14 year-old Shih Tzu With Recent Cushing's Diagnosis

Hi Julie,

I can say because Molly is on the SO food too that it does cause them to drink more. That is what it is designed to do to keep the crystals in control. Molly drink much less any time she doesn't have the SO food. I'd say at least a quarter to half less (which is actually less than they should drink normally). There are days when I don't give molly the SO, usually if I've noticed her starting to get some loose stools, then I mix something else in for a couple days and that seems to help. Then back to the SO because we've been lucky to be able to keep the crystal issue controlled using this food. I worry because then she doesn't drink enough. I don't like it, it's not what I would choose to feed her, but I worry about the crystals and stones if I don't. :(
So I right there with you on that. That too was one of the things that made us questions the cushings diagnosis. How can you have continuously high cortisol levels and Not drink a ton of water All the time and eat ravenously?
I hope that the Atopica really kicks in a lowers Hannah's itching in all areas. I do wonder since having been on the cone so much if part of it isn't what you suggested, that as soon as the cone comes off, it's opportunity time. She is after all a smart little whipper snapper. :)
Good luck with the parent-teacher conferences. Always a busy time in my teacher friends lives.

I swear I'm trying, but it seems that going outside and waving your arms around trying to shoo the darn thing northwards just isn't working all that well. :(

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hi Julie and Hannah and Izzy!

Boy, you have had things going on. I was wondering if Hannah perhaps had gall bladder issues, with the discomfort being so episodic? Does it come on after meals, any fatty treats or anything like that? Glad to hear her itching is somewhat better though, must be nice to see her out of the evil cone!!

Good luck for the parent/teacher interviews, that must be such a busy time for you.

Fingers crossed for no more tummy upsets or itchy episodes for your two!!

Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Julie,

You have two WEEKS of parent interviews? :eek::eek::eek: OMG, don't know how you could do that! We have 4 hours of 5-10 minute appointments to talk to all of our parents. It's full on non stop talking during that time and we inevitably have to ring a few afterwards that we didn't get to see, but at least it is over in one night! Wow, 2 weeks I just couldn't do. You deserve a medal for that!

As for Hannah's allergies, I do so hope you manage to get a hold on them soon. My Oscar is an itchy scratchy boy too, and even going through the desensitisation program with the dermatologists, he is still really bad. Aside from being allergic to any and all preservatives in food, he is also allergic to ants and grass. So we have a never ending cycle of chewing of feet going on. I know what you mean about them waiting till you turn your back to have a good lick and chew. Ironic really, I medicate one to bring cortisol down, while the other I give pred to boost it up. You'd think they would just share wouldn't you? :p:p:p

Zoe ate the canned ID for a year, she could not tolerate the dry. She also drank very little water when she was on it but that usually happens when they are on wet food. She started chewing her paws though when I put her on it. I always thought it was the corn in it but when I finally weaned Zoe off of it she still chewed her paws:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I am going to stay positive that the Atopia will work and you can switch to every other day. I know how happy you will be if she can be cone free:):) That is what I am dreading for Zoe's surgery, they plan to leave her stitches in for 3 weeks:eek::eek::eek:


Hugs and love, stay warm!!!!!
Get well Izzy and Hannah!!!!!!

Hi Guys,

We had another visit to the vet today. Hannah had a normal stool, followed by some straining and a little diarrhea. She was also acting like she had an upset stomach or was in some pain after. I decided to take her in to check. She was acting normal again about 20 min. later, and I wondered if it was just from straining to go. She sometimes is weird if she doesn't have regular walks, and it's like she can't quite get it all out.

As long as we were going, I decided to have her blood work checked and I brought in a stool sample. The vet said her intestines had fluid in them and wanted to send out the stool sample. I agreed, even though I doubt there is anything because Izzy was clear a couple of weeks ago.

He thoroughly examine her while we were there and found a pea-sized growth on her upper right gum/jaw area. It doesn't look too good. He said it could be nothing or cancer. He recommended I watch it for a week or two to see if it grows. I also emailed the derm vet about it because I know cyclosporine (Atopica) can cause an overgrowth of gum tissue, but that isn't what this looked like to me. I don't have a good feeling about it. I also felt like the vet spent a lot of time feeling her neck, which made me wonder if he was thinking her lymph nodes felt strange, although he never said anything.

He wants to get the stomach thing figured out first and told me to try not to stress about her mouth. She's on metronidazole for a few days. She's been totally fine tonight. I don't even know if there was a real issue. She ate some of Izzy's dry ID and I wonder if that affected her. Vet said it was unlikely. He told me to skip the Atopica tonight because of her upset stomach. I did, but I'm frustrated about that too, because we may never get to the point where she is better if we keep having to stop!

As for the blood work, her hemoglobin and hematocrit were a touch low again, but not enough to worry him, her ALKP was about 700 (down from 900 in Dec.)...and the ALT....NORMAL at 53! :confused::confused::confused: I'm baffled. It was 186 in Dec. and over 200 in Nov. My vet really had no explanation for why this was, and said sometimes that just happens. I'm glad we didn't get an ultrasound.

