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

Hi Julie,

Sorry to hear about Hannah. We seem to be in the same boat though Zoe does not yet have the skin infections. Cush dogs can have frequent infections. My IMS discussed the use of topical creams with a steriod. She did not seem super worried about it if we have to resort to one down the road for awhile. We just have to know it may increase her cortisol.

I would wonder about the mites as well because in Cush pups they can be a problem. I have that in the back of my mind for Zoe. I had pretty much decided on my own to do what your vet just told you to do. I have some amoxicillin that I may or may not try depending if I can get a handle on Zoe without antibiotics. I think the night before Zoe had potty problems because the benadryl gives her a bit of dry mouth and she was drinking more water that night.

Does Hannah have dry skin? Our IMS wants us to use a moisturizer on Zoe. This morning I distracted her with a Kong. I let her chew and lick that when she started on her paws. She is better on the BID benadryl. I just wanted someone to be home to make sure it was not a problem for her taking it so close to her Trilostane.

I am hoping the wipes, the 3x benadryl and the antibiotic helps poor Hannah. Try distracting her with a chew toy too. It helps Zoe and if some of this is obsessive complusive chewing and licking along with allergies, it can't hurt.

Love and hugs,
Addy

P.S. OMG You are coming to Wisconsin? I wish it was close to Milwaukee, we could visit:D:D

Hi Julie,

With so few symptoms commonly associated with cushing's, I personally wouldn't consider treating and if that would be your decision too, save your money for testing if and when Hannah developes more symptoms.

Per our PM's, I think it is a very real possibility that Hannah has Sarcoptic Mange and I personally would forego the skin scrape and get some Revolution on her and Izzy now. As a rescuer I've dealt with it a lot and am currently dealing with it with my own dogs. They were exposed two weeks ago to a friend's dogs who woke up one morning scratching and biting themselves bloody. It hit all four at the same time so my friend was going what the heck? My dogs spent the day with her dogs two weeks ago. No scratching yet but I contacted my IMS and my gp vet and both said get Revolution on them now.

This is the worst and most intense itch a dog can have which is why the lesions are usually from self mutilation which is also why it can easily turn bacterial from the dog's saliva. The carrier in my case is a little shelter rescue who had two skin scrapes by two different vets and no mites were seen. Unfortunately, more often than not, sarcoptic mites are tough to find unless you scrape their whole body. For this reason, it's usually recommended that you treat with something like Revolution and see if it helps. If it is scabies, you'll notice a small improvement rather quickly and within a few days, you'll see a vast improvement.

I realize Hannah has skin problems but there are too many coincidences to be an unseasonable allergy. As I mentioned, sarcoptic mites like areas that aren't too furry like the chest, abdomen, knees and ears. Hannah, has missing hair from her chest and a lesion on her elbow. Those are two primary areas of infestation.

Lesion on dog's elbow
Attachment 639

Exposed dogs don't start scratching for a few weeks so the exposure at your vet's office, areas affected (lesion on the elbow and hair loss on chest) and the sudden intense itching all track. If I were you, I would contact the vet today and ask for some Revolution. If Hannah has scabies, it will get worse without appropriate treatment and I promise you that Izzy will start scratching at some point too so both need to be treated. All of my dogs and my new foster got Revolutionized last night. :D The day my friend's dogs started scratching was the day she did too. She had bites on her middle torso and behind her right knee. I'm hoping I dodge the bullet because I hate being itchy. With people it is self limiting and no treatment is necessary.

Good luck.

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With people it is self limiting and no treatment is necessary.

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I am going to have to respectfully disagree with this. Gia brought scabies home from school when she was in the second grade - we both required prescription shampoo and body wash. Everything washable has to be washed in extremely hot water and I used some of the shampoo as well. Things that are not washable need to be sprayed with the same things used for lice.

I have had scabies more times than I care to remember - all from dogs except for that first time. The last time I got them, I had picked up the only surviving puppy in a flooded drain ditch, held him close in my lap and against my chest to warm him up on the ride home. Within days, I was covered in the little boogers to the point I couldn't wear clothes. I spent 3 days naked on an air mattress with stinky crap all over me. :p Lucky recovered much more quickly than I did! LOL

Scabies in humans is usually easy to see. The mites move under the skin in a fairly straight line so you will see little red bumps in lines that itch like mad. I hope if this is scabies, you are spared the misery!

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

There are different types of scabies and the type humans can get from dogs is self limiting. Jenna's had it multiple times, I've had it once and now Brenda has it. We did not require any treatment and it went away within two weeks.

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In other animals
Main articles: Sarcoptic mange and Acariasis

A street dog in Bali, Indonesia, suffers from sarcoptic mange.Scabies may occur in a number of domestic and wild animals; the mites that cause these infestations are of different scabies subspecies.[3] These subspecies can infest animals or humans that are not their usual hosts, but such infections do not last long.[3] Scabies-infected animals suffer severe itching and secondary skin infections. They often lose weight and become frail.[9]

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P.S. I forgot to include my friend, Ellen, who has had scabies multiple times from her rescues. Since the bugger that started our problems was her rescue, she reminded me that should I get them this time, it's not bad and will go away on it's own.

Excerpt from WebMD

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Scabies in people can produce an itchy rash, typically found at the belt line. This rash is caused by insects that have transferred from the dog. Scabies mites, however, do not live on human skin for longer than three weeks. If the problem does not disappear in three weeks, look for a continuing source of infestation.

