Hi, all! As much as I think you are all wonderful, I really didn't want to come back here. As some of you may recall, in 4/2009 my beagle, Maggie, passed away after a two year struggle with both atypical Cushings and "regular" Cushings.
I didn't remember that I had posted when I adopted Abbie but then saw her picture in my profile and reference in my signature. Here is a brief summary: Abbie was 7 years old when I adopted her in 5/2010 after being treated for heartworm . Two weeks after I adopted her she had to have a bilateral mastectomy, then another surgery due to infection from the internal stitches, followed a few months later by bladder surgery. To the surprise of my vet, during the bladder surgery, he discovered she had never been spayed in spite of two shelters saying she was! Since her last surgery she has been in good health with the exception of reoccurring ear infections and UTIs . Abbie was a "street dog" for an unknown period of time before being picked up by animal control. She then made her way to a beagle rescue. She is very loving, particularly towards children and infants, and was house-trained when I adopted her so I do think she had been with a family with children.
This summer Abbie had periods of lethargy which I chalked up to the very hot and humid Florida weather. She was treated for a UTI about a month ago and then she started guzzling water and this was a dramatic change for her as she used to barely drink any. After discussions with my vet (the same wonderful one who helped me with Maggie) we decided that it was time to run a full blood panel and urinalysis. I also asked that a UC:CR be run as red flags had started to pop up for me.
The UC:CR was positive and her liver enzymes were elevated (which had always been in normal range previously). We scheduled an ACTH for Tuesday at which time I will get copies of her lab results. If ACTH is positive for Cushings, I will ask for an ultrasound to be scheduled at our local hospital where Maggie's internist is now CEO.
Of course I am hoping the UC:CR was a false positive but there are those darn red flags and Abbie continues to guzzle water (and trips outside to pee every two hours -- last night was the first nocturnal trip at 1:00 a.m....).
I think my vet likes to do a LDDS before the ultrasound. I will do some refresher reading but would appreciate your thoughts on the need for the LDDS at that point.