Tipper - adrenal tumor/breathing issues

Hi everyone:
I forgot to add there was nothing I saw about Hemolysis on Tippers report- there was no comment beside it. If Tipper gets hungry occasionally at night are her symptoms still considered gone or do we need to increase further?

Does Tipper eat twice a day? If not, try splitting her meals. I have always had tiny dogs who burn fuel rather quickly so feeding twice daily prevents hypoglycemic episodes. It's better for the metabolism and makes a dog less likely to get fat, especially those who enjoy gorging with open feeding. Did your vet put Tipper on WD because she is overweight?

Choosing a dog food is a very personal thing and pet owners should do their own homework on what is best for their dog. We all have our own opinions of what food is best and my opinion is that unless my dog needed to be on a prescription diet and there was no alternative, I would not feed my dog anything made by Hills and certainly not long term. However, I have heard that WD is great for weight loss and a lot of dogs with diabetes do well on it. I use a site called dogfoodadvisor.com to check out ingredient. Here is a link to WD: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-fo...wd-canine-dry/

Tipper actually eats breakfast, tiny lunch, supper, snack. I measure out 1 cup of dogfood a day and all of her meals and snacks come from that. I have done this with her for years. I am ditching the Hills food, and going back to the Newmans Own until I find something better. She was put on the Hill WD by the Vet as she was around 16.5 when the Cushings started and now at 17.5. He said the nutritionist at Hills said for Cushings this is what she should eat. I don't believe either of them to tell you the truth, so I will go back to her other food for now. Thank you again for your help, I really need it.

Here is the latest from Hill's Science Diet. :rolleyes:

http://dogventuring.blogspot.com/201...c-coasted.html

Hi Everyone:
Well after much research I have decided to stay with Newmans Own Dogfood. It is only a 4 star instead of 5, but it has never been recalled, and that is very important to me. Well just as I anticipated my Vet has still not called me about Tipper so I spoke with Dechra yesterday about Tippers blood work and ACTH results. I faxed everything to their Vet. He said nothing alarms him, just as Glynda had told me, but that she will need monitored on the Reticulocyte since it jumped up. Because Tipper is experiencing breathing problems at night, an Xray was suggested of her lungs heart etc. I will arrange to get it done asap. Also with Tipper getting a little hungry at night, they told me to monitor it for another week or 2 as it may have become a behavior problem. If she is still truly hungry she may have to go on once a day dosing of 30 mg instead of the split of 20 mg in the morning and 20mg at night as they think maybe the 20 is not enough to carry her thru to nightime when most of this is happening. Agree or disagree?? Yesterday she drank more water than normal also. Does anyone have any good feed back for me on any of this? I would appreciate it, and thank you for your help.

Hi again everyone:
I have some questions I need help with. I spoke to Dechra and told them Tipper has been drinking more, and getting hungry again. She is taking 20mg in the morning and 10 mg at night. It was suggested that she may have to take the whole 30 in the morning to get her thru the day as that seems to be the time she drinks more and is hungrier. Her latest stim a few days back- post was 5.4. They told me to withhold the dose the evening dose the night before the med change. With her number being low in reality what are her chances of crashing from this. I don't know if I can take much more, I am ready to break down. They also told me that this could make her really hungry in the morning then. Has anyone else done this and what has happened??? I don't want to swap one problem for one equally as bad. I also got some information I have been searching for since she got this disease. A Dr. online told me the breathing problems in these dogs is from increased calcification in there breathing tubes. It makes the lungs less elastic. Also the muscle weakness at the rib cage, accompanied by any pressure on the diaphram form increased liver size, or fat redistribution. She could not give me an answer for the snoring and throaty noises. I saw online many people with dogs and Cushings that have the snoring and throaty noises so I know I am not going crazy yet, and that the problem is not exclusive to Tipper. I am so scared if this gets any worse she will not be able to breathe. She has been up and restless at night also, a sign that the cortisol is not being controlled. Do you think I should do the 30 mg?? Please help I am about to go off the deep end with this. Sorry to go on and on, but you all know how it is.

Ya know, I am really starting to wonder about the folks at Dechra. It wasn't long ago that they were concerned about increasing the dose because the basal cortisol of 1.5 was low. Basal cortisol on new stim is even lower at 1.4 ug/dl but they don't seem to be concerned about that number anymore as they are now suggesting that Tipper be switched from 20mg am and 10mg pm to one 30mg dose in the am. :confused: Since Tipper seems to be more symptomatic in the evening, it makes more sense to me to up the evening dose. Knowing how Vetoryl works, it just seems logical to me that the morning dose is wearing off well before the pm dose is taken and at that point, the combination of the two doses is still too low to see resolution of symptoms through the night. That's my layperson's opinion, which differs greatly from two highly trained veterinarians, one of which is supposed to be intimately familiar with the drug his employer manufactures.

When switching to once daily dosing, be sure to follow instructions and skip the evening dose prior to starting new once daily dosing. Symptoms may get worse overnight but I don't think it's anything you can't handle. Also keep a very close eye on Tipper for signs of low cortisol once you start the new daily dosing.

Remember that Tipper's symptoms are not life threatening, nor painful for her so please try to relax. I know it's easier said than done because I've been in your shoes more than once. I know it's hard to relax when your precious pup is bugging the crap out of you for food. All you can do is give her fillers like green beans for the time being. I know it's frustrating to have to keep tweaking the dose until you find the right cocktail but you and Tipper will get there and we'll be here with you every step of the way. You are doing an excellent job.

Glynda

Thank you for thinking of Tipper and I when I know your heart is broken in a million pieces. I will try to be strong like you and do what I need to do for her. I have already made sure that there will be a Dr. in in the morning or I would not give her a larger dose at one time. I have started crying for you and Lulu so that is all I am going to say for now. Pray for my Tipper and God Bless You.

Hi everyone:
Didn't sleep a wink last nite worring about giving Tipper her whole dose at one time of 30 mg Vetoryl this morning. She had it at 7:30 this morning. I was a nervous wreck doing it, as all I have are boxes of 10mg capsules due to the split dosage she was on. I had to give her 3 pills, which was not easy tricking her 3 times. If she stays at 1 dosage in the morning I will get the 30mg when these run out. They are so expensive I am not going to discard them, and even though it is harder to give three pills, I cannot afford not to use them as they were 3x more expensive to give her the 10 mg than one 30mg. She seems to be dealing with it ok at present. This stuff makes me so nervous that I am afraid to leave her and go in the shower, so here we sit together as always. I just wanted to tell everyone that I think it was so gracious of Glynda to take the time and help me with Tipper, after all she has been thru with Lulu. It is a wonderful tribute to Lulu that Glynda reaches out to others at this most difficult time. I hope I can be as strong as she is when I am faced with that situation. I know Tippers meds have peaked by now, but in the back of my mind I have a fear of these dosage changes. I am taking Tipper on Thursday for a chest xray. Due to the fact she has had so many issues breathing at night, I need to know exactly what is going on with her heart and lungs. I pray that there are no other problems coming her way. I am praying for all your babies, say one for my Tipper please.

I hope everything goes well with the xray and there isn't anything seriously wrong.

Yes, she should have peaked by now. You'll want to see if you notice any changes in the first couple days.
I am sure that as closely as you watch Tipper that if anything does change that you will notice it and then can just not give the next dose. It does leave the system fairly quickly remember.

Hang in there.

Sharlene and Molly Muffin