Husky with possible cushings

[sibhus]

Hi all, id like to first of all thanks all those in the community that take there time to help one another.

I have a 10 year old female husky whom i adopted 4.5 years ago. Throughout her life, she had odd urinary incontinence which come and went and nothing showed up on the tests. The vet recommened diethylbesterol(spelling) and i used it sparingly over the years.

About 8 months ago, Seirra started to urinate a lot in the house, along with increase water consumption, pot belly, panting, a slight struggle to get up. The vet tested her with the ALTH stimulus test and said it was negative. Then had a full ultrasound done and a sole liver mass was seen. The adrenal glands were commented as being normal in size and no irregularities. The liver mass had not metastized, so had it removed 3 months ago but it came back that it was malignant. The surgeon felt she had a systemic or underlying condition causing it.

After the surgery(november 2013), sierra rebounded well in that her water intake went down, no urinating in the house but did pant on occasion and lost her pot belly.

During the past two weeks, ive seen progressive changes with increased water, urinating in the house(colorless odorless), panting and some lameness in the rear (although she has some arthritis). She also had a benign perianal adenoma tumor on the top of her anus. She is also exhibiting some loose stool which hasnt gone away with the probiotics. I suppose the only good news is that she is eating normally and going for regular walks but gets sluggish after 30 minutes

So im taking her in on Monday for blood and urine tests and am hoping someone here can advise on what to test for as it seems as if she has cushings or something very similar? I already had the alth test done 7 months ago which was negative and am so confused.

Im also giving her small doses of collodial silver fearing her immune system is weak and was curious of others thoughts on this?

Thanks for all the help, Cal

[Harley PoMMom]

Hi Cal,

Welcome to you and your girl! So sorry for the circumstances that brought you here but glad you found us.

Cushing's is one of the most difficult diseases to get a confirmed diagnosis for because not one test is 100% accurate at diagnosing Cushing's and many other illnesses share the same symptoms of Cushing's.

Diabetes and any thyroid problem are two illnesses that share the same symptoms of Cushing's and should be ruled out. Both of these are usually checked on a regular blood chemistry panel, so I would have this done first. Also I would recommend having an urinalysis done on your girl, this is basically getting a sample of her urine in mid-stream and sending it out to be analyzed. Cushdogs usually have dilute urine which reduces the number of bacteria in a specimen so a routine urinalysis doesn't pick up the true number of white blood cells. For this reason, a urine culture should be done to identify the bacteria so an appropriate antibiotic can be prescribed.

I see that a liver mass was discovered and removed, has her liver been checked recently either by an ultrasound or blood tests?

So my suggestions would be to have a chemistry/CBC blood panel done along with an urinalysis and urine culture and sensitivity test. Once these tests are done if you could post any abnormal results for us and then, hopefully, we will be able to provide you with better feedback. ok?

We will help in any way we can so do not hesitate to ask all the questions you want.

Hugs, Lori

P.S. I have manually approved your membership so now all your posts will be seen right away, and please just disregard the email notification from us.

[Trish]

Hi Cal

I agree with Lori, get all the tests done, including liver function tests and see where things stand as now. I would have thought that is it was cushings then you would not have seen that improvement after surgery. Especially if she did have high cortisol surgery could make it go even higher.

We have something in common as my fox terrier Flynn had a liver mass removed in November too, what was the histology on that? Even if they are malignant they can still nip it in the bud if they got clear margins and you mentioned there was no sign of spread anywhere else. Our specialists are wanting another scan now at the 3 month mark, his is very low grade possibly adenoma but chance it is carcinoma too, as apparently they look very similar under the microscope. He had first liver resection 2 years ago. He also had adrenalectomy which is why we are here, but his was not a cushings related tumour.

Glad you found us and I will be interested to see what the tests show next week. I am not sure about the colloidal silver, I have seen people go actually SILVER coloured from it and figure that cannot be good for you but not heard of its use in dogs.

