calcinosis cutis

[Feebeesmum]

My beautiful girl Feebee was diagnosed with Cushing disease October 2024 , she has received steroid treatment previous to this diagnosis for an infection. She spent 8 weeks on these. Unfortunately she developed a really bad case of calcinosis cutis. We stated her on medicated washes from the vets, K9 CBD, melatonin, lignans, turmeric, boswellia, turkey tail mushrooms, milk thistle drops, dandelion root, on top of this we were given medicated cream from the vets to apply to break down the CC, we noticed fantastic improvements doing this with out needing to start her on vetoryl. (Vet was happy with us going down a natural root) any ways fast forward to her first season since diagnosis and unfortunately we had to decide to start her on vetoryl as her symptoms began to worsen, her CC had worsened and she has some nasty sores on her head. We have noticed her skin where she had lost fur has turned completely black, the weathers been a little warmer but she doesn’t send long periods on the sun, is this normal ? Or should I be worried? Before starting on vetoryl and the weather bring so sunny her skin was pink? Will her skin also improve ? Fur grow back? I cannot seem to find any info online.

[labblab]

Hello and welcome to you and sweet Feebee! You will see that I’ve moved your new thread here, to our main discussion forum. More folks will be likely to see it and respond to it here. I’ll be back later on to write more, myself, but wanted to quickly get your membership approved and to get your thread publicly posted here.

So I shall return, but in the meantime, I’m so glad you’ve found us and joined our K9C family!

Marianne

[labblab]

OK, here I am back again :-). First of all, I’m so sorry for the problems Feebee is having. I know that CC can be so uncomfortable for dogs, and so difficult to manage. In order to help us brainstorm, I’m afraid I’m gonna first pester you with some questions. I’m guessing you meant to say that Feebee was first diagnosed in October of *2023* after having undergone steroid treatment for a couple of months. Steroid use can indeed cause Cushing’s symptoms, but if the steroids are the cause, we’d expect the symptoms to resolve after the steroids have been discontinued. Since Feebee is experiencing worsening symptoms six months later, it does raise a lot of questions. So to try to get a better picture, here’s some things I’m wondering about.

I’m hoping Feebee has had bloodwork done that can give us objective info regarding the status of her adrenal function, as well as any other abnormalities or imbalances in her blood chemistries and cell counts. Especially before starting Vetoryl (and continuing during Vetoryl treatment), you want to know how much cortisol is being produced. Plus, depending on the pattern of cortisol results, you can tell whether Cushing’s symptoms are being produced by longterm steroid use vs. naturally occurring disease.

Also, has her CC actually been confirmed via biopsy? If so, that would indeed be diagnostic of elevated cortisol. But dogs can suffer from a variety of skin infections and inflammations, some of which may resemble CC but without CC truly being the cause. I think low thyroid levels and certain infections can cause darkening of the skin, so again, that’s why I’m wondering about any other abnormal blood results in addition to cortisol.

Are the skin problems her only symptoms? You’re not mentioning any other classic Cushing’s symptoms such as excessive thirst/urination/appetite, pot belly, hind-end weakness, and exercise intolerance. Even though a confirmed diagnosis of CC lends an extremely high probability of Cushing’s, the presence of other typical symptoms would help erase any doubt.

Finally, how long has Feebee been taking the Vetoryl, and at what dose? Also, how much does she weigh?

I apologize for grilling you with so many questions. But once again, this additional info will help us all to sort out Feebee’s path forward. So thanks very much in advance!

Marianne

[Feebeesmum]

Thank you for replying. Feebee has had biopsies done to confirm CC, she has also had blood work done prior to starting and while on her new medication.
I can’t say her vet said anything in detail about her blood work however and what was showing, this is something I will ask them.
Prior to starting her medication she has symptoms of pot belly, excess drinking of water, And lots of accidents in the house, she is still having accidents despite being excellently toilet trained. Her first symptom was suspected pyoderma on the back of her neck, this was why she was originally given steroids and Antibiotics, as it wasn’t getting any better the vet increased the steroid dose and she was in them for some time, her fur began to fall out in chunks and she developed what I can only describe as more lumps and sores, at this point the vet decided to do biopsy’s which confirmed CC, she had more tests done which confirmed Cushings. She has been on her medication 3 months and weighs 13kg approx. She was 15kg when she was diagnosed however.
The weight dropped off once she started her supplemental it eased all her symptom's. She is taking 30mg once daily also. I think I have covered all your questions. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me.

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi and welcome to you and Feebee from me as well!

Just to clarify, the steroids were stopped at least 2 months before the tests for Cushing's were performed?

Hugs, Lori

[Feebeesmum]

It was around 13-14 weeks after she stopped the steroids that it was confirmed she had cushings, it was suspected before this so we started her on supplements to help ease her symptoms - the vet then advised to stop supplements for 4 weeks prior to being tested which we did.

[labblab]

Thanks so much for all this additional info. From what you’ve told us, I now feel much more comfortable about the accuracy of the Cushing’s diagnosis, and I surely hope you’ll see increasing symptom improvement as time goes on. I’m afraid I don’t know what to expect about the skin discoloration. But fur does eventually regrow once cortisol levels come under effective control. Initially, it may seem as though things are actually worse as old fur is heavily shed when a normal growth cycle resumes. But over time, new fur fills back in — sometimes even thicker than before it was lost. But it can take several weeks for that to start happening.

I definitely wish you good luck, and hope you’ll continue to update us on Feebee’s progress.

Marianne