LeighHop
10-29-2016, 12:42 PM
Hey There
First, I want to say thank you to all of the wonderful and caring people here who take their time to help and reassure others. I've been lurking for a couple of days and this is an amazing community.
I wanted to introduce myself and my sweet Schnoodle, Finnegan. Finn is 11 years old - a "once in a lifetime" dog - and is in the process of being diagnosed. I have no doubt that it's Cushings, but still working on the formal diagnosis.
I'll detail his history below, but for those of you who might not have time to read everything, I do have a question:
Has anyone experienced fast-growing lipomas along with Cushings? Finnegan has lots of little lumps and bumps, but two very large lipomas (both larger than the biggest egg I've ever seen) that seemed to pop up almost overnight. It scares me to think that he might be filled with these "harmless" lipomas.
Here's the history on my kid:
1. November 2015 - Southern California
Symptoms:
ALP: high 497 U/L (range: 5-160)
AST: high 62 U/L (range: 16-55)
Weight: 23.9
No outward symptoms
Synopsis:
Finn had a blood panel prior to a dental. The vet noted very slightly elevated liver levels. He felt comfortable continuing with the dental. Suggested an abdominal ultrasound if we wanted to be uber cautious. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a move from California to Chicago, so we decided to keep a close eye on things before doing anything further.
2. May 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
ALP: high 531 U/L (range: 5-160)
ALT: normal 55 U/L (range: 18-121)
AST: normal 42U/L (range: 16-55)
Creatine: normal .9 mg/dL (range: .5-1.5)
Cholesterol: high 389 mg/dL (range: 131-345)
Na/K Ratio: low 27 (range: 28-37)
T4: normal 1.4 ug/dL (range 1.0-4.0)
Cortisol: normal 5.5 ug/dL (range 2.0-6.0)
Increased thirst/urination
Ravenous appetite
Panting
Weakness in back legs
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Lumps and bumps - one the size of a grape on his front left shoulder
Weight loss - 22.3 pounds (vet suggested he was underweight)
Synopsis:
While I went through the entire list of symptoms, the vet's only focus was on the lumps and bumps. She aspirated everything she could find. They were all considered lipomas with the exception of the grape sized lump on his shoulder.
Finn had the lump surgically removed. It was found to have traces of a vaccine in it, which was perhaps the cause, and it was removed with clean margins. Finn's liver levels were about the same as they had been in November 2015. Having done some research, I thought Cushing's was a possibility and brought it up to the vet. I can't remember why, but she dismissed this idea and suggested if anything, he might have Addison's. She did an additional test that might indicate Addison's, but it came back with normal levels. (Edited to add: The additional test was for cortisol and came back within the normal range, see above.) The vet seemed to chalk the rest of his symptoms up to old age.
During his post-surgery follow-up ten days later, the lipoma on his chest had gone from barely discernible to the size of a small egg. I pointed this out to the vet, and she dismissed it. Said these can grow quickly and as long as it wasn't impacting his ability to get around, we should leave it alone.
3. June 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
Increased thirst/urination
Ravenous appetite
Panting
Weakness in back legs
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Lumps and bumps
Weight: 23.6 pounds
Synopsis:
The lipoma on Finn's chest continued to get bigger, and I decided it was time for a second opinion. The second vet re-tested the lipoma on Finn's chest, again did not see any abnormal cells. He also seemed to think Finn was just suffering from some old age symptoms and suggested we might start him on arthritis meds for his legs sometime in the future. I guess this is what I wanted to hear, because I just let the fight about the other symptoms go.
4. October 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
ALP: high 1,835 U/L (range: 5-160)
ALT: high 349 U/L (range: 18-121)
AST: normal 41 U/L (range: 16-55)
Creatine Kinase: high 244 U/L (range: 10-200)
Cholesterol: high 528 mg/dL (range: 131-345)
Na/K Ratio: normal 29 (range: 28-37)
T4: low .9 ug/dL (range 1.0-4.0)
Increased thirst/urination (although less than in May/June)
Ravenous appetite
Quick breathing (no longer panting, just not breathing nice and relaxed)
Weakness in back legs (Sometimes quite bad)
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Weight gain - up to 25.0 pounds. (I do think he looks a bit pot-bellied.)
Lumps and bumps - Including a very large lipoma on his back left flank that grew to be incredibly large seemingly overnight
Synopsis:
The moment I found the new lipoma on his flank (which I think is bigger than the one on his chest, but it is hard to tell because of his muscle) I called the vet for a recheck. Lipoma came back with no abnormal cells and vet suggested we start Rimadyl for suspected arthritis in his back legs. (Any alarm bells going off out there?) He took a full blood panel, but sent me home with the Rimadyl and said we'd keep an eye on the lipomas.
I gave Finn one dose of the Rimadyl that night before I started reading about how toxic it could be for pups with liver problems. I did not give him any more doses. The vet called the next day with the test results. His ALT was 349 U/L (normal: 18-121) and his ALP was 1,835 U/L (normal: 5-160). Told me to stop the Rimadyl immediately and referred me to a specialty vet for an abdominal ultrasound.
We go for the ultrasound this Wednesday and then we will be working on the ACTH stimulation test.
While I like the personality of this vet, I'm concerned about his ignoring of Finn's symptoms back in June and obviously concerned about being given Rimadyl, which could have killed Finn. I'm thinking I need to find a third vet. Both of these vets are young, and I'm concerned they just haven't been around the block enough to know what's best for Finn.
Anyway, thanks for listening and I hope you don't mind if I keep updating this tread to bounce ideas off of all of you. (And just a reminder... I'd love to hear if anyone has heard of these large lipomas in connection with Cushings.)