Trish

[sibhus]

Thanks Harley and Trish for the follow ups.

I actually suspect the cushings had been there for a few years but the symptoms were minor and not as frequent, she had always panted and had water intake and urine issues for the past few years. Those three symptoms had been there for 2 years. Its just now im seeing it on a daily basis accompanied with rear lameness and dullness in energy.

When i had a ultrasound done, the liver mass had not spread and the surgeon told me after he removed it that it may have been there due to a system issue or bacteria/chemical infection/immune disorder which i suspect is cushings or another disorder. The tumor was sent out for biopsy and deemed as malignant but i was also told that if it should come back, the dog would probable outlive the metastasis, nevertheless i will get an ultrasound as the surgeon advised me to recheck after 6 months or so..

[Trish]

Yes, good thinking. My dog's first liver mass was a low grade hepatocellular carcinoma. When they did that surgery there were two other nodules that were biopsied and benign. But they now think that one of these suddenly took off and that was the mass removed in November which was 9cm. Hopefully none of the others he has does the same! I have had him scanned every six months too and that is how we picked up the latest one. But he has now recommended 3 monthly so we will see what this one shows next week. Sorry I am not much help on the cushings side of things as Flynn tested negative.

[sibhus]

To follow up, had a CBC ,urinalysis and ultrasound done. They found sierras glucose level to run around 365 and glucose in both the blood and urine however no sign of ketones. The pancreas was enlarged. The adrenal glands were normal in size and the vet is convinced that she is in fact diabetic but there could be something else going on relating to hyperthyroidism. For now ive started insulin to bring down the glucose levels but i fear cushings could also be present. The vet doesnt seem to think so as she tells me that even a pituitary driven cushings will cause the adrenal glands to become larger. Also Sierra has no hair loss.

What confuses me also is that she has lost strength in the rear hind legs/back and i didnt think diabetes influenced that, only cushings..

[molly muffin]

We have a sister site, that is excellent, http://www.k9diabetes.com/forum/ wonderful people and they can help you with the diabetes.
Many of the same signs are seen with diabetes and with cushings and there are some that have both, (we have members on both sites).

Yes, you can have hind leg weakness, sometimes in both legs with high glucose that often will get better when the glucose is regulated. (I had to do some reading to make sure of this).

So, hopefully getting her glucose regulated will clear up all the issues and is the most important item right now.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

[sibhus]

So im back, initially i was told by my vet that Sierra was diabetic after a bout with pancreatitis. Something strange has happened as after 5 days of giving IV and putting her on insulin for 3 days, her blood glucose has stabilized and ranges from 78 to 140 without any insulin for the last 3 days. So im not so sure if she really is diabetic and think pancreatitis caused some kind of instability with glucose regulation..

I got a chance to review the bloodwork and im noticing her alkp is 1400, the alt is 130, cholesterol is a tad high at 369, and her CA is a tad high at 12.7. The bloodwork was done while she had this pancreatitis and was somewhat dehydrated. Ive sent out a urine sample for the UCCR, so awaiting that. The urinalysis showed no infections and no ketones.

She still has the typical symptoms of drinking 2x, leaking urine in the house and rear hind lameness and getting sluggish after 15 mins into a walk and occasional panting. She is eating normally, with no vomiting or diarrhea. Ive been frustrated with the vets and think i may need to consult with an internal medicine specialist.

My instinct tells me its cushings but i am not sure of any other parallel ailments that rival cushings?

Thanks again for the help Cal

[Harley PoMMom]

There is a correlation between pancreatitis and diabetes. Since one the jobs of the pancreas is to produce insulin, if that part of the pancreas becomes damaged then diabetes can occur and this can be either temporary or permanent.

There are quite a few non-adrenal illnesses that share some of the same symptoms as Cushing's such as thyroid problems, liver issues, and kidney disease.

I think a consult with an IMS could be beneficial.

Hugs, Lori