Hi All,
I just have a couple of updates on Hannah. First of all, I checked and her blood glucose level was normal. I also had a UA done on her today and she didn't have any infections or anything really strange. My vet did say her specific gravity was just slightly low. He said hers was 1.023 and normal is 1.025 or more. He said that dogs who are drinking more water have less concentrated urine, but that hers is still pretty good considering I have noticed an increase in drinking. (Sometimes she gets drinks every 15 min., but then she will go for hours without. She goes all night with no drink or trip to go potty).
He told me dogs should drink about 30 ml per pound per day. Hannah is 10.8 lbs. I am guessing she is drinking about 1.5 to 2 cups (which isn't WAY out of control), if my conversion is correct. My other Shih Tzu, Izzy, also drinks from the same bowl, so this is my best estimate.
Anyway, I am glad there was no infection present in the urine. I asked him more about her weight loss, rather than the typical gain. He said all cases are different and said it would be okay for me to feed her more to see if she beefs up at all. I asked him if he was concerned about other liver problems. He said at this point he would try the Anipryl and sew what happens. If it doesn't work in two to three months, then he would want to do an x-ray and abdominal ultrasound prior to starting treatment with Trilostane (or something else) to see how her adrenal glands and liver are looking. I asked why the x-ray was necessary and he said that specialists come in from the U of MN to do this and he would ask if the x-ray needed to be a part of it. (It would run about $615 for both). He said sometimes they see enough in an x-ray not to have to do the ultrasound, but he would look into it.
I asked him about milk thistle and Sam-e, since I have read about it on this site and another one. He said I could try something like that if I want, that it could help support her liver, but not treat Cushing's. I would like to do both, and like the idea of helping her liver. He mentioned Denamarin. Does anyone have any thoughts on this (or any of the others I mentioned)?
I am still debating when to do the dental. Knowing there could be the cost of the ultrasound/x-rays in the near future I am worried about cost, but I also know the dental is important. My thought is that it would be about June by the time we would do further testing (unless something changes), so maybe I will wait to see what happens with that, then get her teeth cleaned. She was only just due in Feb., so I won't be too far overdue. Plus, I teach summer school so we have a little extra income in the summer if there are more procedures.
I think I have calmed down a little in the past few days, but I still feel like I watch her like a hawk. There is always this worry that it is progressing before my eyes and that some new symptom will show up. Then there is the fear that there is something else wrong. Diabetes seems to be ruled out from the normal blood glucose test and the UA. She shows no other signs of liver problems at this point either, but does show signs of Cushing's. There is just the weird weight loss with the increased appetite. I guess at this point I am glad her symptoms are limited and she still seems like my happy girl who follows her mom everywhere.
I have to say again how happy I am to have this site and all of you to help me out.
Sincerely,
Julie & Hannah