Schnoodle with cushings and diabetes when to start treatment

[Cleo]

Hi, Cleo is 10 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes 3 months ago. She started on insulin immediately. Her BG would not go down. After 3 weeks, we noticed her fur was "shedding". She was always panting also and always appeared bloated. We had her tested, and she was positive for cushings. The doctor wanted to stabilize the diabetes, so we have upped the insulin continuously. Well she is finally stabilized, and the vet wants to wait 30 days more before starting the cushings meds. She says they think Cleo might not need the meds because the diabetes could have caused the cushings. I find this quite odd, as I thought diabetes could not cause cushings. I was hoping someone could verify that diabetes cannot cause cushings, so I can have an informed discussion with the vet.
Thank you for any help you can provide.

[lulusmom]

Hi and welcome to you and Cleo.

It is never a good idea to test for cushing's when a dog's blood glucose is out of control because false-positive test results on the cushing's diagnostic tests are very common in dogs with nonadrenal illness and most certainly diabetes. You are absolutely correct that diabetes cannot cause cushing's and I therefore don't think your vet meant that diabetes caused Cleo to have cushing's but rather the out of control high blood sugars could have caused false positive results. The fact that your vet was able to get Cleo's diabetes stabilized enough for him to doubt the cushing's diagnosis and therefore the need for medication, is actually a very good thing. Diabetes is difficult enough to deal with and throwing cushing's in the mix can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning.

I've included a url below to a very relative page from Dr. Mark Peterson's Q & A that I think you will find very interesting. Dr. Peterson is a renown and very well published veterinary endocrinologist who started his site to help educate veterinarians and pet owners. This particular Q & A page involves a Schnoodle with diabetes whose vet suspects he may also have cushing's.

http://www.endocrinevet.info/2012/01/q-diagnosing-cushings-disease-in-dogs.html

If you are not already a member at our sister site k9diabetes.com, I highly recommend that you join there as well. If it does turn out that Cleo truly has cushing's, we are here to help you in any way we can but right now I think your vet is correct that the primary focus right now should be on the diabetes to see if Cleo stays stable on her current dose of insulin. There is tremendous collective knowledge and experience at k9diabetes and the members there can help guide you and answer any questions you may have. We have had many, many pet owners who have been in our exact situation and having the best of both worlds will help you be an excellent advocate for Cleo. A lot of us are members of both groups so we keep tabs. If you join k9diabetes, and I hope you do, I will be happy to post a link to your thread there and vice versa.

I am so sorry for the reasons that brought you here but I'm super glad that you found us. I will be anxious for your updates and will be keeping fingers and paws crossed that Cleo's diabetes remains stable.

Glynda

[Cleo]

Thank you so much for the link. I will go there and read the article. I'll also join your sister site. Thank you for the reply.

[judymaggie]

Hi! Glynda has gotten you off to a great start. I strongly encourage you to join the http://k9diabetes.com/ site. Although, as Glynda said, there is a lot of crossover in membership, you will get direct guidance from the members there with regard to managing Cleo's diabetes.

Looking forward to learning more about Cleo and how she does in the days ahead!