Tipper - adrenal tumor/breathing issues

I don't hold the record but my Haley lived to be 16 1/2 and died of old age not cushing's. She was on lysodren for over 4 yrs. I did absolutely nothing special for her except give her lysodren and regular acth tests to make sure she was maintaining the load.

I gave her quality food (Solid Gold) and as her arthritis set in I gave her adequan shots, fish oil and glucosamine chond. with SAME. That and lots of love. Oh and I ceased giving her people food as she couldn't tolerate any fats - not even a tiny piece of white chicken breast. Kim

Thank you for the help, every bit of information helps when you are dealing with this dreaded disease. God Bless

Hope and and Tipper are having a good day today

Mel and Tia xxx

I first heard the word "Cushing's" late in 2007 and Squirt was officially diagnosed in early '08 at the age of 10. But her journey isn't typical. A tumor on her spleen was the cause of the elevations in cortisol at that time and when it was removed that level returned to normal. So she started out Atypical and started moving into true Cushing's with elevating cortisol summer before last. She never loaded (we use Lysodren) because of the Atypical so has only been on maintenance the last year or so. She was 15 yesterday so she has been on this journey for five years.

I chose Lysodren over Trilostane (Vetoryl) almost 2 years ago and am very happy with that decision. She has been taking flax lignans or spruce lignans along with melatonin since '08. She takes GlycoFlex III, Only Natural Pet's salmon oil, PS-100, and has been on a home-cooked diet for over four years. She has taken or is taking milk thistle seed, astragalus, burdock root, schisandra, chamomile, and passionflower herbs as needed in both seed or powder and tincture forms.

She started leaking at nite this year and is on Proin.

Her arthritis has gotten bad and for now she is using either Vetprofen or a vet med called Meta-Tinic (Metacam based) - both NSAIDS. :( I am working on an herbal protocol for her now and looking into Adequan and Dasuquin.

I think that's all. :D

Hope that helps! But remember, what works for Squirt may not work for a single other dog - each are unique biological entities. ;)

Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

Leslie:
When you get time would you let me know what you put in your natural diet, I would appreciate it and thank you for the help. God Bless You and your baby.

Squirt's diets are designed by a nutritional consultant. I have been taking a course in canine nutrition for two years and don't know enough to put on the head of a straight pin! So there is no way I would try to design a diet for my babies right now. ;) I can throw something together for the short term, VERY short term, but over the long-term, I trust the experts. I can share the ingredients but that isn't the key - the balance of nutrients is the key and that requires the right foods, supplements, vitamins and minerals for each individual dog.

She just started on a new diet this week but the old one that she was on for four years contained white turkey, beef liver, water packed sardines, brown rice, sweet potatoes, lentils, green beans, butternut or acorn squash, organic yogurt, calcium, taurine, zinc, manganese and iodine. Her new diet is dark chicken, sweet potatoes, white rice, salmon, beef liver, calcium, taurine, zinc and manganese. Once she adjusts to the change and I see it is not going to upset the digestive system, I will add the yogurt back in as a topper.

Catherine Lane designed all my babies' diets but she is sooo busy right now working on her thesis I'm never sure when she is taking new clients or not. Monica Segal is the other consultant I would recommend. I would beg you to please not get a diet off of the web to use. It is important for home made diets to be geared to the individual - especially when the pups are less than 100% healthy. ;) An imbalance is so very easy to create in a healthy dog much less a dog with existing health issues.

Hope this helps!
Hugs,
Leslie and the gang

BTW - I eat peanut butter, cheese, crackers, cereal and sandwiches for the most part! Guess who rules THIS house? :D

Hi Everyone:
I took Tipper to the Opthamologist yesterday. It was a 7 hour ordeal. Even though Tipper has a car seat to sleep in she was so uncomfortable the whole time. I think the thin skin, changes in fat redistribution, and her pot belly made her miserable. She had an idea from the get go that she was going to the Dr. She would not drink for me even though I made several stops for her to drink and go potty, and eat. She was being stubborn. So luckily I had a syringe in my purse and made her drink with it. I could tell her mouth was sticky and dry when she stuck her tongue out, I could hear the sticky sound in her mouth. When we got to the Dr.'s office I went in and brought the paper work out and filled it in outside in the car. I asked if I could keep her in the car and they call me on the cell when the Dr. was ready for her, since she has had enough already. So we waited in the car and she sat patiently, until a woman pulled in beside us with a poodle and took it in the building. Tipper looked at the poodle and then gave me the nastiest look, and crouched down in her car seat and hid her head. Her worst fears were now confirmed. I believe if she could talk she would have called me a nasty word!! So here is all the info if this will help anyone now or in the future:

First of all the Dr. said eye fluid is important with a Cush dog as the Cushings dries up their eyes and they get dry eye which blurrs vision- I know I have it. Her fluid was great
Second he checked her pressure for glaucoma. It was fine also.

Then he dialated her eyes and really did a thorough exam. She has sclerosis of both eyes. Which means she needs bifocals the cause is from getting old.

Her iris muscle is not completely closing either, this is from old age also.

She does have very small calcium deposts on her retina. He said this is either the Cushings or old age.
He asked me why I wanted her seen and anything that had prompted me to get her eyes checked. I told him when I asked my Vet about changes I was seeing in her eyes he told me it was old age. Due to her disease I said that was not a good enough answer for me. He told me I did the right thing, as once you let something go, it is hard to back track. So I guess the Vet I have was wrong again. He emailed my Vet a report of what was going on. I guess I'll hear about this for going behind hind his back, and getting a specialist without his knowledge. Oh well!!! He also said he has drops that get rid of the deposits, but that since hers were so tiny he wants to wait 6 months and recheck her to see if there are changes in them. He said since she has had so much Vet crap with the Cushings, she would be upset with the drops as they sting real bad. He did not want to put her thru this if it was not necessary. He also told me with the sclerosis and iris not closing all the way that her depth perception may start to be off. He said his elderly beagle has this when he puts a treat down for him, when he goes to get it he is about an inch away and the dog thinks he is right on it. Also he said if you notice them looking and drinking in a funny manner that they cannot tell exactly where surface of the water in the bowl is. So if any of your dogs do this you will know what is happening. I hope this information helps someone. They also have an animal dermatologist, and a cancer center for animals in this huge complex. I had this eye Dr. 30 years ago for a cat of mine that has since passed. This practice has grown immensely in that time. I hope this can help one person to understand the changes their dog may go thru. God Bless Us All and All our Babies.

I am so glad that inspite of the trauma of the trip, the exam went well and the report was good. I am sure you feel better as well.

If he was talking about EDTA, Zoe has that drop; we are not sure if it is holding things at bay but it is not breaking up the deposits. We are hoping it is keeping them from getting worse. She has a recheck the end of March with the eye vet.

I hope you and Tipper have recovered. Enjoy your Sunday:)

Hi Tippers Mom

Glad that you got some answers on this trip, sorry Tipper figured it out so you had an interesting journey, our pups are so clever, wish they could understand we are doing it for them!

Tia could give looks too am sure she said a few choice words to me over the years :)

Interesting to read about the scierosis that might explain why Tia's was reluctant to drink from her bowl....

Thank you for the information. Hope you are both having a good day today

Mel and Tia xxx