PuffysMom
02-07-2010, 02:33 PM
I have a 10 1/2 year old male Shih-Tzu, Puffy, who was diagnosed with Cushing's a little over 2 years ago. He is taking 50 mgs of Trilostane once daily for his Cushing’s, and he is also on 0.25 mgs of Soloxine (Levothyroxine) because he has hypothyroidism as well.
His Cushing’s symptoms are fairly well controlled with the Trilostane, however; he occasionally has problems with panting, getting up at night, and wanting to sleep on the cool tile in the closet. During the day he seems fine, it’s at night when I notice the panting and wondering to find cool dark places. In addition, he also has large cyst type bumps under his skin, which occasionally break open.
His ACTH is always in the normal range when he has blood work, however; his liver values are really high > 2000. Last summer, because of the high liver values, we had an ultrasound performed on Puffy. During the ultrasound our vet found a large growth on his spleen, which was removed that same day. Fortunately, the tumor was not a hemangiosarcoma as we originally feared, but a benign hemangioma. My vet has suggested he may have a cancerous adrenal tumor rather than a benign tumor, but nothing was seen on the ultrasound last year. My thoughts are that if it was a cancerous adrenal tumor, it would have grown and spread in the past 2+ years, and would have caused other problems.
I was wondering if anyone else has had the same or similar problems with their dogs, especially smaller breeds, and if so, do you have any suggestions? Is the adrenal carcinoma a possibility because they may be slow growing, or could something else be going on? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Tanya
His Cushing’s symptoms are fairly well controlled with the Trilostane, however; he occasionally has problems with panting, getting up at night, and wanting to sleep on the cool tile in the closet. During the day he seems fine, it’s at night when I notice the panting and wondering to find cool dark places. In addition, he also has large cyst type bumps under his skin, which occasionally break open.
His ACTH is always in the normal range when he has blood work, however; his liver values are really high > 2000. Last summer, because of the high liver values, we had an ultrasound performed on Puffy. During the ultrasound our vet found a large growth on his spleen, which was removed that same day. Fortunately, the tumor was not a hemangiosarcoma as we originally feared, but a benign hemangioma. My vet has suggested he may have a cancerous adrenal tumor rather than a benign tumor, but nothing was seen on the ultrasound last year. My thoughts are that if it was a cancerous adrenal tumor, it would have grown and spread in the past 2+ years, and would have caused other problems.
I was wondering if anyone else has had the same or similar problems with their dogs, especially smaller breeds, and if so, do you have any suggestions? Is the adrenal carcinoma a possibility because they may be slow growing, or could something else be going on? Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Tanya