Cairo, 8 year old staffordshire bull terrier just diagnosed

Just a quick update and really looking for some more advice or reassurance.

Following Cairo's last stim test where his post stim result was 625 (22.7), the vet wasn't keen to restart vetoryl, but since then she has - only on 10mg to see how he went (he's 35kg).

He had his repeat stim test on Friday and the post stim results are 204 (7.4). Our own vet is on holiday. The vet we spoke to said to keep him on the 10mg and repeat the stim in 3 weeks.

That seems like a worryingly huge drop in his post stim cortisol levels on only 10mg. Is it? Should he continue on it? We're worried after him crashing the last time he was on vetoryl.

Can you tell us how long Cairo had been taking the 10 mg. prior to this test? That will help us judge the effectiveness -- or overeffectiveness -- of this dose.

Thanks!
Marianne

He has been on 10mg for 2 weeks

My mum's just been on the phone to say that she can't get him to eat and he's sitting in a corner shaking. I've told her not to give him the vetoryl today and to phone the vet.

My niece lives with my mum and she went on holiday yesterday - he could be pining for her but sitting shaking was the indicator that his cortisol had dropped too much last time, so better to withhold the vetoryl I think.

If he had been taking the Vetoryl for two weeks, then I would not have been concerned that there was too big a drop in the cortisol. In fact, I would have thought that was a good result and I would agree with the vet about continuing with that dose. After two weeks of treatment, a drop from 22 to 7 would be putting Cairo's cortisol right in the range where you want it to be, with room for it to safely drop even a bit lower.

However, given his behavior right now, I think you are doing the right thing to at least temporarily hold up on dosing until you have a better idea as to what's going on with him. Please do keep us updated.

Marianne

Ahh, it's a relief to know that the drop is OK. It just seemed like a massive drop.

He's very attached to my niece so it could be that he's missing her - she only went yesterday - it's just unfortunate that her holiday coincided with his stim test

How is he now? Does he seem alright? 7.7 is okay, and while a big drop, and he might be feeling the affects of that, it isn't alarming yet. He would continue to drop some for the next two weeks (as they usually drop for 30 days or so)

I'd say it depends on how he is doing and if you can tell if this is physical or missing your niece.

He eventually had a drink and a little bit to eat this morning but he's still miserable looking.

He slept on the floor in my niece's bedroom last night so it's obvious that he's missing her.

He's not had his vetoryl today again as he hasn't had enough to eat to get it

Just checking to see whether Cairo is doing any better...

Surely hoping that he's bouncing back again!

Marianne

Poor little guy is still sad. He's not had his vetoryl since Monday and I've only been able to coax him to eat a little last night and again tonight. He's just thoroughly miserable. His friend is back on Tuesday so I'm hoping he'll perk up when she comes back - she's not going on holiday again, that's for sure!

Not sure how not having his vetoryl is going to affect stim test readings - if he's not had it for a week, is it a case of going back to square 1 and starting from scratch again?

Since he's been off the Vetoryl I don't think it would be beneficial to have an ACTH stimulation test done right now and would wait until he's been taking the Vetoryl for 10 - 14 days. How are the symptoms?