Mia-4 year old poodle recently diagnosed

[Harley PoMMom]

The vet's suggestion of 5 mg twice a day sounds perfect. Keep us updated, please!

Lori

[joalgopa]

Mia started on Vetoryl yesterday and fortunately I have not seen any side effects yet.

This week she developed a nail bed infection and one of her toes is very red and swollen, the vet prescribed a topical cream with Gentamicin-Betamethasone-Clotrimazole but I'm not sure to use it because betamethasone is a corticosteroid and I'm worried it could elevate more cortisol levels, am I right?

[Harley PoMMom]

Yes, any steroid whether it be given orally, topically, or by drops can raise cortisol levels. How long is Mia supposed to take this medication? If only for a few days than I think it would be ok as you do want that inflammation to go down but any longer could be an issue. If she needs to take it longer, you could ask the vet to prescribe something without a steroid in it as she definitely needs medication for that sore toe.

[joalgopa]

She will take it for 7 days, we have an appointment with the vet this week so I will ask her about other options.

[joalgopa]

Mia's toe had an abscess that opened up on Monday and drained a lot of pus but since then it had been draining less each day, I've been cleaning it with chlorhexidine 3 times a day and then I put the ointment on it.

She also developed a very bad sore on one of her elbows that we clean everyday and put an ointment with neomicine and acexamic acid that always work well with her skin sores but this time she licked it a lot, so we put a bandage on it to stop her licking as I didn't want to use the e-collar, unforunatley my cousin wrapped the bandage to tight around her leg and it became very swollen and the skin turned dark, it really scared me when I noticed it and I took Mia straight to the vet, she said there was no damage to her leg and that the dark skin will fade in a few days though the swelling is already gone. We are not using bandages anymore, so Mia is using an e collar now until her elbow and toe are better.

[joalgopa]

Also, we are just now learning of a new treatment monitoring plan for trilostane/Vetoryl that involves only testing resting cortisol levels rather than ACTH tests. So that could be a big help to you. We can tell you more about that later on depending on when you may be able to obtain the medication.

Marianne

Hi Marianne. Could you tell me more about that cortisol test, please?

Mia has been 6 days on Vetoryl now, and tomorrow the vet will revise the dose as we started with only 5 mg twice a day.

[labblab]

Hi again! Here’s a link to a post that describes this new monitoring system in greater detail. Take a look, and then let us know if you have additional questions, OK?

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/show...=1252#post1252

Marianne

[Harley PoMMom]

How are her symptoms? If they seem to be subsiding than you may want to wait until she has been on the 5mg Vetoryl dose for a month. Also, since her medication has a steroid in it she would need to be off of that for at least a couple days before checking her cortisol levels.

[joalgopa]

Hi again! Here’s a link to a post that describes this new monitoring system in greater detail. Take a look, and then let us know if you have additional questions, OK?

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/show...=1252#post1252

Marianne

Thank you very much I think I understand well but I will send the files to the vet so we can discuss them and decide when to make the test.

[joalgopa]

How are her symptoms? If they seem to be subsiding than you may want to wait until she has been on the 5mg Vetoryl dose for a month. Also, since her medication has a steroid in it she would need to be off of that for at least a couple days before checking her cortisol levels.

She's drinking a little less water, but the other symtoms persist: she's too hungry all the time, polyuria, skin issues and pot belly.
The good thing is that she keeps her good mood all the time, she loves to play with the ball and is always running around the house.
I will see the vet today to decide if we give her an oral non-steroid antibiotic to help with Mia's toe infection and I will tell her about the cortisol tests.