Dog with Cushings Disease

[April2]

Hello. I have a maltese mix who was diagnosed with Cushings Disease several months ago. The vet said there's medication but that it's very expensive and doesn't seem to prolong their life. I made the decision to just watch him and let him live out his life. He's 11 years old. This last year I've noticed a decline in him somewhat but not sure if it's because of the Cushings or just old age. He has trouble with his back legs a lot now just suddenly giving out especially on stairs. He struggles to get up if he's been laying down for awhile. I also don't think he sees or hears as well as he used to. He's overweight which seems to partly go with the Cushings. We have him on a low-fat diet and it doesn't seem to help much. I try to walk him but he tires out easily and I wind up having to carry him home because he'll sit down and refuse to walk anymore! And just last night he was breathing funny. At first he was panting really hard for a long time. I kept checking the AC and turning it on more. Finally he stopped panting but was snoring and making funny noises for hours before he finally quieted down. He has snored before but not sounded like that. Today he's acting ok. Is this all signs of aging? Could some of it be the Cushings? Also, I told the vet sometimes he will try to get up and his back legs act like they're frozen and he can't come to me. I'll call him and he struggles to come but can't for several seconds and then he can walk again. It's weird. I've tried to describe it to the vet. I wish I had a video of it. Could this just be arthritis? Or could he be having a mild seizure from time to time? He's kind of gone down hill more this last year. I wonder, sadly, sometimes if this will be his last year.

[jsbcm5]

I know I'm reading this 2 1/2 yrs later but I was wondering what meds you used.

[dgorgy1]

Vetoryl (Trilostane) is the ONLY FDA approved treatment for Cushings.  The Homeopathic stuff is not clinically proven.  If your dog is doing well on this med, please keep her on it.  It is expensive.  Her fur will grow back, and she should regain muscle mass and lose her pot belly.

[RobertoF1974]

My dog has been on trilostane for about a month and the panting has slowed a bit, but shes losing weight and seems to be drunk and her legs weak, shes not wagging her tail pr even playful like shes normally. Shes on 120 mg a day. I dont see any improvement and shes about 6 years old. Can u recommend something please

[bumbo2015]

my poor puppy has cushings, she is on vetoryl 60 mg a day.costs me a fortune, her health aint great, she is a happy doggy and doesn't seem to struggle too much, she is quite weighty around the tummy area, she has lost a lot of fur, will this grow back she has been on her meds 4 months now,please help thanks

[LinneaJ]

I have a 12 year old collie beagle mix. My vet has just informed me my dog most likely has Cushings, we are waiting confirmation from the initial bloodwork before we proceed for additional testing. I was researching and came along this post. Looking at the symptoms I believe he has had for a long time. He developed a pot belly many years ago, has had ear infections that won't heal and has had missing fur and skin infections which they thought were attributed to an immune disease. For years I have spent a lot of money bringing him to the vets to try and figure out what is wrong with him and money on a ton of meds trying to address the skin, ear problems.  Starting a month ago he started drinking and peeing excessively, including all over the house which he has never done.  He  can't get enough to eat, stealing food and going into the garbage.

This week he seems to have taken a huge turn for the worse, he wakes me up every few hours to get more water and pee. He is also vomiting a lot, I read a post that many dogs with Cushing have pancreatitis. He is losing strength in his back legs and is starting to attack people at the house. He has gone after several young girls.

I have been reading a lot about cushings and there have been reports of the meds causing liver failure. My vet quoted $600-1000 for the additional blood work. $300 for the first 10 days of meds and the $170 a month for meds but we will also need to bring him him to the vets every month for bloodwork ($300). I love my dog but we just don't have $1000s, we have already cut back to send our son to college. The reviews are mixed on whether or not the meds worked and given that he has been untreated so long and seems to take a drastic turn for the worse.

I have read the posts and am unclear will the meds address just the drinking, peeing issue or will it also address the skin, ear infections and the attacking people. This treatment will cause us a huge hardship so I am just trying to understand if his quality of life will be greatly improved. Additionally, I am worried about him seriously injuring someone. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Sophiesjourney]

I agree that if you can afford you should medicate. We love our dog so much, we defiantly will make sure she is cared for, no matter what. Our Maltese Sophie is just 10, it has been confirmed she has Cushings. She has had the whole work up..from blood tests, ultra sound of kidneys and liver, she had kidney stones 3 years ago, she's had the UTI infections which led to changing her anatomy of her vulva. No more urinary infections. So now she just had her "well dog check up" cortisol so we're high. We did all of the work ups as I said, the last was the urine test to see if she had proteins in the urine. She does..we are now starting her on low dose of Vetoryl 30 mg. she has to take with food. From here she gets checked every 2 weeks. We have not really seen anything unusual in our dog before this check up. She's 10 and she does nap a lot. She always has an appitite from day we brought her home at 6 weeks. But she won't eat her own food until she has a taste of ours:-) but she does eat her own, it's Hills KD. I will keep posting on this site to let you all know how Sophie is doing. And I will be following your journeys as well to compare. We believe we are at the beginning of Sophie's disease. Thank you for posting, all your comments are helpful. The Arcella's

[Gabbywoulfe]

Heidi one other question I forgot ,how long did it take for you to start seeing improvement once you started meds?
I just helped Gabby drink water by keeping her balanced this is painful to watch but I will continue to do what is needed till she says enough!
Thanks
Dana