13 year old toy goldendoodle suspect Cushings

[grandy]

Hi. New to the forum.

Our pup Mac a toy golden doodle (32 pound some toy !!! )turned 13 in April and has issues with excessive drinking , hunger, and worst of all losing control of his bladder He has been dribbling pee for a while but now I find puddles underneath him when he gets up and he has accidents in the house at night and when we are out. I have started to use diapers and it is just so sad for him and for me He is still quite energetic some of the time and still looks like a puppy. But over the last year I have seen changes in behaviour, almost like Dementia. He is losing hearing and some vision as well as issues with slipping and missing stairs etc... His Liver enzyemes have been off for about the same time but unfortunately our wonderful Vet had retired and it took me a while to find a like minded vet . He is going for the blood test day at the Vets office this week and then I guess we will know for sure if it is Cushings

I love Mac endlessly but I do not believe in prolonging life when the quality of it will not be good . I guess then my question is will a senior dog that age benefit from treating Cushings for what ever time he has left ? would we be better to give him CBD for pain and inflammation . We live in Canada and all cannabis products are highly available . Any thoughts or advise will be greatly welcomed. I am so worried about him

cheers

[Squirt's Mom]

Hi and welcome to you and your baby!

I only have a second this morning but wanted to tell you 2 things. 1 CBD will do nothing to help Cushing's nor will any other so-called natural product unfortunately. This is from an herbalist who would be shouting from the rooftops if this were different.

2 here are the signs of Cushing's for you to take a look at and compare to what you are seeing your sweet Mac:

Cushing's is a sign-driven disease, meaning the signs (signs = symptoms in animals) are just as important as the test numbers....sometimes MORE important. The most common signs of Hyperadrenocortism (canine Cushing's Disease):
*increased/excessive water consumption (polydipsia)
*increased/excessive urination (polyuria)
*urinary accidents in previously housetrained dogs
*increased/excessive appetite (polyphagia)
*sagging, bloated, pot-bellied appearance
*weight gain or its appearance, due to fat redistribution
*loss of muscle mass, giving the appearance of weight loss
*bony, skull-like appearance of head
*exercise intolerance, lethargy, general or hind-leg weakness
*excess panting
*seeking cool surfaces to rest on
*symmetrically thinning hair or baldness (alopecia) on torso
*other coat changes like dullness, dryness
*slow regrowth and/or failure to regrow of hair after clipping/shaving
*thin, wrinkled, fragile, and/or darkly pigmented skin
*thin, crepey, easily damaged skin that heals slowly
*dark, bruised looking skin
*hard, calcified lumps in the skin (calcinosis cutis)
*susceptibility to infections (especially skin and urinary)
*diabetes, pancreatitis, seizures

Others will be along shortly I'm sure and I will check back in later.

Again, welcome to you and Mac!
Hugs,
Leslie

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Mac!

I am so sorry for the reasons that brought you here but so glad you found us and we will help in any way we can. I'm enclosing a post from one of our staffers that she wrote to another member of the forum.




In my own mind, the decision whether or not to treat any dog depends on a number of factors: age of the dog, apparent discomfort, severity of symptoms (both external and internal), etc. Cushing's is typically a slowly developing syndrome, and the decision to actively treat may come sooner or later in the process. The primary goals of treament are to control the troublesome observable symptoms (things like excessive thirst, urination, hunger, panting, muscle wasting), and also to halt/delay silent internal damage. Untreated Cushing's can make dogs more vulnerable to things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, protein-losing kidney disease, blindness (as a result of high blood pressure), pancreatitis, ligament damage and slow healing, chronic infections and skin issues, GI disturbance, etc. Not every dog will suffer from all or even many of these issues, but the disease can make them happen. For a younger dog, I would want to provide as many quality years of life that I could, and that would mean putting a stop to the development of the internal systemic damage as well as relieving the uncomfortable outward problems.

However, since the damage usually occurs over time, my own opinion is that I don't worry so much about the "silent" damage in a dog who is already elderly. Instead, my biggest concern for a senior dog is immediate quality of life. So if the overt symptoms are making the senior dog uncomfortable, I would treat. Otherwise, I might choose not to treat, especially if my senior dog suffers from inflammatory conditions like arthritis that may actually be soothed by the elevated cortisol level of Cushing's. Treatment also involves frequent vet visits and blood draws, especially at the beginning. So again, if vet visits are really stressful for a senior dog, I'd also factor that into my treatment decision.

Marianne

Please do not hesitate to ask all the questions you want and know we are here for you both.

Hugs, Lori

[grandy]

Hi , we started mac on 30 mg of veteroyl 16 days ago and he is still having increased thirst and wet diapers most of the time I called the vet at the 2 week mark and she suggested waiting the full 3 weeks as some pups take longer ?

wonder if any one has experience like this ?

[labblab]

Hello, and here’s a belated welcome from me to you and Mac! Yes, it’s not unusual for it to take some time to arrive at the optimal dose of Vetoryl to effectively control symptoms. Excessive thirst, urination and hunger are typically the first issues to show improvement once a therapeutic medication level is achieved. But even they can take some time depending upon the dog’s response to the medication. I believe your vet’s advice in this situation is appropriate, however. Actually, if anything, I’d want to wait until a full month after beginning treatment to consider a dosage increase. This is because researchers have found that, when starting treatment, a dog’s cortisol level can continue to drift downward during the first thirty days even when the Vetoryl dose remains unchanged.

For this reason, it’s usually best to wait to make upward dosing adjustments until the cortisol level has been checked after that first month of treatment. At that point, you can make a more informed decision regarding the extent to which a dosing increase will be most helpful and best tolerated. For safety’s sake, you always prefer to make dosing changes based upon actual lab results in addition to outward appearance. Conditions other than Cushing’s can also produce overlapping symptoms, so checking the cortisol level before increasing a dose is always an important piece of the equation.

We’ll be anxious to hear what develops over these next couple of weeks, so please do keep us updated. And continued good luck to Mac!

Marianne

[grandy]

thank you , so good to chat here and get advice. We will stay the course :)