Question about Cushing's

[Hayley's Mom]

Hi everyone,

Newbie here, trying to figure out what is wrong with my dog. I have a quick question for y'all.... my dog has almost every symptom of Cushing's.... weight gain (especially in the belly), lethargy, recurring bladder infections, low thyroid, insatiable appetite, peeing in the house after years of being house trained, drinking a lot, panting all the time, etc. She's also acting strange and disoriented at times. I brought Cushing's up to my vet today when I dropped off her urine sample (which was positive once again for infection) and she said no way could it be Cushing's because her urine was too concentrated. She said she would never have urine like that if she had Cushing's and doing the test would be a waste of money. Wanted to see if this was everyone's experience with their dogs and should I push for the test anyway or continue to explore other reasons for her decline. Thank you!!!

[molly muffin]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Have you had a general CBC done? Like a senior profile? That will show what blood results might be off and I'd want a full kidney profile done too.

That would be where I would start before moving on to the cushing test.

I would say in general yes the urine is always dilute, with a lower specific gravity, however, not every dog follows the cushings textbook. My dogs urine was concentrated really well right up till earlier this year.

So, if you haven't done those tests I mentioned, then I'd do that first to see what might be going on.

If you have done those tests, then can you post anything that is high/low out of range here? It would help us to give you better feedback.

Cushings testing is what you go on to once you have eliminated everything else as a possibility. It is one of the hardest disease to diagnose.

So first you want to rule out thyroid as the primary cause (low thyroid can be a side effect of cushings also) and diabetes and primary kidney problems.

Hope this helps and we look forward to hearing from you and discussing next possible steps.

[Hayley's Mom]

Thank you so much for your response. She did have a CBC done about 2 weeks ago when the vet was checking her thyroid. I don't have any of the paperwork, she just called me and told me over the phone that everything looked fine with her blood (except the thyroid). The vet suggested the next step be an x-ray or ultrasound checking for kidney stones to explain the constant bladder infections. We go back in two weeks to recheck the urine. It's so frustrating.... I've seen so many changes in her and something is going on. Thank you for your insight....I will keep you posted!