SARDS and Cushing's

Hi Everyone. I am a new member. My pit mix, Petey, is 9 years old. I took him to the vet 2 months ago because he began drinking too much, peeing in the house, and acting like he was ravenous all the time. He would literally spend half his day pacing the floor looking for food. I immediately thought diabetes. He is older and overweight, however, all his blood work came back fine.

It continued to go on until New Years day when he got up and fell down the stairs. It didn't take me long to realize that he was suddenly totally blind. I took him in on the 2nd and the vet diagnosed him with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration (SARDS). She checked him out thoroughly, besides being suddenly blind and ear infections he looked good. She drew blood, told me he would not get his sight back and sent us on our way.

Over the weekend I did some research on SARDS and found that it can sometimes be linked to Cushings or a Cushings-like disorder.

The vet called this morning with the results of the blood work and said his liver enzymes and cholesterol are both elevated. She would like him to take Denamarin for 30 days and retest. When I asked her about the link between Cushings and SARDS she acted like I was crazy.

Does anyone have any experience with SARDS and Cushings? Should I be pushing for further testing?

From my time here it seems like what we see are people whose dogs are MISDIAGNOSED as having cushings when in fact they have SARDS. Here is a link from our resource section.

Hopefully others can add their 2 cents. Kim

http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/showthread.php?t=213

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I know how upsetting it is to see your baby go blind so suddenly and to watch them struggle to adjust. They adjust a lot faster and much better than us humans and I suspect Petey will be fine in a few months. Petey fits the perfect pattern of SARDS. A good number of dogs diagnosed with SARDS will start to show symptoms associated with cushing's before the onset of blindness. Most dogs with SARDS do not have typical cushing's so the usual diagnostic tests are negative for cushing's because blood cortisol levels are normal. What SARDS dogs do have is elevations in one or more of the intermediate (sex) steroids which cause most of the same symptoms associated with typical cushing's. A lot of experienced vets will opt to take a wait and see approachas these symptoms usually resolve on their own for a good many dogs.

What you may want to do is try the treatment that is recommended for atypical cushing's, which I suspect is what Petey has right now. Your vet could actually confirm this by sending a blood specimen to the University of Tennessee (UTK) for a full adrenal panel, which will tell you which hormones are elevated. Melatonin is what UTK recommends for atypical cushing's and recommends that lignans be added if estradiol is elevated. We don't know if Petey's estradiol is elevated but the lignans are benign enough to add it just in case. Both can be purchased over the counter and you can find melatonin at just about any drug store or health food store. Just make sure it's not fast acting or time released...just plain old melatonin. If Petey weighs more than 30 pounds, you start him on 6mg every 12 hours. Dosage is 3mg BID if less than 30 pounds. Improvements are not instantaneous nor guaranteed. It's even possible that symptoms would resolve on their own before melatonin kicked in but if he were my dog, I'd dose him anyway. It might also help him with some of the anxiety he is feeling with being blind. It's been awhile since I purchased lignans so I'm hoping other members might provide you with a link where you can purchase the flaxseed hull lignans. If not, I'll do the research and post it later after I make dinner.

Glynda

Here is the link where you can purchase the lignans:

http://www.lignans.net/lignansfordogs.html

Thank you so much for your replies. My name is Heather

I have cried everyday since New Years. I think the blindness is more upsetting me more than him. It also seem that our little Shepard mix is taken advantage of the situation and biting him. She is 6 and was raised with him, we have never had an aggression problem with the 2 on them and suddenly she seems to hate him. He is a very good natured boy and does not retaliate but I don't want him to get hurt

A little more about Petey. He is 71 pounds, the vet would like to see him around 55 (the weight I adopted him at from the humane society when he was 2). He has had various health problems over the past 7 years that I have had him. He has had several benign tumors removed. He has several skin allergies and frequent ear infections.

The vet called me at work so I didn't get a whole lot of time to discuss his blood work with her. I do have melatonin here so I am going to start that tonight. I have to pick up the demarin tomorrow so hopefully I can talk to her more then.

