Bailey the Doxachon

[Valerie92064]

Hi I'm Valerie, the human owned by an 11 year old dachshund/Bishon Frise mix.
This is our new world now. On Thursday, after a few weeks of stumbling in the dark, Bailey was diagnosed with Cushings. I had our vet go strait to an ultra sound since I could she was just not herself in so many ways. No energy. No love for food. Not doing any of the things that drive me crazy. I knew my dog and wanted answers.
So here we are because my dear friend Rene said you folks helped her to give her dog Snoopie a good life. (Thank you for that)
Thank you for having me in your group.

[judymaggie]

Hi, Valerie -- welcome to you and Bailey!

I have manually approved your membership so now all your posts will be seen right away. Also, please just disregard the validation email that was sent to you from k9cushings.

I am sorry that you are in need of a Cushing's forum, but also very glad that you have found us. If you will bear with us, we do ask lots of questions in order to have the best information to use in offering you are assistance. First, what symptoms led you or your vet to consider Cushing's. You mention that she does not "love" her food -- this is not typical for a Cushing's dog as a verocious hunger is often one of the more common symptoms. That is not to say that Bailey does not have Cushing's -- it is just unusual.

If you would, please post the results of the Cushing's tests that your vet did. If an ACTH, there will be two numbers, a "pre" and "post". If an LDDS, there will be three numbers. It would also help us if you would provide the conclusions of the ultrasound. For recent blood tests, please post any highs or lows and include the range, i.e., ALKP 510 (50-100) as well as the date. With regard to urine tests, we would be interested in what the specific gravity is as well as whether there is protein in the urine.

Has your vet discussed what comes next? I am going to give you the link to our "Resources" forum as there is quite a bit of valuable information there:

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Please share your concerns and questions with us -- we look forward to learning more about Bailey!

[Valerie92064]

Maggie- thanks for replying. After spending the day reading, I can see I am not prepared for this adventure. But that stops here. I'm going to march down to the vets office on Monday for answers and a copy of the ultrasound. I'll get back to you.
Again, thank you for helping me to know what to ask!! This is day 2 and I'm feeling overwhelmed but hopeful that -with this forum- I can be a better mom.

[labblab]

Hi Valerie, welcome to you and Bailey from me, too! Judy has already done a great job of getting you started, so I will just await your additional information about Bailey's symptoms and test results. I realize you will need to contact your vet about his tests, but if you can tell us more about the symptoms that led to the testing, that will be a big help. As Judy says, loss of appetite is unusual for a Cushpup. So I'm wondering whether he has other symptoms that are more typical of the disease.

In the meantime, please know that we all felt overwhelmed when starting off on this journey, so you are in good company ;). Just the fact that you were willing to take the time to join our group and begin posting shows you are an excellent mama :)! And we'll be here to help every way we can. Once again, welcome!

Marianne

[molly muffin]

Overwhelmed is a sentiment we all know rather well.

I'm curious as to whether they did any cushings test or just the ultrasound and if so did they just see enlarged adrenal glands and use that to make a diagnosis?

Has there been any type of say senior blood work done?

What exactly are the symptoms you are seeing? I ask because like Judy, a lack of appetite isn't what we normally see with cushings.

so the more you can tell us the better feedback we can give you