First, I want to say thank you to all of the wonderful and caring people here who take their time to help and reassure others. I've been lurking for a couple of days and this is an amazing community.
I wanted to introduce myself and my sweet Schnoodle, Finnegan. Finn is 11 years old - a "once in a lifetime" dog - and is in the process of being diagnosed. I have no doubt that it's Cushings, but still working on the formal diagnosis.
I'll detail his history below, but for those of you who might not have time to read everything, I do have a question:
Has anyone experienced fast-growing lipomas along with Cushings? Finnegan has lots of little lumps and bumps, but two very large lipomas (both larger than the biggest egg I've ever seen) that seemed to pop up almost overnight. It scares me to think that he might be filled with these "harmless" lipomas.
Here's the history on my kid:
1. November 2015 - Southern California
Symptoms:
ALP: high 497 U/L (range: 5-160)
AST: high 62 U/L (range: 16-55)
Weight: 23.9
No outward symptoms
Synopsis:
Finn had a blood panel prior to a dental. The vet noted very slightly elevated liver levels. He felt comfortable continuing with the dental. Suggested an abdominal ultrasound if we wanted to be uber cautious. Unfortunately, we were in the middle of a move from California to Chicago, so we decided to keep a close eye on things before doing anything further.
2. May 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
ALP: high 531 U/L (range: 5-160)
ALT: normal 55 U/L (range: 18-121)
AST: normal 42U/L (range: 16-55)
Creatine: normal .9 mg/dL (range: .5-1.5)
Cholesterol: high 389 mg/dL (range: 131-345)
Na/K Ratio: low 27 (range: 28-37)
T4: normal 1.4 ug/dL (range 1.0-4.0)
Cortisol: normal 5.5 ug/dL (range 2.0-6.0)
Increased thirst/urination
Ravenous appetite
Panting
Weakness in back legs
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Lumps and bumps - one the size of a grape on his front left shoulder
Weight loss - 22.3 pounds (vet suggested he was underweight)
Synopsis:
While I went through the entire list of symptoms, the vet's only focus was on the lumps and bumps. She aspirated everything she could find. They were all considered lipomas with the exception of the grape sized lump on his shoulder.
Finn had the lump surgically removed. It was found to have traces of a vaccine in it, which was perhaps the cause, and it was removed with clean margins. Finn's liver levels were about the same as they had been in November 2015. Having done some research, I thought Cushing's was a possibility and brought it up to the vet. I can't remember why, but she dismissed this idea and suggested if anything, he might have Addison's. She did an additional test that might indicate Addison's, but it came back with normal levels. (Edited to add: The additional test was for cortisol and came back within the normal range, see above.) The vet seemed to chalk the rest of his symptoms up to old age.
During his post-surgery follow-up ten days later, the lipoma on his chest had gone from barely discernible to the size of a small egg. I pointed this out to the vet, and she dismissed it. Said these can grow quickly and as long as it wasn't impacting his ability to get around, we should leave it alone.
3. June 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
Increased thirst/urination
Ravenous appetite
Panting
Weakness in back legs
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Lumps and bumps
Weight: 23.6 pounds
Synopsis:
The lipoma on Finn's chest continued to get bigger, and I decided it was time for a second opinion. The second vet re-tested the lipoma on Finn's chest, again did not see any abnormal cells. He also seemed to think Finn was just suffering from some old age symptoms and suggested we might start him on arthritis meds for his legs sometime in the future. I guess this is what I wanted to hear, because I just let the fight about the other symptoms go.
4. October 2016 - Chicago
Symptoms:
ALP: high 1,835 U/L (range: 5-160)
ALT: high 349 U/L (range: 18-121)
AST: normal 41 U/L (range: 16-55)
Creatine Kinase: high 244 U/L (range: 10-200)
Cholesterol: high 528 mg/dL (range: 131-345)
Na/K Ratio: normal 29 (range: 28-37)
T4: low .9 ug/dL (range 1.0-4.0)
Increased thirst/urination (although less than in May/June)
Ravenous appetite
Quick breathing (no longer panting, just not breathing nice and relaxed)
Weakness in back legs (Sometimes quite bad)
Change in demeanor - just a bit slower/more tired
Weight gain - up to 25.0 pounds. (I do think he looks a bit pot-bellied.)
Lumps and bumps - Including a very large lipoma on his back left flank that grew to be incredibly large seemingly overnight
Synopsis:
The moment I found the new lipoma on his flank (which I think is bigger than the one on his chest, but it is hard to tell because of his muscle) I called the vet for a recheck. Lipoma came back with no abnormal cells and vet suggested we start Rimadyl for suspected arthritis in his back legs. (Any alarm bells going off out there?) He took a full blood panel, but sent me home with the Rimadyl and said we'd keep an eye on the lipomas.
I gave Finn one dose of the Rimadyl that night before I started reading about how toxic it could be for pups with liver problems. I did not give him any more doses. The vet called the next day with the test results. His ALT was 349 U/L (normal: 18-121) and his ALP was 1,835 U/L (normal: 5-160). Told me to stop the Rimadyl immediately and referred me to a specialty vet for an abdominal ultrasound.
We go for the ultrasound this Wednesday and then we will be working on the ACTH stimulation test.
While I like the personality of this vet, I'm concerned about his ignoring of Finn's symptoms back in June and obviously concerned about being given Rimadyl, which could have killed Finn. I'm thinking I need to find a third vet. Both of these vets are young, and I'm concerned they just haven't been around the block enough to know what's best for Finn.
Anyway, thanks for listening and I hope you don't mind if I keep updating this tread to bounce ideas off of all of you. (And just a reminder... I'd love to hear if anyone has heard of these large lipomas in connection with Cushings.)