Gordon, French Bulldog, diagnosed today. :( Calcinosis Cutis

[Gordy's Mom]

Hi All,

I have an 8 year old awesome French Bulldog named Gordon. I received the call from the vet today and she stated that his ACTH came back and it is indeed Cushings. I emailed and asked for the actual numbers, but haven't received them yet. I will post them when I do.

I have decided to get him treated, no matter what it takes. I'm a social worker, so I don't make much money, and each test is 341.50, plus the exam fee of 80.00. Is that a bit high? This is a specialty vet clinic that has a lot of experience with Cushings and they have been really great so far, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to afford all of the tests. The great thing is they are very responsive to questions and open 24/7. I can also drop him off the morning of the test and pick him up after work for no charge and that means I don't have to take any time off of work. His normal vet charges 275 for the test and 42 for the exam so I am tempted to take him there, but I don't want to compromise his care. I asked and they said that they do have a lot of experience treating Cushings. Unfortunately, their hours are not conducive to my work schedule. I could always take him on a Saturday, but it is often hard to get an appointment.

The internist recommended Vetroryl 30 mg, twice daily. My Frenchie is very large at 44 pounds. I ordered the capsules from Drs. Foster and Smith, which is a local company. I paid 126 for the months supply. I was wondering if anyone had found that medication any cheaper. I looked at Diamondback as recommended on this site, but they were more expensive.

My biggest issue now is the Calcinosis Cutis. It is spreading rapidly and looks really bad. He is losing patches of skin and hair. His shoulders are the worst and he has different lesions on his neck that are also expanding. He has lost most of the hair on his back and the skin appears to be bubbling off a bit. He has also started to scratch his back against the carpet. I was treating with Muricin. I have purchased 6 tubes so far. I called the dermatology specialist about the worsening conditions and he got yet another script for antibiotics and a vat of ointment. I'm sorry, I can't remember the name, but it seems scary. I have to wear gloves to put it on him (I would anyway for cleanliness), but I can only treat half of the lesions on one shoulder blade at a time because the vet is concerned that the calcium levels will go up too high in his bloodstream. I have read about sprays and other treatments, but the derm specialist stated the ointment was the best way. I want to make him as comfortable as possible. Any and all ideas would be appreciated.

This whole ordeal so far has been so emotionally draining. I am so worried about my little fat man. I feel horrible that I didn't catch on to this until the CC showed up. I thought he was just getting old, fat, and lazy, which are pretty common for bullies. My family thinks I'm crazy for spending all of this money that I don't have.

I have some choices to make. I love my job. I work with young adults that have aged out of foster care and I make a difference in their lives, but I can't afford to treat him and still work there. I have applied for higher paying jobs and actually interviewed for one today. It went well. I have made amends with the decision and will continue to volunteer at my old job once I'm gone. I love my Gordito Burrito more than anything. It's so hard to see him like this.

I'm thankful for this forum and the facebook page. Everyone seems so helpful. It's been the brightest spot in this whole ordeal. Thanks for sharing your stories of triumph and hardship. I feel less alone in all of this.

[Joan2517]

You are definitely not alone. You will hear from a lot of people who will help you through this.

[Aunt Jana]

Hang in there, there is a lot of support on this forum, I'm new and I can't express how helpful it's been for me.

The pharmacy I used was Valleyvet.com and 60 mg Vetoryl was approximately 68.00 with free shipping, turn around 1-2days.

Good luck

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Gordon! Joan is absolutely correct, you are not alone on this journey, we are right beside you and we will help in any way we can. ;)

I've taken the liberty and added calcinosis cutis (CC) to your thread title, in that way our members that are dealing with CC will see this and respond.

Forgive me but I'm gonna be lazy and paste a response from me to another new member regarding some money saving tips:


The test used to monitor treatment in dogs with Cushing's is the ACTH stimulation, and it's the stimulating agent that drives that cost up. Now, depending on how much Kelso weighs there is a cost savings tip for those tests. Most vets use Cortrosyn as the stimulating agent. The vial of Cortrosyn is 250 μg and instructions say to use entire vial but not all dogs need the entire vial. There have been studies done that show using just 5 μg per kg is all that's needed. As an example: if Kelso weighs 25 lbs - the lbs need to be converted to kg which is 25/2.2 = 11.36 kg. Now we take that 11.36 kg and multiply that by the 5 μg of Cortrosyn needed for each stim test = 56.8. Dividing that 250 μg (entire vial of Cortrosyn) by 56.8 = 4.4 so that means the vet could get 4 stim tests out of 1 vial which is a huge cost savings. Some vets are not aware of this so we always provide the url to Dr. Mark Peterson's blog which instructs vets on how to dilute and store Cortrosyn for future use: http://www.endocrinevet.info/2012/03/how-to-dilute-and-store-cortrosyn-for.html

You could find an online pharmacy that may be cheaper that what your vet wants for the Trilostane or you can get the dose compounded. A lot of our members use Diamondback drugs to get their dog's medication compounded : http://www.diamondbackdrugs.com/?gclid=COu81vuny8wCFYk9gQodOI8Fsg However they can not compound a dosage that Dechra (makers of Vetoryl) already manufactures so that 30 mg would have to compounded to either 29 mg or 31 mg.

