14 year-old Shih Tzu With Recent Cushing's Diagnosis

Julie, I am so glad Hannah is feeling so much better!!!!!!:D:D:D

Keep up the good work,
Addy

Woohoo!!!!!!
So glad things are looking up!!!!

So glad Hannah is having some good days!!!! I know how much that means!!!!!! Hopefully the roller coster ride will calm down for awhile:)xo

I love hearing when dogs are doing so well. Yay for you and Hannah!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I am so thankful for the knowledgeable and helpful people on here who have helped me to make decisions for Hannah. Thank you most of all for all of your support. Without the people on this forum I would not have made it through all of this with my sanity! I am so thankful my little Hannah is still here with me and doing well today. I am thinking of all of you and your dogs, those still with us, and those who are not. I hope you have a peaceful Thanksgiving.

Julie & Hannah (& my non-Cush pup, Izzy)

Julie - praying for good results for Hannah tomorrow - thanks for checking in on Penny - yeah better days - you never know with this disease - but she just looks so much happier - she use to have the dazed look now its a happy look - finger crossed it last --- let me known how Hannah makes out -- give her a kiss for me and Penny - love and prayers and hugssssssssssss xo

Hi Everyone-

So Hannah had a blood test today to check her ALKP level to see if it had increased since going off of Anipryl. I believe they call it an NSAID profile. Hannah's initial ALKP value was 1700 something when she was diagnosed with Cushing's. It then dropped to 300 something after Anipryl. I weaned her off of it and today it was 424. 17-220 is the normal range. So it has gone up about 100 since August (she went off Anipryl throughout the month of October-I weaned her).

My vet's recommendation is to check it again in January (about 6 weeks) to see if it is the same. If not, he would like to put her on Denamarin. I am fine with this.

He also said her BUN is slightly elevated. It was 33 and the normal range goes up to 27. He said he is not concerned because her Creatinine level is normal. Last time it was 1.4 and now it is 1.3. I'm not sure what the normal range is. He said if her Creatinine level was high he would be concerned about kidney disease. He told me that if she didn't drink much water this morning it could also be from dehydration.

I tried looking up some info. online, but I never know how valuable that is. Do you think this is something to be concerned about? It seems like some sites say this could be early kidney disease. My vet said I would notice increased drinking with kidney disease too.

Here's the thing. Hannah doesn't even seem like she has Cushing's anymore. Her water intake is normal for the most part, and she seems to drink a lot in spurts. Actually, I feel like she has decreased her water intake recently. Now I am a bit concerned about that. Should I be worried? I asked them to fax her results from her last two tests to the IMS we saw in June and put a call in for her to get back to me with her opinion.

I just don't want to let a new problem get worse before we do anything. I will see what the IMS says, but I am wondering if any of you have insight into this. Would you recommend another test? A urinalysis?

Thanks!
Julie & Hannah

Hi Julie,

My dogs have had elevated BUN on their bloodwork and like Hannah, creatinine and everything else was normal so even though I pretty much knew the answer, I asked the IMS anyway. Like your vet, she wasn't concerned because the dogs were fasted. By the way, one of the dogs doesn't have cushing's but not sure that matters. By the time we get to the IMS they've panted their way into dehydration. :D I think you can rely on your vet's opinion.

There have been so many things about Hannah's diagnosis that don't add up for me. The lack of symptoms, a completely normal abdominal ultrasound and belly hair that started growing back rather quickly after the ultrasound. It's possible the diagnosis was correct but it's equally possible it wasn't. I think waiting until January and retesting liver values is a good idea. In the meantime, you could always catch a morning urine specimen and have a uc:cr done. If it's normal, then it is highly unlikely that Hannah has cushings.

Glynda

Thanks, Glynda. I'm concerned because Hannah also is on a Rx food for urinary issues (Royal Canin SO) because she had some crystals several years ago, so I am wondering if this could have anything to do with that problem. I'm not always sure my vet has her whole medical picture in mind (or even in front of him because we talk so often), and I didn't think of that until after. I'll talk to him, if necessary, after I hear from the IMS.

Also, Hannah's appointment was at noon today, and we were up at 7:00 and she had breakfast around 7:30. (I do put warm water on her food and mix it with a little canned food, so there is some liquid that way). There was no panting on the way there, so I am worried about why she would be dehydrated.

Here is the craziest thing of all....I have not seen or heard her get a drink today (although I have not been with her at every moment) and now I want her TO get a drink, whereas before I cringed when I heard her get a drink. I am worried that the drinking seems to have decreased. She did go potty this morning, at 1:00, and at 5:00, so I'm hoping that means she is okay.

There was one night this week when she didn't potty before bed (around 10:00) after going around 7:00 that night. That is uncommon for her. I tend to worry whenever something is off (in case you can't tell!) but I have told myself that she cannot have severe kidney problems if her kidney values have always been normal and were totally normal in August. There may be a problem, yes, but it can't be that bad. I have to talk myself through things because I tend to jump to worst case scenarios.

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll hear something from the IMS soon. If anything, I'm thinking I could have them do a urinalysis to be sure everything is okay.

Thanks for hearing me out (and offering your advice, if you have any)!

Julie & Hannah

Hi Julie,
I'm hoping you hear from the IMS soon and it is good news. Every thing that is "off" makes us jumpy, boy I know the feeling.;)

Here is a hug (((((())))))))) and prayer for good news!!!!!!

love,
addy