King probably has Cushing's disease.

[Ratboy]

King has been the healthiest dog I have ever had, and I knew his being bulletproof would end one of these days, but not quite this way.

He's put on a bunch of weight over the last six months. I thought it was odd that at almost 11 when I first noticed it, as he was as active as ever, and I also noticed a lot of hair that was always black was getting to be this weird rusty color. I just figured it was some old age thing. He also suddenly started snoring. Not the usual snoring, this one was very odd, almost like a hissing noise more than the usual "sawing wood" sound. He's been totally food crazy since he was starved in the kennel I boarded him at when I had knee surgery, so I didn't notice it had gone up a notch. He never drank a lot of water before, but he really suddenly started doing it, and since he always peed a huge amount, I didn't notice he was peeing more often too. All these things are symptoms of Cushing's, but I just didn't see it sneaking up.

About 10 days ago, I was on my way home from work with King, and he seemed to be ok when we left, but when I got home, he wouldn't move, and looked like he was very distressed. I called the vet's office, and they told me to bring him in. Of course, when we pulled into the lot, his head popped up and he seemed to be totally fine. He walked in and greeted the people working there, like always. They weighed him, and I was shocked when 79 pounds came up on the readout. He had gone from 53-54 pounds to 79 in about 7 months! He doesn't look anywhere near 79 pounds, I was going to guess about 65 at most. He carries it pretty well, but since he was pretty skinny at 54, it figures.

The vet came in and she looked him over, and said that thyroid was a possibility and Cushing's was too. She took blood, and everything came back pretty good, except his liver enzymes were a little high. They sent the thyroid test to U of M, and it came back OK. So I got a pee sample from him and they should be calling me tomorrow with the final results. With all the symptoms he has, it's almost certain to be Cushing's. Next thing will be trying to figure out if the tumor is on the adrenal gland, or in his brain.

The only threads I found were a couple years old, and I was just wondering is anyone going through this right now? Anyone in the middle of it?

 

[MericoX]

Giny on here has a toy poodle with Cushings.

Hope you find out what's wrong with your guy... best wishes!!

 

[Giny]

Yes, we are going through this with our dog Boomer who was diagnosed a couple of years ago. He was diagnosed at a young age of 5.

The next test they'll probably do for King is a low dose dexamethasone test. They'll keep him there for the day, take a first bold sample, then inject him with dexamethasone and take more blood sample afterward to find out how fast his body can rid itself of it. If he shows that his levels are in the high range then the vets will talk to you about medication that can help keep his levels in the normal range. If he does find out he has it and you are in the loading faze of the meds and nervous about it don't hesitate to send me a PM. I'll be more then happy to be there for you guys.

Good luck with everything and hope King will be ok!

 

[Amanda885]

sending you tons of positive vibes... *hugs!*
good luck and hope that King will be ok!

 

[Ratboy]

Thanks for the replies and good wishes, everybody. Hopefully, this will end up turning out OK, but at 11+ years, who knows. I have known a lot of dogs that went sour very quickly at a much younger age. I was expecting the call today confirming his positive diagnosis, but I never got it. I don't see how it could be anything else. I want to get the deal going and get him back to something close to normal. Just getting rid of the snoring would be nice, it's very loud.

 

[Ratboy]

Just an update-
He definitely has Cushing's, but the low dose test was inconclusive, so he's going tomorrow for the high dose test, and then hopefully, he will start actually being treated for it. He gained another 2 pounds in the time from when this was first looked at, about 3 weeks total. Hopefully, he will soon be on the way to getting this under control and start losing weight.

 

[Ratboy]

Update and a possible huge new issue.

The high dose test showed he's got pituitary caused Cushing's and he started on Vetoryl almost two weeks ago. In three days, the excessive drinking started easing up, and within a week, he was obviously feeling better, as he was tormenting Molly, and he's been nipping my rear end when I have dawdled around too long. He's beginning to get picky about his food again, he only ate most of the popcorn I gave him last night and tonight. It's been a long time since he's turned almost any food down. His drinking has gone from 3+ pints in 8 hours at work, to about one to one and a half pints, still more than he used to drink, but a lot better. He seems to be tolerating the Vetoryl ok, and is getting better day by day. He goes in Monday for his cortisol test to see if the dosage is correct, and hopefully I might be able to drop the dosage down to one pill vs two a day.

Now the other problem, something that might make the Cushing's just a minor issue. Last Thursday, I woke up and turned the light next to my bed on, and King looked at me, and I saw something inside his right nostril. I thought for a second he had just inhaled something, but when I looked inside his nose with a flashlight, I could see there was what looked like a tumor inside his nose! It was pink and white and had veins in it, and it was bleeding very slightly. It looked like many pictures of cancer I've seen, and that really upset me.

