10 year old female beagle just diagnosed with Cushings - Ginger has passed

Well.... I already gave her 1/4th pill this morning after breakfast!! What should I do?

her last loading dose was Sunday.

I would not give any more Lysodren for right now. Lets see how she is and then maybe the Lysodren maintenance can be started next week.

Okay! Thank you. The vet did not say to wait, just to do it three times a week like Mon. Wed. Fri. So far she has seemed okay today. I feel awful for giving her any. I will wait and maybe start them come Monday of next week. But I will keep an extra close eye on her.

So far so good with my girl Ginger. Her appetite is still down some, which is okay as she does need to loose a little weight, her water consumption is a little less and she is panting less too. No other side effects. Will plan to start her maintenance doses on Monday.

~~whew~~ Glad to hear she's doing alright! You done good, Mom!

I am trying! You all have been wonderful! When I am allowed, I'll post some pictures of her! Yes... Mighty proud momma!

Read through your thread, I am glad your baby is starting to feel better. Your are doing a good job mom . Blessings
Patti

So good to hear that she is doing well. I think that in between time this week is a good indicator of where you want to be. Sounds like things are going well. :)

We'd love to see photos when you have some time to post some. :)

Sharlene and Molly muffin

Did an album with three pictures of Ginger. Not sure how else to post pictures. Hope you all enjoy!

I saw Ginger's album, and she is an absolutely beautiful girl!

awww, she's lovely. You added the photos, exactly right and you can just go to your album and upload any time you want and add pictures.

Sharlene and Molly muffin

Just checking in on Ginger this morning to see how things are going? Blessings
Patti

Thank you! Yes, I think she is beautiful too(but I'm her momma! LOL). They are from a few years back, but just plain good pictures. Thank you for the comments. This has been the first full week of maintenance for her. I did Mom.,Wed.,and Fri. She did just fine. She is still hitting the water quite a bit. A little over a gallon a day and she is eating well. Not like she is starving, but just a healthy hungry. She is not shivering like she used to. She does some, but it is not constant. She actually wanted to go for a walk yesterday so my husband took her for about 45 minutes and she did good. She was tired and slept for a good 2 hours afterwards. She only got up 3 times through the night last night, so I am hoping that each week hat will improve as well. No vomiting, no diarrhea, very little panting. I am a very grateful Mom!

You are doing a great job. I hope sweet Ginger continues to improve. Blessings
Patti

It's always baby steps when it comes to cushing so hopefully you will see more improvement as time goes forward.
You're doing great!

Sharlene and molly muffin

Thank you! Just finished her 3rd week on maintenance. Will call vet by mid April to have her one month blood test and check her numbers! Sorry I was gone a while. I have limited time on my internet and ran just about to my limit last month. We are doing okay. Ginger seems so much better. A little hungrier than I had hoped, but she has gotten some energy back and is sleeping most night through with only getting up maybe once a night!

Like Sharlene says take baby steps. Celebrate all the little accomplishments as they are really gigantic as far as improvement goes. Any improvement with Cushing's is a win. Blessings
Patti

I'm so happy to hear that Ginger is doing well on maintenance. :) Yay!!!

Happy Days, long may they continue

Sharlene and molly muffin

Go Ginger Go!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just an update. After Ginger has been on Lysodren for her month of maintenance dose her tests results were 4.8 before and 11.2 after. So the vet called and said since they were elevated some to add one more day of 1/4 pill. So I now give her a quarter pill four times a week. She seems okay so far with this dosing. It has only been a week, but She seems the same as when she was on the quarter pill 3 times a week. She will be retested in a month or so. Hope you are all doing well!

Great to hear from you. When will you recheck to see if the extra 1/4 pill had done the trick?
Hope this is it for tweaks. :)

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

I really do hope that the extra dose will help and that a mini load won't be needed. How are Ginger's symptoms?

will retest in about 2 months. I do not see see any symptoms as far as excess water intake, panting or lethargy. Her bowel movements are normal, no nausea,. She wants to walk and is playful at times. She seems as close to normal as I can tell. I did add a few more pictures to her album!

Will we check in about 2 months, Maybe about a month and a half now. She seems to be doing pretty well. No symptoms that I can see! Keeping my fingers crossed and prayers said. I did add a few more pictures to her album!We are in Indiana visiting my parents for a while! Hope you all are doing well!

How are things up your way?
Ginger has been doing great on vacation. We are in Indiana visiting my parents. She has been wonderful with the travels as long as I give her her car sick pills. She stays pretty close to my side, but I wouldn't want it any other way! No matter how old she gets, she will always be my baby! So far no adverse symptoms with the addition of the extra 1/4 pill. She wants to walk and walk and run through the lush grass here! I love seeing her so active and spry! Hope all of you are well and staying safe and enjoying this Memorial Day weekend!

