Cooper - diabetes and cushings - sweet Cooper has passed

Cooper's ACTH test came back. I just talked to the vet on the phone so I don't have the full results, but his ATCH post reading was 24.8. I'm trying to look back at other people's threads to see how high that is, but I keep on winding up in threads where they do different tests! The vet said a "high normal" is 17. And I see on the vetoryl insert that 1.45 - 5.4 is the desired range. 24.8 seems super high.

We're going to start trilostane again. He'll be getting 30mg twice a day. The vet is still not sure if it's actually cushings or if the elevated levels are from the uncontrolled diabetes. There doesn't seem to be a real way of knowing I guess. When I told her Cooper did well on the trilo until we doubled it and that he had glucose readings in the low 200s while on it, she said we should go ahead and try it. We're going to do another glucose curve and ACTH test along with a urine culture in 2 weeks.

I feel good about this, I think!

17 would be a high normal for a dog not being treated with medication for cushings. Once you are on vetoryl, then you want 9, with symptoms controlled or 1.45 - 5.4 as a target post number.

Hopefully treating will bring both the cortisol and the curve numbers down.

Just do the normal watch to make sure he is tolerating this dosage well.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Thanks! I took it as 17 was a high number for a normal dog, not that it was a high number for an unmedicated cushings dog. I really have to stick to my list of questions i always write out when the kids are around!

Just a quick Cooper update... he's rapidly losing his eyesight. He walked into a chair 2 days ago and he's tripping over everything on the floor. My poor boy! And I think his sense of smell might be going a bit. He was licking a paper plate yesterday that my daughter finger painted weeks ago. I guess he thought the dark paint was food.

I sure hope we get things under control for him before he gets any worse. I scheduled his next ACTH/glucose curve/urine culture for next Thursday, and it can't come soon enough!

oh poor Cooper Well, there are adjustments that you can make and we have a some here that can help you with that, having blind furbabies also.
I agree, got to get those next tests.

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

How are things going for coop? get any more results from vet or see changes from the meds helping at all? however maybe enough time hasn't elapsed for all that yet. Wanted to say hello, been following along with some threads, then have been mia for week or so, and trying to check on everyone that i had been reading and following along with. I cant believe how attached I am to so many of these furbabies and angels, get to feeling insecure, sad, and worried when i cant get on here to check and visit.

No changes yet. It's just been a week on the trilostane. When he was on it about a month ago, I remember an immediate improvement in his energy levels. He's still tired, hungry, and thirsty. But I'm sure the adjustment to losing his eyesight so quickly would take a lot out of him.

We've made the big, painful decision to probably stop testing soon. We're going to do testing on Thursday, but if there's no change we will probably pull him off the trilostane and just do insulin. There are still so many things that could be wrong and so many unexplored avenues of treatment. We could put him through test after test for months and still not be any closer. We set aside my husbands bonus and our tax refund for testing and we've already blown through that. With 2 little kids and a single income we just can't afford to go into massive debt. We feel that he's maintaining now and that may be the best we can hope for. He doesn't need to go through much more, especially not spending the day at the vet now that he's almost blind. I still have my fingers crossed that the next ACTH test will show a major improvement and it will just be a matter of adjusting his dose, but we have a plan just in case there's no change.

check into care credit. it has helped me out so much i cant even express how much. I get long term interest free on nearly everything. and that is awesome.

I saw their pamphlet at the vet. I'll pick one up on Thursday.

From our Resource Thread you can find information about Carecredit and more here: Financial Resources to help with Vet bills

I, too, use carecredit and really like it.