He has been making an odd hissing type noise over the last few months that I thought was due to weight and old age, and it's obvious the cause was whatever that thing in his nose is. I verified it by putting my finger over the right nostril, and the hissing almost totally disappeared.

I took him to the vet the next day and she put him on an antifungal and antibiotic to see if it's possibly a fungal infection. So far, the pills don't seem to be doing anything, but he doesn't seem to be hissing nearly as much, so I'm still a little hopeful. That could be simply because he's not drinking an insane amount of water anymore, or the pills might be doing something after all. But, if the pills aren't doing anything, it's probably cancer. Once that's verified, well, nature will be allowed to take it's course, and when he starts to have any sign of pain, or breathing issues, that will be it. He should make it to about the 12 year mark, not too far off a normal lifespan. I don't know what Molly will do without her brother, the boss, but if she stays as big a mess as she is when he's gone, it won't be long before I get another dog. I'm not one to wait too long anyway. If it's cancer, he will get all the junk food he wants in the time he has left, and he will have as normal a life as is possible in the time he has left. It's amazing how things have changed since last summer, when he had a checkup and was pronounced "About as perfect as an almost 11 year old dog his size can be!". That seems like it was a long time ago for some reason.

 

[Ratboy]

Update and a possible huge new issue.

The high dose test showed he's got pituitary caused Cushing's and he started on Vetoryl almost two weeks ago. In three days, the excessive drinking started easing up, and within a week, he was obviously feeling better, as he was tormenting Molly, and he's been nipping my rear end when I have dawdled around too long. He's beginning to get picky about his food again, he only ate most of the popcorn I gave him last night and tonight. It's been a long time since he's turned almost any food down. His drinking has gone from 3+ pints in 8 hours at work, to about one to one and a half pints, still more than he used to drink, but a lot better. He seems to be tolerating the Vetoryl ok, and is getting better day by day. He goes in Monday for his cortisol test to see if the dosage is correct, and hopefully I might be able to drop the dosage down to one pill vs two a day.

Now the other problem, something that might make the Cushing's just a minor issue. Last Thursday, I woke up and turned the light next to my bed on, and King looked at me, and I saw something inside his right nostril. I thought for a second he had just inhaled something, but when I looked inside his nose with a flashlight, I could see there was what looked like a tumor inside his nose! It was pink and white and had veins in it, and it was bleeding very slightly. It looked like many pictures of cancer I've seen, and that really upset me.

He has been making an odd hissing type noise over the last few months that I thought was due to weight and old age, and it's obvious the cause was whatever that thing in his nose is. I verified it by putting my finger over the right nostril, and the hissing almost totally disappeared.

I took him to the vet the next day and she put him on an antifungal and antibiotic to see if it's possibly a fungal infection. So far, the pills don't seem to be doing anything, but he doesn't seem to be hissing nearly as much, so I'm still a little hopeful. That could be simply because he's not drinking an insane amount of water anymore, or the pills might be doing something after all. But, if the pills aren't doing anything, it's probably cancer. Once that's verified, well, nature will be allowed to take it's course, and when he starts to have any sign of pain, or breathing issues, that will be it. He should make it to about the 12 year mark, not too far off a normal lifespan. I don't know what Molly will do without her brother, the boss, but if she stays as big a mess as she is when he's gone, it won't be long before I get another dog. I'm not one to wait too long anyway. If it's cancer, he will get all the junk food he wants in the time he has left, and he will have as normal a life as is possible in the time he has left. It's amazing how things have changed since last summer, when he had a checkup and was pronounced "About as perfect as an almost 11 year old dog his size can be!". That seems like it was a long time ago for some reason.

 

[cricketsmygirl]

Awww, it really stinks to hear things aren't sounding the greatest, Sending you huge No Cancer Vibes! Have you thought about having the tumor (If it's a tumor) Removed?

 

[smkie]

Worries. You have faced so much together. Prayers that it is not cancer.

 

[filarotten]

I'm so sorry, I just saw this. I'm sending prayers that it is not cancer. I hope he has avew more years to share with you.
Keep us posted.

 

[Ratboy]

Awww, it really stinks to hear things aren't sounding the greatest, Sending you huge No Cancer Vibes! Have you thought about having the tumor (If it's a tumor) Removed?

Well I've checked into it, and it's a lot of money, and it's not got a great success rate, and to be honest, I already am into the Cushing's for about $1000, and I just can't afford to put $5-7000 on a credit card. Besides, he would have to go through radiation and surgery, etc, and it's not got a good success rate at all.

His nose looks different inside now, so maybe he got very lucky. I'm holding off doing a biopsy on his nose for a couple of weeks, at least until the pills are gone. Once there is a diagnosis, I will make a final decision. He's feeling good and has lost a little weight already, so for the time being, he's happy, and that's the important thing.

Thanks for the vibes!