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Hi again-

I talked to my vet's office today because they called to see how Hannah is doing. I asked about the mange. The vet tech said she thought the vet was more suspicious of demodectic (sp?) mange. Hannah has had some form of skin issue going on for over 8 weeks now and Izzy shows NO symptoms. I also frequently find chunks of Hannah's hair on the carpet (that come out when she scratches) and that has been for years--not new with this itching. She wasn't wearing her sweater for a few days after a bath and this is when I found clumps of hair and then a scratch/scab on her chest.

Anyway, they told me they could scrape her today if I wanted, but I said I wanted to try the weekend with the wipes, antibiotics, and Benadryl. She is so weird because she only itches at times. It is not constant. For example, I woke up with a headache this morning and had to go back to bed for three hours and she slept in her bed with no itching the entire time. The only thing she has done so far today is lick her front feet and rub her face across the floor (usual Hannah things).

Also, I can't even find the spot on the back of her leg anymore. How weird is that? Yesterday I couldn't see the origin either-just the blood on the hair, but I can find nothing today. I just wiped the whole general area with the wipe. The spot on her chest looks almost gone. I can't see the larger scab at all anymore. It looks back to normal color. I don't get it.

Glynda-I'm confused about what you mean about the timing of the vet saying another dog had mites. Do you think Hannah caught it from that dog being at the vet? Or you just mean it was in the area? That dog was a dog that goes into the woods, but we weren't there around the same time.

Thank you all for your input. Since Hannah seems pretty content and someone will be with her for the next 10 days (my husband and I are both teachers and are off for winter break) I am comfortable watching her habits for a few days before heading back to the vet.

Take care everyone-
Julie & Hannah

Glad Hannah is content right now


Merry Christmas - love and prayers xoxo

Hi Julie,

I hope you had a wonderful time visiting Wisconsin. I also hope Hannah is fine.

I had a quick question. How often are you using the wipes a day?

Love,
addy

Hi Julie,

I am allergic to mold so I have been suffering as well. I had to double up my nasal spray, asthma meds, etc and I am just barely maintaining so I know what you mean:)

The wipes finally arrived today, HURRAH!!!!! So we will give it a whirl if she will let me wipe her potty:eek::eek::eek: Zoe is very, well, she deems what behavior is appropriate in her book and does not mind letting you know when she thinks you are out of line:rolleyes::rolleyes:
Koko, would not dream of that:rolleyes:;) Funny, how different the two are. I should have named them Spunkster (Zoe) and Sweetie (Koko).:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Julie, did you use the wipes on Hannah's paws?

Have a great night,

love,
addy and the kids

Hello-

I am being my normal, worried self tonight. Hannah didn't go potty very much today...only three times: 8:00 a.m., 4:30 p.m., and 11:00 p.m. We tried to get her to go at 3:00 and she didn't want to, and then we were out with friends from 6:00-10:00 and let her out when we got home and she didn't want to go. It was like a fight to get her to go. We went outside three times, tried a walk once, and then she finally went. When I am working, she holds her urine during the day, but since we are on vacation this week, she would normally go more often.

Here are some possible reasons I can think of for why she didn't go at 10:00: she didn't drink while we were gone and just slept in the kitchen, she can't see very well and doesn't like to spend a lot of time outside in the dark, or....something is wrong. I don't know why this is bothering me so much, but it is. It makes me worried because I know her BUN level was high last time (I think 33 and 27 was normal), but her Creatinine was normal, as was her specific gravity, apparently. My vet thought this rise could have been due to dehydration, or the fact that she had eaten that morning (something about protein). She was not fasted before the NSAID monitoring because I wasn't told she should be. She ate at about 8:00 a.m. and we went in around noon. He was not concerned and said we would recheck in 6 weeks (so mid-January).

Well, I called the ER vet to see if there was any possibility that Hydroxyzine (for her allergies) or Clindamycin could cause her to urinate less, and the tech said that she didn't know of any reason that would happen. She then recommended that Hannah get checked by my vet tomorrow to see if her kidneys are working okay, and explained that with kidney failure, they eventually stop wanting to or needing to urinate. I assume that is when it is very advanced and not that it would happen all of a sudden one day, but I assume they want to be careful.

Hannah is otherwise acting normal, and I realize that she did urinate roughly every 7-8 hours, so maybe I shouldn't be panicking. She is sleeping a bit more (probably from the antihistamines), so maybe she is not drinking as much. It is so weird to go from worrying about the increased drinking/urinating to not enough urinating. She isn't drinking excessively either, and my vet said I would notice increased drinking and urination with kidney disease as well.

I don't know that I should actually take her in tomorrow if she urinates in the morning. The ER vet said they are concerned when it has been 12 hours, which we didn't get close to. For some reason, she now sent me into a panic. I read some things online that calmed me, and others that made me nervous. I did feel/push around on Hannah's abdomen before she finally did urinate, and felt nothing strange and she didn't react.

Am I just freaking out??? Ugh.

Thanks,
Julie & Hannah

Hello!
how is the weather there? is it raining cold muddy or are any strange sounds happening at time of potty breaks, or perhaps has a visitor been in yard that has her upset and not wanting to go?
could she possibly have UTI and that she is holding it because it hurt? (although they usually go more often than not...but you just never know) have you monitored her water intake? food intake?
check her capillary refill.......press on her gum and see it go blanch it should return to good color within 2 seconds and also see if her gums feel tacky.
have any stressors been happening at home? sometimes when they get stressed they cant go.
just tossing things out there for you............i am thinking of you and hannah...
and since she is going.......at least here is not an obstruction so that is a plus.
if you can catch a urine sample to check its color.....and oder
sending hugs and love