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

Okay, so today was a busy day at our house, with duct cleaning, carpets, rugs, tile/grout, so I booked molly in for her physical exam today. She is having a urinalysis, upc, liver enzymes check and had her kennel cough shot.
I am hoping to be able to call and get results tomorrow from my vet, as she is leaving for a week and won't be back till 2 Sept.

Molly's eyes are the problem. We checked the records and in June, her eyes were clear and age appropriate, in other words really good for an 11 year old, clear and shiny. 2 months later and my vet said she was astounded that both molly's eyes are now cloudy and there is no cataracts, or other eye issue to be the cause. She asked me to go over what has changed in the 2 months, all that has happened is we started lignans, melatonin and sam-e 100. We are both very concerned, as she said it looks like what she might see in a 13 - 14 year old dog, like they had aged rapidly in 2 months.

What the heck do I do now? This explains why in the last two months, she stopped being in the window as much, barks when my husband comes home instead of recognizing him, wait for me to walk up that step to the front door before she does, etc. All this in 2 months. In fact I mentioned the step and the window seat on here.

I am stopping all of these things I am giving her right now and going back to the other liver support I was using. She said we could try to take her off and see if she is perhaps having some sort of reaction to any of these, which is one possibility. My concern is the cortisol of course. I'll see what the results of these tests show and hope for the best in that regard. What I want to do I think, is get her started on 10mg of vetroyl pretty soon, but my vet wants a repeat ultrasound to see what is going on with that tumor on the adrenal too.

I'm worried and nervous of course, as we all are as we deal with these issues. I don't care at this point what the LDDS shows, we just need to get that cortisol down as soon as and safely as possible in my opinion, no matter what is causing it.

I don't do so good when there is a molly problem it seems. :(

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

Sharlene, I am so sorry! Do you think there would be value in letting an ophthalmologist perform an in-depth eye assessment so as to try to identify more precisely the nature/source of the problem? For many reasons, I know you are anxious to jump on this sooner rather than later in order to best preserve Molly's vision. FWIW, here's an article I found re: eye problems that can be associated with endocrinological illnesses. :o

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2..._29_12_733.pdf

Sending many hugs your way.

Oh Sharelene, I think Marianne has a good suggestion. I get so worried about eyes; an ophthalmologist can tell so much more after a thorough assessment. Look what I went through with Zoe's eyes.

I pretty much quoted exactly what the vet told me today about her eyes and her thoughts on it.

Hopefully the results will come in tomorrow and I will get them and be able to ask my vet for a consult to the eye doctor. I also plan to call the IMS Monday. I'm away at an appt tomorrow from 12:00 to 5pm, but will leave my phone on, and I'll call before I leave if I haven't heard anything.

One way or another and I'll have to try to arrange something with work. I've already put in for my days off through end of september and it is going to be tricky with the new section I'm in to get approved time off, I will have to be firm. I want eye doctor consult and a chat with IMS and ultrasound. That is what I think we need and then I want to see if we can move to say the 10mg of vetroyl. I hope I haven't caused this by not treating, but afraid I have. She still has no symptoms of cushings, other than this now, in fact she has lost a pound, but that might be the weight management food I moved her to, in search of getting some firm poops. Her urine remains concentrated. Gawd, I just don't know what to do for her that is the best thing. I worry too that what if I do start on her vetroyl and she doesn't have cushings, then what will I do to her, (that has been a constant worry with the negative LDDS tests)

Hopefully we'll know a bit more about her liver and kidneys tomorrow. As kidney problems can also cause eye problems.

Thanks for the article Marianne, very informative.

hugs and thanks
Sharlene and molly muffin

Oh I forgot, she is also not eating anything tonight but her soft food. She picked all the hard kibble out, put it in her mouth, started to chew and spit it out on the rug. *sigh* Maybe the kennel cough shot?

It's not been a primo day on the molly front that is for sure.

Sharlene and molly muffin

And she makes a liar out of me, by going to eat some kibble, then wanting to go for a walk. Go figure. Then she wanted her joint treat and was good to go.

She'll get a liver treat later but I don't think I'll give her any more of either lignans, melatonin or sam-e until we get this eye thing figured out. I don't know what do you guys think about that? I've never heard of Any of those causing eye problems, but molly has been so weird that I don't know anything any more, other than the general do and don't's of cushings.

hugs
Sharlene and molly muffin

I dont know what to think but I dont think it is from the melatonin or lignans except that the melatonin seemed to bother Zoe's bad eyes. Her eyes would get redder from it after being on it for awhile, I could not give it to her every night. I even had a dog pharmacist look it up in his drug book. He could not find anything that indicated to could affect her eyes but it did.

I don't see how it could make them cloudy though. Something else has to be going on. Sharlene, is the melatonin still making her so tired?

All I can tell you is with the numerous eye issues Zoe had, her ophthalmologist felt I need to keep her cortisol controlled.

Gosh, Sharlene, I am so sorry to hear about our dear Molly's eye issue :( I do so wish that I have some words of wisdom for you. :( However I can lend some loving moral support and will be keeping you both in my thoughts and prayers.

Love and hugs,
Lori

I dunno whether this has anything to do with anything, but here's an article about possible effects of melatonin on the human retina:

http://www.landesbioscience.com/pdf/Pandi_Wiechmann.pdf

Marianne

Sharlene, I'm sorry to hear that Molly is having eye issues. I did have to grin a bit tho when she made a liar out of you. Ya just never know what to expect from the little devil/angels.

As someone with a very rare eye disease (1 in 1.4 MILLION), I have learned more about human eye conditions that anyone could ever want to know. I would imagine there are some parallels with canine eye issues. Steroids oral or drops cause cataracts to progress rapidly, but the vet said it wasn't cataracts. There is another condition called vitritis which is a clouding of the vitreous fluid in the eye itself. It is caused by inflammation. The treatment for that is immunosupression and .... wait for it.... steroids. *sigh* There are other types of inflammation in the eyes called different things depending on where it is located in the eye itself. Your regular vet would not be able to see any of those without special equipment, so an ophthalmologist consult is a good idea. There are anti-inflammatory drops (nonsteroidal which do and could help tremendously. This is NOT necessarily a PERMANENT thing. It is possibly just an episodic flare due to an unknown cause. And I already realize that with the Cushing's team on it, y'all will damn sure figure out that cause before too much longer. Hugs and Love to you and Molly girl.

Suzie