SamoyedJack
07-26-2015, 11:53 AM
Hello, I’d like to tell you all my dog’s story and get some opinions.
Jack is a Samoyed, 8 years old. I got him directly from the breeder at 8 weeks old. He has his purebred papers.
His hips have never been terribly good, not form the start, but now his legs are in crisis state, and Cushings is suspected.. I’ll tell you the full history.
In 2013 a sore broke out between his toes on a front paw. Antibiotics made it go away, but a few months later it came back. He’s been on a cycle of that same cyst coming and going from then until May of 2015. Allergies were suggested being the cause in late 2014, and we switched him to Royal Canin vegetarian and cut all other food/treats. He likes it, but will get into the garbage if he can, a behavior he only started in concurrence with the food change.
Also, in the Spring of 2014 we noticed a lot of hair loss on his tail. It became a raggedy rats tail rather than a plume. He was tested for thyroid and found he was hypo, he went on medication for it. We thought this would solve the paw problem too. It didn’t.
Longer and longer courses of antibiotics have been done, varied kinds of antibiotics, and benadryl. The time between recurrence grew shorter and shorter until the antibiotics seemed to not help at all. Finally in May of 2015 he was prescribed 3 weeks of steroids. The sore healed and has not returned since. But another sore broke out on his back leg, on the leg, not the paw. I started as a tiny lump, grew into an open wound, and 2 rounds of antibiotics have not healed it.
At the same time he had the steroids in may he went of his annual professional grooming. When he came back we were shocked. We could see his skin all down his right side and hips. The skin was very dark, magenta in color as opposed to light pink. We thought it was the groomer, but that was weird; this was the best groomer at the best salon in town, and she has groomed him twice before with beautiful results.
Meanwhile, he was having increasing difficulty standing up and lying down. A month ago they started giving Cartrafin injections for arthritis, but he has gotten worse instead of better. He can’t manage stairs now, and I’ve ordered a lift-aid harness. He needs help standing on hardwood floors, and sometimes falls. He sometimes skates around like he’s on ice. He’s better on other surfaces, but his back lest shake and he walks very stiffly on them.
He spends most of his time lying down now. Lethargy or just too hard to stand, I don’t know. The hair has not only not grown back, and the loss over the ribs has repeated itself on the other side.
His annual thyroid test 3 weeks ago showed him being hyper. His meds were adjusted and he is now a tiny bit hypo. Meds adjusted again, retest in 4 weeks.
The vet brought up Cushings, and I’m mostly convinced that is his problem. I wonder if he had it for a while and the 3 weeks of steroids just pushed it into crisis. I need to know if we should bother with the screening or straight to the Cushings test. He does not show the major symptoms; his water and peeing seem normal, even reduced as he can’t walk very well to go outside.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
Jack is a Samoyed, 8 years old. I got him directly from the breeder at 8 weeks old. He has his purebred papers.
His hips have never been terribly good, not form the start, but now his legs are in crisis state, and Cushings is suspected.. I’ll tell you the full history.
In 2013 a sore broke out between his toes on a front paw. Antibiotics made it go away, but a few months later it came back. He’s been on a cycle of that same cyst coming and going from then until May of 2015. Allergies were suggested being the cause in late 2014, and we switched him to Royal Canin vegetarian and cut all other food/treats. He likes it, but will get into the garbage if he can, a behavior he only started in concurrence with the food change.
Also, in the Spring of 2014 we noticed a lot of hair loss on his tail. It became a raggedy rats tail rather than a plume. He was tested for thyroid and found he was hypo, he went on medication for it. We thought this would solve the paw problem too. It didn’t.
Longer and longer courses of antibiotics have been done, varied kinds of antibiotics, and benadryl. The time between recurrence grew shorter and shorter until the antibiotics seemed to not help at all. Finally in May of 2015 he was prescribed 3 weeks of steroids. The sore healed and has not returned since. But another sore broke out on his back leg, on the leg, not the paw. I started as a tiny lump, grew into an open wound, and 2 rounds of antibiotics have not healed it.
At the same time he had the steroids in may he went of his annual professional grooming. When he came back we were shocked. We could see his skin all down his right side and hips. The skin was very dark, magenta in color as opposed to light pink. We thought it was the groomer, but that was weird; this was the best groomer at the best salon in town, and she has groomed him twice before with beautiful results.
Meanwhile, he was having increasing difficulty standing up and lying down. A month ago they started giving Cartrafin injections for arthritis, but he has gotten worse instead of better. He can’t manage stairs now, and I’ve ordered a lift-aid harness. He needs help standing on hardwood floors, and sometimes falls. He sometimes skates around like he’s on ice. He’s better on other surfaces, but his back lest shake and he walks very stiffly on them.
He spends most of his time lying down now. Lethargy or just too hard to stand, I don’t know. The hair has not only not grown back, and the loss over the ribs has repeated itself on the other side.
His annual thyroid test 3 weeks ago showed him being hyper. His meds were adjusted and he is now a tiny bit hypo. Meds adjusted again, retest in 4 weeks.
The vet brought up Cushings, and I’m mostly convinced that is his problem. I wonder if he had it for a while and the 3 weeks of steroids just pushed it into crisis. I need to know if we should bother with the screening or straight to the Cushings test. He does not show the major symptoms; his water and peeing seem normal, even reduced as he can’t walk very well to go outside.
Any thoughts would be welcome.