Molly, 13 yr, shih tzu - lhasa aspo - Molly has passed

Sharlene,

I hope you, your hubby, and Molly also have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I also am very thankful for this forum, and for the many caring and wonderful people like you, who help support me and keep me sane. :p

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Julie & Hannah

Happy Thanksgiving Sharlene!! I am so glad you are on this board. Thanks for all the support you give me & everyone.
xo

Hi Sharlene,

I just want to stop in and wish you, Molly, and the rest of your family a Happy Thanksgiving! I also want to thank you for always checking in on me and Jasper and all the support you constantly offer. I am so grateful to you and this forum, I don't know where we would be without all the special people here.

I am not sure that Thanksgiving is observed in Canada, but I wish you a wonderful day today! :D

Love and hugs,

Tina and Jasper

Thanks Everyone! We do celebrate Thanksgiving, it's just in October. Think of a Harvest Festival time.
I think the sentiments though are great, no matter when or where you live. :)

mucho love!
hugs all,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Sharlene,

I have celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with some Canadian friends for the past few years. Good times! :)

Julie & Hannah

I have to agree with everyone! What would we do without you??;)
God bless you and that little dog of yours!
Love 'n' hugs, Leah

Thanks gang, you are all such sweethearts. I think we're just a very giving community and that probably has much to do with being animal lovers. :) In the human/animal relationship, we always seem to get back 10 times whatever we give. This community just follows the rule of interactions. :)

love to you all!

Now off to fix yet another family dinner. Did I mention I have company this week from out of town! LOL Crazy around here.

hugs,
Sharlene

I posted a couple more pictures of Molly today. I think it is fair to say that hair growth is not a problem for her. She was groomed and her hair cut when we came back form Spain, so around Sept 17th. The first picture which is actual the last, was taken yesterday Nov 28th and she looks like a fluff muffin again. Although one badly in need of a bath. Her hair was over one eye today, like a puppy Marilyn Monroe.

She will be going to stay at the vets again on Dec 12th, and I am going to order a blood panel to be done then to see how her liver values are. Anything else specifically I should ask them to check blood wise?
To recap, she has high ACTH, high ALP, high ALT and as perfect of an LDDS as one could ask for. (baffling)

Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Awww, she is so beautiful!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lulusmom

I found an upcoming continuing education lecture being offered by Dechra that may cover the information on treating without symptoms. This lecture is given by a veterinary dermatologist husband and an IMS wife team, entitled Cushing's Disease: Inside and Out. It's not available to us laymen and I can't see the five modules but they are entitled, 1) Perspectives, 2) Diagnostic Considerations 3) Treatment Options - What We Knew Then 4) Treatment Options - What We Know Now and 5) An Option for Managing Canine Hyperadrenocorticism. The what we knew then and what we know now sounds very interesting. The fact that a dermatologist is contributing is interesting because a lot of dogs with cushing's have severe skin and coat issues with few other symptoms. Even more interesting is that the husband dermatologist's practice is in Pasadena, CA. I had a little Shih Tzu foster dog who had horrific skin problems and few other symptoms, who was ultimately diagnosed and prescribed Vetoryl by another derm vet in that practice. Hmmm?...

...P.S. Sharlene, ask your vet if the names Rhonda Schulman, DVM, DACVIM and/or John Angus, DVM, DACVD sound familiar. One or both may have lectured at the veterinary conference your vet attended.

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Hey Sharlene,

First off, Molly is such a sweetheart! It always brightens my day to see your photos of her. :) :)

Since I felt lazy this morning and wanted to postpone taking the girls for their walk :o, I started back at the beginning of your thread to refresh my recollection about Molly's history. I only made it part-way through, but ended up with these preliminary thoughts.

First off, the continuing ed lectures that Glynda found earlier are now mobilized for public viewing. You must have Adobe Flash installed to view them, but here they are:

http://www.cliniciansbrief.com/webri...inside-and-out

I've only had time to listen to two of the modules, but it is the first one ("Perspectives") that does indeed offer out the suggestion that it may be time to establish a new treatment paradigm for Cushing's, and not wait until dogs exhibit full-blown symptoms prior to intervening. I don't know that this lecture is what your IMS was talking about, but it is consistent with the notion that earlier intervention may preclude the development of more serious issues such as hypertension, proteinuria, cruciate damage, etc. Both of the specialists (dermatologist and internist) also stress that they have diagnosed lots of dogs that do not present with a full profile of classic Cushing's symptoms. For instance, the internist says that, surprisingly, many of her Cushpups do not exhibit ravenous appetites. And the dermatologist says that many of his patients exhibit little other than just skin/coat abnormalities. Of course, my first thought, is "Then how do you know they really have Cushing's?" But they both seem to be confident about their diagnostic accuracy. And in the case of dermatology issues, I guess it is true that there are certain disorders (like calcinosis cutis) that basically only manifest with Cushing's.

As far as Molly's upcoming retesting, have you decided to postpone the followup LDDS? I noticed that back in the summer, the IMS recommended a retest in about three months time. To me, it does make sense to first start out with a general lab/urinalysis panel in order to see whether there have been changes in the liver studies and proteinuria. Because if everything has normalized, then you're be off the hook altogether! But if those values have worsened, I'm thinking you would want to revisit another LDDS. Also, has Molly's blood pressure ever been checked? That might be another test that would be wise to perform. Because even Dr. Peterson seems to endorse advancing to treating an otherwise largely asymptomatic dog in the presence of unresolved proteinuria and/or hypertension.

I'll have my fingers crossed that you'll see improvement in Molly's labwork this time around. But if not, perhaps this is a bit more food for thought.

Marianne