 

[Ratboy]

Worries. You have faced so much together. Prayers that it is not cancer.

Thanks. He's definitely not hissing so much, a very good sign, but it's still too soon to know what's up. I'm trying not to get to hopeful, in case it is cancer after all.

 

[Ratboy]

Good news all around! His nasal problem turned out to be a fungus infection, and he sneezed out what looked like a hunk of mushroom and some blood after a couple weeks of antibiotics. His nose is normal inside now, and he barely can be heard breathing while sleeping.

His Cushing's is under control on the Vetoryl. He's lost about 10 pounds already and what I thought was old age slowing him down turned out to be the Cushing's. He's back to being as hyper as he was years ago, and recently spent almost 45 minutes straight wrestling with one of his dog buddies and like he used to do, wore him out to the point he was ready to collapse without being very tired himself. We stopped him before he was ready to stop himself. A short nap and he was trying to get going again, but we left before he really got started. If he wasn't all white in the face, and his eyes weren't cloudy, he would appear to be a 4 to five year old dog. He's done a couple of the run through the house at full speed and bouncing off the furniture deals, and he hasn't done one of those for probably 5 or 6 years.

He did have one odd thing though. He had a severe dizzy spell, with his eyes darting back and forth very quickly a couple weeks ago. I almost took him to the ER vet, but he went to sleep, so I waited to see what happened, and in 4 hours he was totally ok.

His bouncing off the walls like he's been doing resulted in a horrible looking tear in his side that was about the size of a quarter and about 1/4" deep. I have no idea how he did it, it wasn't there when I went to bed, but about 2 hours after I got up, he got out of the car at work, and there it was. It took almost 2 weeks to heal.

 

[Giny]

It's great to hear that he's doing better!! Also glad that his nose problem was fixable, Cushings bring their immune system so low, I'm not surprised to hear that it was an infection.

The sore he had also sound like some type of skin infection seen in dogs with Cushings. Boomer used to get those. The first one came on all of a sudden and at first looked like a puncture wound on his neck. I thought he got into a fight with Tilly at first, poor Tilly getting the blame, until I noticed more. It starts out as a hard bump, which at first I didn't see, that then ruptured into a soar.

 

[Barb04]

I'm glad he's been improving. Hugs for both of you.

 

[Ratboy]

It's great to hear that he's doing better!! Also glad that his nose problem was fixable, Cushings bring their immune system so low, I'm not surprised to hear that it was an infection.

The sore he had also sound like some type of skin infection seen in dogs with Cushings. Boomer used to get those. The first one came on all of a sudden and at first looked like a puncture wound on his neck. I thought he got into a fight with Tilly at first, poor Tilly getting the blame, until I noticed more. It starts out as a hard bump, which at first I didn't see, that then ruptured into a soar.

I don't know if that was it or not, the vet wasn't sure either, it looked like he hit it on something to me, but it being almost perfectly round with a red ring around it makes me wonder. Anyway, it's gone now, but he will have a scar there, and it appears a dime sized place where no hair will be growing, but I said that before when my last dog hit himself on an old copper door weatherstrip, and took a big chunk of skin out. He had a visible scar on his side for a while, and then suddenly the hair came back and it disappeared.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Ratboy]

I'm glad he's been improving. Hugs for both of you.

Thanks!

 

[Ratboy]

An update-

King at this point in time is doing amazingly well. He's lost almost all the weight he put on last year, and is now in the high 50's. I didn't control his eating at all, he's just very active again, and seemed to burn it off. His skin looks good, all his hair is back, his elbow pads are gone too. He's almost 100% black where he's supposed to be, not the weird dark red he was becoming. I would guess he will lose the rest when he blows his coat next time. His tail, which looked terrible in May, half bald, suddenly in July came back and now is the overly thick and shiny tail it always was before, no hair missing, not even the common bald spot at the base of the tail that a lot of older dogs is bald anymore. His stomach skin has thickened up and his peach fuzz normal fur on it is back too.

He's acting like he did years ago, very busy, and he recently spent over an hour straight wrestling with my friend's 2 year old Rottweiler, and was nowhere close to wanting to stop when I had to leave. He is able to outrun my friend's 4 year old Doberman mix with ease, and had a lot of fun taking his ball hostage, and making the other dog very frustrated. Basically, he's back acting like he did about 8 years ago. Everyone who saw him when he was at his heaviest is amazed at how great he looks now, so soon. He appears to be going into his 12th year in excellent shape. His only side effect of the Vetoryl he takes every day is he sometimes has the shakes. Big deal!

A friend of mine said he's "Back to being the pain in the ass he used to be!" I will agree with that, he's interested in everything again, to the point of obsession.

The only really bad thing about his treatment is the cost, about 3.75 a day.

 

[cherylcmartin]

Glad to hear King is doing so much better. So happy for you.