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

Thank you so much. I tried to post pictures, but it wouldn't let me. Perhaps they are too large. I will try again soon.

Have a quick question, though it is Addison's disease telated. I am having trouble getting Ginger to eat much of anything. No matter what I fix, she will eat a few bites, then act like it's awful. Most mornings I can get her to eat some meat and bread to take her pill, but the rest of the day is really a challenge. She will go look at her bowl, smell it and walk away. I take it up and she will go look where her bowl usually is. I will set it down off and on and she will smell it and walk away.
She has lost some weight so i was wondering if any of you all know is it possible she needs a medication reduction with her weight loss, or once on fludrocortisone, it rarely is reduced regardless of weight.
Thanks so much.

Hello again! I’m so sorry but I don’t know the answer to your question. I encourage you to check with your vet, because it may indeed be the case that a dosage change is needed, or even that Ginger should be getting some different or additional medication. I do think your vet needs to know that she’s not eating properly.

I’m struggling with the same issue right now with my aged Lab. She is having a GI upset right now for reasons that we haven’t yet figured out. She’s been having on-and-off diarrhea and will eat fine some days and turn up her nose on others. Today is a “turn up her nose” day, and it’s always upsetting to me because when a Lab doesn’t want to eat, you know something is wrong :-((((. Anyway, I know this is no help to you, but I just wanted you to know that I can truly sympathize. When dogs don’t want to eat, it’s *so* upsetting. But I really do think you need to check in with your vet.

Good luck!
Marianne

I appreciate your reply. It is upsetting. I have a mindset like my mom... if someone eats, they are ok.
She has an appointment coming up soon so I will have them check her electrolyte panel. Wishing you well with your pup. Prayers.

Please keep us updated on our sweet girl.
Hugs,
Leslie

Thank you. She went to vet. Has a slight UTI, antibiotics for 14 days. It doesn't seem to be helping with the urination issues much. She has been on them for 8 days now. The pepcid has helped a little, but she still is getting sick off and on, mostly in the evenings. I wonder if her kidneys are not functioning as well as they should be.
Was wondering if anyone knows how phosphorus figures in to Addison's disease? Her electrolytes were ok. Sodium was low normal. Thank you all.

Welcome back, Colleen. I’m sorry that Ginger is still having some problems. Again, I’m not super knowledgeable about Addison’s, but I think it’s the balance of potassium and sodium that’s a key issue, as opposed to phosphorus. At age 16, though, Ginger could certainly be seeing some reduction in her kidney function. We would expect to see that reflected in her blood chemistry panel, most specifically her levels of creatinine and BUN. There’s also a blood test called a SDMA that specifically reflects kidney health. If you are worried about her kidney function and this test hasn’t been done recently, you could ask your vet to include it the next time you’re in.

You have done such a great job of caring for Ginger to allow her to celebrate her 16th birthday. But at this age, I suppose there could be enough little things starting to “wear out” that they may all add up to affect her overall digestive and urinary system. That’s what my elderly mom would say to me on days that she wasn’t feeling well: “Marianne, my old body is just worn out!” In that situation, unfortunately it can be hard to identify any one single thing that’s the main culprit.

Anyway, please continue to update us, though. I surely do hope these issues may end up resolving on their own. In the meantime, please give Ginger some gentle hugs from her family here.

Marianne

Happy 16th Birthday!!! Thats awesome! :)

When my girl started to get to the point where she woudnt eat, and I focused on hand feeding..short burst attention getters, rather than the typical dinner bowl.
(granted, I had a good 4--5 pills to sneak in, besides any weight loss to balance out)
- Hard Boiled Eggs
- Cesar mini packets (be sure to find the Gravy ones, NOT gelatinous) Filet Mignon was one, Im sure
- and later those tubes of 'high end'/natural food

It seemed like those were stronger incentive (in the moment/too enticing to think twice about/turn down)

I got to a point where I would just show up at my vet, to take a weight check, as I knew where their scale was.
They were very accommodating, and perfectly fine with me doing it.

* Keep an eye/record on that weight. weight loss in long term can be dismissed, but short term scale time can show concern.
It alerted me to take test = her protein loss in urine.

Thank you one and all. I appreciate all input. I have started reducing her intake of protein some.. not a lot and adding carbohydrates and sneaking some veggies in.
The in between times she does very well. She will still walk a mile or more each day.. her decision, we let her go when and where she wants to.
I will check with vet on some of this. She's so sweet.