spinning, especially with the fact that you are now dealing with your 2nd cushpup. I know my head was spinning. I will not really address the pros or cons of either drug. All I will say is drugs are very serious drugs, but they are life saving for our pups.

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

Debbie