This is excellent!! I am very happy to hear that Ginger is doing so well and enjoy her traveling adventures still. What a pretty picture go her you pant rolling and playing in the grass. Beagles are so happy when they can be free like that.
Safe travels
Hugs
Sharlene and Molly muffin

Will take Ginger to the vet this morning for her retest to see how the extra 1/4 pill is doing however, Sat. she started having severe Diarrhea and threw up once. Other than that she seemed normal. Wanted to eat and was willing to take a walk. So I fixed her some rice and lean chicken. She eat that and seemed a little better most of the day, but then was sick by about 10 pm. Up all night with diarrhea. Almost every 30-60 minutes. She never went much but she tried. Sun the same so I gave her some rice water from long cooking white rice and then boiled some ground beef. Again she ate, but the diarrhea continued. Called vet Mon. They said to not give her her Lysodren Mon. and bring her in Tues. She was up again all night last night with Diarrhea and was sick about 1:30 am. Any help for you all out there?? Getting very scared! Thank you

When do you take her to the vet today? When was her last Lysodren pill?

Well I don't like the sounds of throwing up and diarrhea. Do let us know what the vet said!!

Sharlene and molly muffin

Took her this morning at 10 am. Vet checked her, took her temp and it was normal. Felt around on her and also looked in her ears eyes and mouth. He also did follow up of ACTH test. He thinks she got into something that has her GI tract all inflamed. He gave her an injection of Polyflex and an injection of Cerenia. One is antibiotic the other is for the nausea. He also gave me a script to help control the diarrhea and is also an anti bacterial. It is called Metronidazole. He will call with results of ACTH test either tomorrow or Thursday but for now I ma to hold off on the Lysodren until I hear from him. Her last dose was Sunday Morning. Since we have been been back from vet. she has been more relaxed and sleeping. She has been drinking water, but just normal amount. Had not wanted anything to eat even though I had fixed her some rice and boiled ground beef. About 7:30 she went to where her food bowl normally is and looked for it. Instead of trying the rice and beef. I opened a can of lea chicken and gave her about 1/3 of it and got one of the anti-diarrhea/anti-bacterail in her. She took it well, then went back out side. She has not been sick or had diarrhea since. Is sleeping on the couch by me now. I will up date when I get the ACTH test results. Any input is greatly appreciated. Many thanks! Colleen

I am reading along in your thread and just wanted you to know I am thinking of you and your Ginger. Hopefully the ACTH will be back soon and we can see her numbers. It will all work out, everyone on here will help you thru it. Blessings
Patti

Thank you! This forum has been such a blessing and very helpful! Ginger did sleep through the night, ate some breakfast and seems to be feeling better this morning.Will post results of ACTH test when I hear!

Prayers going up for Ginger for a complete and quick recovery..Snuggles and Brando send lots of healing arooooos!

i have a 9 yr old silky terrier that was just diagonis in may he is not on any treatment because it is to much and it not going to stop this disease its really a bad disease i still cant believe this is happening to my baby

Gosh I am sorry to hear that sweet Ginger is not feeling well, when a dog has diarrhea and is vomiting it is so stressful and worrisome. I am glad to read that the vet did do an ACTH stim test, were Ginger's electrolytes checked as well?

Hoping dear Ginger is feeling much better soon.

Hugs, Lori

How is Ginger this morning? Hope no vomiting and diarrhea. You did the absolute best thing was to get her tested. Now we will see where she stands with her meds. Hope all is well. Blessings
Patti

Thank you all. Vet called yesterday evening. Her before numbers were 7.3 which he said were a little high, but He was not too concerned knowing I had stopped her Lysodren because she was sick. Her after numbers were 9.2(i believe) so they have fallen from the 11 reading from her test prior to this one on Tuesday and adding the extra 1/4 pill. He said to wait until Sun to restart the Lysodren so her Gi tract has time to rest and recuperate. Then just keep an eye on her to make sure no symptoms start in again. He is thinking more that she got into something rather than it being the Lysodren, but I will be keeping an extra close watch on her. She slept well last night and was more interested in food today. Her eyes look clearing and she actually had a good bowel movement this afternoon! Made me so happy to see this!! LOL Vet said if all was going well that we would not have to retest for 2-3 months!! You all have a blessed weekend!

P.S. Lori, I don't think he checked her electrolytes as far as additional blood work, He lifted her skin and pushed on her gums and said she seemed a little dehydrated, but not too much. The only thing through her being sick was she did drink water regularly. Not like ravenous, but a healthy amount and I started the rice water Sat. night which she drank some of hesitantly, but she drank it. So I continued to warm some up with a touch of low sodium chicken broth about every 2-3 hours and she drank it. I did about 1/4 cup at a time. Perhaps this helped. Maybe not, but it made me feel like I was able to do something for her. I was feeling pretty helpless.

Yes anytime you have a situation where a dog goes low on cortisol you are supposed to check their electrolytes to see if it threw them out of balance especially the sodium and potassium. Hope Ginger is on the mend. Just keep a close watch on her. Is she drinking and eating ok today? Blessings
Patti