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

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY, GINGER!!!

And many mooooore!

Happy birthday, Ginger! My son's birthday is also Sept. 1...a great day to be born!!

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY, SWEET GINGER!!

A BIG AR-O-O-O FROM ABBIE!!

Thank you one and all!!

awww I missed Gingers birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday Ginger!!!!

Good evening everyone. Hope and pray you and yours are doing fine. We are doing okay here. The weather is starting to get a little colder, but for almost mid December, we cannot complain.We have not had any snow yet, a few flurries, but nothing lasting. Ginger has enjoyed the cooler weather and we have taken advantage of them and have been walking everyday we can. Ginger can do 3 miles easily, with a rest and water break mid way. She still wants to go, even when we are done with the three miles. The other day we did 4 1/2 with two rest and water stops. She has lost a few pounds and loves all the smells in the woods and running through the fallen leaves. Her medications seem to be doing her alright so far. I sometimes have to give her a single dose of the fludrocortisone mid day if we have taken a long walk then just the rest of the dose at bedtime. It helps. Have been busy with trying to keep mom busy and involved since my daddy passed away in July.It has been a hard time for all of us and the holidays are even harder. After 69 years of marriage mom just feels so very lost at times. But us kids that are here are getting her out for lunch, shopping, nails done, haircuts... and sometimes just a drive to another small town to look around. I bring her over here for a late breakfast of biscuits and gravy, or pancakes and sausage, or lunch and coffee and a visit with Ginger, my husband and I. Anything to get her out of the house while the others are at work. Ginger loves to have company and she loves her grandma and loved her grandpa. I pray you all have a blessed Christmas. Thinking of all of you and your babies. God Bless, Colleen

Hi Colleen!

I just read your thread. I have a 13+ year old beagle who was Cushing's and presently Addisons secondary to her Addisonian crisis while on Vetoryl. Unfortunately my vet did not give me the warning signs of low cortisol nor Prednisone back up. Gracie was only on 10mg daily, low for her weight. But, it turns out she probably had early kidney disease that was not diagnosed....now stage 2-3 kidney failure after the crisis. Sub q fluids at home....yuck.

I can't believe Ginger can still walk 3 miles! I think little Gracie could walk about a mile before the downhill spiral of treating her Cushing's.

Just wanted to say hi from a fellow beagle mom...
Betty

Good to hear from you and especially to hear our sweet Ginger is doing so well! I hope you and yours have a blessed holiday season!

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Hi Betty I am so sorry to hear about Gracie! I will pray for her and you as well.
It is tough as not all vets are up on Cushing's treatments or Addison's. I did a lot of reading about Cushing's when Ginger was first diagnosed with it, and that, plus finding this forum held tremendously. However, it was still a learning processes and continues to be. they both mimic other illnesses, so it is very easy to miss something. I was told before the Cushing's diagnosis that Ginger had possible kidney failure as well, But when they did the bloodworm, it come back okay. Once we got her on a maintenance dose of the Cushing's medication, she did okay. Then, I believe a year and a half later, could be longer, is when I started noticing other behaviors in Ginger that I knew something was wrong. They did the ACTH test and that is how they found out where her levels were and then did checked her electrolyte levels. That is when they changed it from Cushing's to Addison's. So a new list of medications and procedures. The first vet did not want to put her on prednisone. They only prescribed Fludrocortisone. She did okay with it, and we rechecked her every 2-3 weeks starting off. Then once she was stable, we wet to 2 month checks. I kept a close eye on every day signs. When I noticed she was acting different I would call and have her rechecked. They have uped her does twice since the initial diagnosis. I went to a different vet for some other issues with Ginger, mainly because they had longer hours and not near as busy, The second vet asked about the predinsone and I explained about the first vet. She said, that Ginger should be on a low daily dose to help her appetite, as well as her cortisol levels. I am thankful for this vets input as it got to be a struggle get Ginger to eat in the mornings. Sometimes I could hardly get her medicine in her. Since the addition of the predinsone, it has helped her to eat better and seems more active. All in all she is doing okay. She has started to wander a bit more at night and early mornings, so I may have to address that with the vet soon. It may just be we retest her electrolyte levels and cortisol, or she may have some idea as to this new "habit" Ginger has started. Sorry to be so lengthy... But I hope your Gracie is doing okay.. Thank you for writing.

Hi!

We received Gracie's ACTH today and she's still Addisons. Her electrolytes were normal, so no DOCP shot. This vet wants me to bring Gracie in every week to check her electrolytes! Did your vet have you go in every week? I think it's over kill, and I feel like I'm an ATM machine.