The weight gain, allergies, and ear infections may be attributed to diet. Not sure if you've explored that avenue, but it might be worth considering, at least to help in those areas, if possible. Not saying it would be for sure, but it's worth looking in to. When my pugs were eating poor quality food, they all had ear infections, excess weight, and dull fur. Making a change has really made an impact.

I'm a special needs small dog rescuer and many of the dogs I've pulled from shelters have really bad ear infections, among other things. A groomer turned me onto a product that is amazing for dogs with chronic ear infections. It's pretty inexpensive if you purchase it online through Amazon. You can also read over 100 product reviews, most of which reflects the same results I've achieved with it. You may want to put it in the ears outdoors or in the garage. It's pretty purple and if the dog shakes his head, it can stain whatever it lands on. I never really had that problem but my little white pups had a bit of a purple tinge on the hair around their ears for a bit but it's a small price to pay to keep the ears infection free.

http://www.amazon.com/For-Animals-K9...ilver+for+dogs

I am so sorry to hear that this happened to your dog. I hope for the best for both of you. Blessings
Patti

Heather:
I know all of this is hard. All of us have been where you are looking for answers and scared. Just know we are all here for you and you and you are not alone in this battle. Blessings
Patti

Hi Heather,

I am mom to 3 blind babies. A male Chihuahua, a female Toy Poodle, and a female Pom mix. Each is blind from a different cause - the male has Hydrocephalus, the Poodle has cataracts, the Pom had neglected glaucoma. The Chi and Poodle still have their eyeballs but the Pom had both hers removed. Each of them have learned to navigate their world in differing manners. Brick, the Chi, operates by smell and touch - he is highly tactile and knows where he is by what his feet are feeling. Brick is my Pin Ball Boy - he has no sense of something in front of him so my house is bubble wrapped! LOL Trinket, the Pom, has sonar like a bat - if you didn't look close to see she has no eyes you would swear she sees; she rarely bumps into anything. Grace, the Poodle, is pitiful; she is also mostly deaf and has very little sense of smell so she has little sensory input other than touch. But in spite of her severely limited world, she has learned her new space and moves through it quite well. None of these babies were born blind but lost their sight in their later years. They have each adapted and adjusted quite well in their own unique ways.

My first experience with a "handicapped" dog was a Great Dane who was born deaf and blind. I adopted her as an adult and she taught me how to communicate with her. We had routine at night; after eating I cleaned the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher but didn't start it until we went to bed later on. One nite when the dishwasher started I noticed Dinah, the Dane, get up and go to the back door. I thought she just needed out so I let her out and put her up for the night. Same thing the next few nights - the dishwasher came on and she would go to the back door. It finally dawned on me that she was feeling the vibrations through the floor and knew based on our routine that it was time for her to go outside for the night. From there we learned signals by knocking on the floor to let her know what I wanted from her. Dinah had a strong sense of smell and I used that to instigate play. She had a stinky nasty blanket outside and I would drag it along the ground while she chased the scent. I would hide the blanket after dragging it and let her find it. She was happy and healthy for many years in spite of her limitations and she taught me so very much.

I share all this with you to let you know that these babies can and usually do adapt and have full lives even without their sight. Petey may have some depression and signs of distress at first but with some TLC he should do just fine. The biggest and most important tip I can share with you right now is do not change anything in his physical environment. Don't rearrange the furniture, put any rugs away, move his food or water bowls - nothing. Get things where you want them to be and leave them there. You are creating a safe space for Petey that he will learn and remember, allowing him to navigate with more confidence. If there are steps he has to walk up and down, you can teach him that by slowly working with him. As he steps down, use a word to let him know the step is there - like "down" or something you can remember and can use easily. Same thing for going up - find a word that means he needs to step up. Learning to go up steps is less stressful for most pups so more patience and practice is often needed for learning to go down. Petey may feel more secure on a lead anytime he is out of his usual space - like outdoors - but he will let you know what he needs. You will learn together how to operate in this new world. And I have full faith that you will do just fine. ;)

Keep your chin up!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang