Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
So we saw Charlottes local vet yesterday and he doesnt think her skin condition is calcinosis cutis. He gave me some spray for her sores and has put her back on Baytril to avoid infection. He wants us to start gradually reducing the pred to see if she can handle it. He feels at this point her body should be producing enough cortisol so she doesnt need steroids, unless she had a macroadenoma that needs the anti-inflamatory properties she is getting from the pred. Since we dont know what we are dealing with we are going to hope for the best.
He called this morning with the results of her bloodwork and said overall he was very pleased. Her liver enzymes were a little higher than last time but he expected that after 6 weeks on steroids. The only other concern was her white cell count was slightly elevated but he thinks that could be from her skin problems or even from the steroids. So we will move forward with our plan to see if she will be able to handle slowly weaning off the pred. We have added the Baytril and a probiotic as well as some herbs to support her system. Ive also been feeding her home made bone brogh daily. She is still super finicky about food but is eating more of what she likes so she has put on a little bit of weight. She is still only 58 pounds (before cushings she was 75-80 pounds) but she looks better now than she did even a week ago. She is also acting more like a dog. She actually dug a hole in the yard on Thursday. I never thought id be happy about that but i was thrilled!
Laurie
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
What herbs are you using?
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LaurieS
She is also acting more like a dog. She actually dug a hole in the yard on Thursday. I never thought id be happy about that but i was thrilled!
So happy to read that she is feeling better and doing doggy stuff!
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Squirt's Mom
What herbs are you using?
The herbs we have started her on is a blend called Ophiopogon Formula. It contains a number of chinese herbs that our vet feels might help Charlotte. I was also using curcumin, quercitin and boswellia but ive stopped that for right now since i didnt know how those might react with this new herbal blend.
Yesterday was the first day Charlotte had only 10mg of pred. We gave it at about noon and its now 8:30am and she is still sleeping. Prior to yesterday she was getting a morning and evening dose (10mg each) and had me up several times a night and early in the morning. But now im worried she is lethargic again. We will see how she is acting when she gets up. Im hoping and praying we can wean her off of the steroids!
Laurie
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
I cannot for the life of me remember, did they do a biopsy to diagnose that the skin issue was calicinosis cutis? That is if there is any question, the only true way to know for sure. It is also not unheard for cc spots to become infected.
The steroids could cause the cc if that is what it is at this point.
I am super happy to hear that she is enjoying things around her again and getting to be her happy self. It's hard to see a boxer who isn't jumping around being a lovable dork, so I'm sure that really was a worry.
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
molly muffin
I cannot for the life of me remember, did they do a biopsy to diagnose that the skin issue was calicinosis cutis? That is if there is any question, the only true way to know for sure. It is also not unheard for cc spots to become infected.
The steroids could cause the cc if that is what it is at this point.
I am super happy to hear that she is enjoying things around her again and getting to be her happy self. It's hard to see a boxer who isn't jumping around being a lovable dork, so I'm sure that really was a worry.
No he didnt do a biopsy but we will keep a close eye on it. She is on Baytril to prevent infection and we have a topical spray that seems to have helped some.
The first day on reduced steroid wasnt good. She was extremely lethargic and wasnt interested in much. It breaks my heart because i want so badly to think this isnt a macro tumor but her symptoms point towards it being just that. This is a quality of life thing and as much as i want to reduce the pred it may not be possible.
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
Steroids make the feel better and reducing and taking her off it might make her feel down for a bit. What you want to check for in the case of macro is whether she starts looking dazed, getting stuck in corners, rubbing her head and pressing it, not able to drop her head to the food bowl, that sort of thing. Those are all symptoms associated with macro tumors.
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
Quote:
Originally Posted by
molly muffin
Steroids make the feel better and reducing and taking her off it might make her feel down for a bit. What you want to check for in the case of macro is whether she starts looking dazed, getting stuck in corners, rubbing her head and pressing it, not able to drop her head to the food bowl, that sort of thing. Those are all symptoms associated with macro tumors.
Thanks Sharlene, I will be on the lookout for those signs for sure. So far the tremors are the main symptom we see other than the lethargy. A few times she has acted dazed and like she doesn't know how to eat or drink but she has only acted that way when we gave her large amounts of the steroids. She would act strangely for the first 4-8 hours then settle down to more normal behavior. It was particularly bad with the dex injections.
I think we will be a bit more gradual in reducing the pred. We will continue with the morning dose of 10mg and instead of nothing in the evening I think we will try 5mg so she has some amount in her system all the time. I'm not sure how long to wait with that dose to see if it's going to work for her? I hate seeing her so lethargic and not wanting to eat much. I sort of freak out when I see her get that way and then go back to the larger amount so she feels better. She has finally started to put weight back on, I don't want to see her lose again but maybe I need to give her more time on the lower dose to see what happens?
The vet said he was pleasantly surprised when he saw her liver enzymes, he thought they would be much higher. I still want to have her on as low a dose of the steroids as possible though because eventually her liver will be in trouble. I forgot to ask if any of the herbs in this blend we are giving her will support her liver. I have given Milk Thistle supplements to dogs with liver problems in the past but will have to ask if that is something I can give her along with these herbs.
Laurie
Re: Questions about Cushings symptoms and diagnosis
I wonder if a soft e-collar would work, different types are shown here: https://www.chewy.com/b/dog-288?quer...Q&gclsrc=aw.ds when I did a search for soft e-collars another product came up called "Cover Me by Tui" : https://www.tulanescloset.com/?gclid...a1kaAs-58P8HAQ
Hugs, Lori