So, if we didn't have the possible stomach issue and now the mouth growth, things would be looking pretty good. Ugh. I don't know what to think. I'm going to post the picture I took (it's not the best) in my photos. The growth is right by my thumb nail. It looks like a round bump sticking out from her gum and it's hard.

Julie & Hannah

Hi Julie

Well that's a bit of a mixed bag, I wonder if she got something stuck under her gum and it has got inflammed? Hopefully with watching it a couple of weeks as your vet suggested it will settle down again. Fingers crossed for that. Great to see her liver tests better though :D:D I guess you are back in limbo land with the stool test and seeing what is going on with her gut. :confused::confused: Tricky girls they are! Will keeping an eye to see what results come in. Sounds like she is a bit better overall as you say, so sometimes these little irregularities can settle on their own with a bit of time so that is what I will be hoping for Hannah.
Trish xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hi Julie,

Sorry about the snowstorm your way, tried to keep that Alberta Clipper over in western Canada, but no go, we'll get it bad tonight here.

Sounds like whatever the problem was with the liver values has now corrected. 53 is awesome number for her. I was told not to worry about the ALKP that those values are normally higher with dogs that have issues with crystals.
Hopefully the gum thing will turn out to be nothing. Don't let that bad feeling grab hold of you! Lets see how it does over the next couple weeks.
Got to run, work calls and I'm trying to get through some personal emails before the work ones bombard me this morning. :)
Stay warm and safe,
hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin

Hmmm,the canned ID should not really bother her, it is highly digestible unless she is allergic to an ingredient. When Zoe would have a bit of a colitis flare, her poos would sometimes start out normal and then end up getting softer and ickier. Do you see a shine to her stool or mucus looking stuff on it? Zoe would get gas pains. It was the only time she would pant. Or it could be the Atopia

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/atopica-side-effects.html

Is it possible for the vet to aspirate the growth? I would not worry about that one yet. It could be a number of things.

Oh Julie, I am so sorry you are having to deal with all these issues. I hope Izzy is better now so you dint have that worry as well.

((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Thought I'd stop by to update you on Hannah. Unfortunately, the Atopica did not fully resolve Hannah's itching, but it has improved somewhat. After discussing other options (giving her a super short cut and putting topical steroids on daily, trying allergy drops-which could take a year to work, etc.) we decided it was best to increase the Atopica a bit, and add Chlor Trimeton. She also gave me a shampoo with steroid in it to try. We will keep in touch to see how things go. We also discussed going to a steroid if/when Hannah seems miserable and to see if we can get her out of the cone for the remainder of her life. She will be 14 on 3/6, and I would love to make the end of her life pleasant. She still seems happy, but I feel okay about doing a steroid if I know her time is limited and I want to provide comfort. I really don't even know if she has Cushing's anyway.

One new thing she's been doing is a LOT of licking-the cone, the floor, the door, etc. I don't know if it's a replacement behavior because she can't lick her feet, or if there's something else going on. My mom said one of their dogs is also recently doing the same thing. Hmmmm....

Both Hannah and Izzy are on ID food for now. We had so many bouts of diarrhea that I decided to put them on this for a month or so and then try to transition them to something else. Hannah got diarrhea a few days after I started her back on her SO last time. I'm so puzzled about why they both had this same issue when they eat different foods! :eek:

I took Hannah back to the vet last week to have him look at the growth in her mouth. It had grown a little and turned a little more pink. (It was more gray like her gum tissue in that area before). He thought it might have a little fluid pocket on top of it. He told me he wasn't sure he could even remove it because he may not be able to close the wound. It's on the side of her upper right gum, so I understand there isn't a lot of tissue to work with. He couldn't really tell me what he thought might happen to it. I decided to take her to a dental specialist just to get her opinion. I would hate to have it get big and irritate her if there is any way to get the thing out of there. That appointment isn't until 3/6, but they said they'd squeeze me in if it gets bad. So we wait and see...

She's going to get a bath today and a haircut tomorrow. Hopefully that will make her a little more comfortable. She's getting pretty long, especially around her face.

That's about it for us. Still try to check in whenever I can...

Julie & Hannah

Hi Julie,

I just wanted to add that Molly too started getting diarrhea on the SO food, not always, but it was pretty bad last March, 2012, and I took her off that food and put her on the maturity food for a bit, but the water intake decreased so much that I started to gradually introduce the SO back into her mature food. Then finally got her back to the SO. I keep both kinds though and if she starts to get diarrhea I just add a bit of the maturity and usually the next poop is normal again. Then I start adding back in the SO. If she would just drink enough water then I wouldn't worry so much. (strange how the vet can insist on cushings when the water intake isn't nearly what one would see with a cushings dog)

Our little ones just keep us going around in circles don't they. I hope that the denistry vet can give you some idea of what might be going on with that bump. :( Is it painful to her?

hugs,
Sharlene and Molly Muffin