My Sheltie just diagnosed with Cushings and needs surgery

My 13 year old sheltie, Candy, was just diagnosed with Cushings disease this year.  She was borderline back in May and had minimal symptoms (always liked to eat and steal food, drinks a little extra water, does have accidents on the newspaper, and pants more than normal).  Otherwise, she seems healthy, happy, and active.  She now needs surgery to remove a papilloma that is bothering her and a large lipoma (possible liposarcoma) on her neck.  I heard that surgery can be risky for Cushings dogs.  One vet recommends treating her with Lysodren one month before surgery to get the Cushings under control so that Candy can heal properly.  The other vet thinks he can operate sooner with a laser because Candy is borderline and he feels that too many drugs in an older dog's system increase surgical risk.  I am leaning toward doing the laser surgery because the vet is very experienced with this and Candy appears to be healing normally from the papilloma she tore up a couple weeks ago. It was bleeding a lot at the time, and it is now fully healed and has even shrunk.  Frankly, I'm a little scared of the Cushings drugs.  I have chosen not to treat her so far, especially since Candy has suffered from (infrequent) bouts of severe arthritis (she had Lyme in the past).  She also has had idiopathic seizures since she was 3 years old (so likely not related to a pituitary tumor).  I suppose she will eventually have to go on drugs.  I have heard that Lysodren and trilostane both can work well for many dogs but carry risks.  Any suggestions about the surgery or the meds?  Candy generally seems so happy and active for a geriatric dog, I kinda hate to mess with her too much.

[Sandra_G]

Hi...My 10 yr. old poodle is on Trilostane since last Feb. & that drug is great. There are NO dangers in Trilostane like there are in Lysodren, which has caused deaths. There is no antedote for Lysodren. For Trilostane, there is. My poodle is 13 lbs & never had a days sickness with Trilostane. Please do consider Trilostane for your dog.
I don't want to do any kind of surgery on my Julie. She has too many other problems caused by the Cushings, which reeks havock on thier body.  All my Vets say surgery is too risky. (Read my posts on Julie)
Right now, she is happy, not in pain, that I know of & most days she is back to her fun self. What more can I ask for. I take "one day at a time"...thats all we all have.

Julie has slowed down alot in the past year. That breaks my heart. She sleeps alot too.
She has a ravenous appetite & drinks lots of water. I am very careful not to give her table food anymore & mostly give her Hills I/D wet food & Hills R/D dry food.
I give her a hard boiled egg white daily for breakfast. I give her mashed cooked Yams with her pills & sometimes as a treat. I give her cooked sliced carrots as a treat.
I must be so very careful because she gets major Pancreatitis attacks from foods.
I almost lost Julie twice from that. Her other 2 attacks were not as severe.
As you see, Cushings causes so many other problems.

I wish you the best with your dog & hope that I helped you somewhat.