You may want to look at these: to help you find the best price for prescriptions (http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showpost.php?p=183349&postcount=1)

Yep, getting copies of all tests that were done on Gordon and posting any abnormalities that are listed will definitely enable us to provide you with more meaningful feedback. With respect to the blood chemistry and complete blood count (CBC), you need only post the highs and lows and please include the normal reference ranges. Does Gordon have any underlying illness that he is taking medication for? And if so, what is it and what is the medication?

We do have members that are dealing with that calcinous cutis and I am sure they will be along soon to offer their advice. But in the meantime I'm including a post from our resident CC expert, Renne, to another member regarding that CC:

[QUOTE=Renee;173250]Hi and welcome. I am so sorry that you are dealing with CC. My pug was first diagnosed with CC in Oct of 2013. Before it was all said and done, she had open lesions from the top of her head to the base of her tail. She is now what I would call in 'remission'.

First, I'll just put this right out there - there is NO cure for CC other than bring the cortisol into proper therapeutic range and keeping it there long term. The proper range is a post of below 5 ug/dl. And, when I say long-term, I mean staying in range for months or for life. My pug stopped her meds for about a month during a bout of pancreatitis. In just 3 weeks, I saw lesions recurring.

There are things you can and should do to help manage the CC, but none of these items will cure it. They can help, that is all.

CC lesions are very susceptible to secondary infection, so I do suggest you run a course of abx on occasion, especially if things are looking particularly bad. In combination with the abx, I also suggest you add a high quality probiotic.

I did use tramadol for pain, as needed. I think they are painful. Or, at least they were painful for my pug.

You may be told that DMSO is a treatment. My personal belief is that it does nothing and is an outdated treatment. But, that is only my opinion, and there are those that have reported good results using DMSO. It will not cure the CC though, so don't think it will. It smells horrific and you'll need to wear gloves when using it. I used it on my pug for about 2 weeks then stopped. I could see it was doing nothing but making her uncomfortable and making my other pugs treat her like she had leprosy.

What I did find helpful for topical treatment was using tea compresses. Not tea tree oil! Just tea bags, like lipton or chamomile tea. I did clip the hair around the areas as well, to keep them open and exposed to air, and I did peal away the scabs that were ready to come off, otherwise they just rotted over the skin. I never covered the lesions up, although I understand covering them may be necessary to prevent your dog from itching them.

Another CC mom, Dawn, had success using a spray she purchased on amazon. I cannot recall the name, something like cetochlor? I think this helped keep infection down.

Some people have used weekly medicated baths. I'm not opposed to this. My personal choice was not to bathe my pug until her lesions were in a significant stage of improvement. I didn't think the sores needed anymore moisture and I didn't want anything else topical on them to irritate the skin more.

I actually think some time in the ocean may not be a bad idea, especially if the sores are crusty right now. If they are open and oozing, then I would not recommend it.

The lesions will bleed, crack, ooze, peel away, look raw and angry, then eventually start to dry out. When they begin to flake and dry out, I believe they are on their way to getting better. Also, keep in mind, they will get worse before getting better, and even as you bring the cortisol down, the lesions that are below the surface will continue to bust through and break open. This went on for about 6 months for us. Hopefully they will not be as angry as the ones that you may be dealing with now though.

Sorry I've typed so much. I'm working a lot right now, so I am not on all the time, but I always watch the CC threads.

The majority of the time adverse effects are only seen when a dog is started out at a too high of a dose of Trilstane. Now, the recommended starting dose of Vetoryl/Trilostane for a dog with Cushing's is 1 mg per pound of a dog's weight. So if Gordon weighs 44 lbs than he should only be prescribed a Trilostane dose of no more than 44 mg. Vetoryl/Trilostane is a strong drug and it does have some pretty scary side effects, however, adverse effects are minimized when the proper treatment protocols are followed. We have many members that are treating their cushdog with Vetoryl/Trilostane and are experiencing success.

The key to facilitating safe and effective treatment is an experienced vet and an educated pet owner, so the best advice I can give you is to do your research on Cushing's, the treatment protocols, and how it is diagnosed. With treatment dogs with Cushing's can have a good quality of life and there is every reason to believe that they can live out their normal life span.

We realize that you may have some apprehensions in starting treatment but you are not alone and we will walk this journey with you. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask them.

I am providing a link to our Resource forum which has a wealth of information regarding Cushing's and also includes articles written by some of the most renown veterinarians that specialize in endocrinology http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Hugs, Lori