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Thread: Chewy:Now, hypothyroid?

  1. #1
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    Default Chewy:Now, hypothyroid?

    I had briefly mentioned Chewy's latest problem which was Mom induced on Harley's thread. I want to keep Harley's thread for Harley, so I decided to start one here for my other problem child.

    For those of you who don't know, I adopted Chewy from a breed rescue about 3 1/2 years ago. He will be 10 in June. To give you a short summary of his medical issues, severe dry eye which has destroyed about 70% of his vision. The eye vet figures he was never treated for it before he went into rescue. The 1st time she saw Chewy, her comment was, "This little boy is blind due to severe corneal scarring, he may have about 10-15% of his vision. With a different round of eye meds, & a lot of work over about 4 months, we have managed to recover about 30% of his vision, but that will probably be the best it ever is. He gets around absolutely fine. In fact, when the rescue group member brought Chewy, along with a couple of other pups to my house for a "meet & greet", to help me decide who I wanted to adopt. Chewy was the only pup who went exploring all around the house, checking things out, not fearful in the least, basically acting like, "This is a pretty cool place. I might like this to be my forever home."

    Chewy was diagnosed with severe allergies to a number of things through skin testing & has been on allergy shots for about 9 months. This came about because of dry, itchy skin, along with thinning hair, & hair loss along his back. I was basically overwrought that I had my 3rd Cushpup on my hands because Chew is also a chowhound, & has problems with inappropriate urination in the house. After going to my derm vet who I absolutely adore, he told me that he was convinced the problem was allergies, not Cushing's. This is what led to the skin testing & allergy shots. The derm vet did suggest that all of Chewy's basic labwork be repeated at the end of last year, paying close attention to the values that might indicate Cushing's, including the alk phos, ALT, cholesterol, etc. Most of us know what these values are. All of these results were normal, along with a normal UC:CR that I had done in the Spring of last year, so no Cushing's! I just wish I could say that Chewy has regrown some of his hair. He has lost about 40% of the hair on that beautiful Lhasa tail, & every time I look at his tail, I feel like crying.

    The UA that was done last spring did show struvite crystals in his urine, so he was put on the Royal Canin urinary SO formula food for 3 months. A repeat UA was clean. The routine labwork at the end of the year, again, showed struvite crystals. My GP vet did not put him on a prescription diet then, but wanted a follow-up UA done in 30 days. The recheck has actually been 2 months, got the results back on Saturday. Struvite crystals are still present. Since this is now the 3rd urine in less than a year that has crystals, poor Chewy is no on the Urinary SO diet permanently. I thought the canned food just looked nasty, but I'll get over it. All I can say is the prescription food is probably much cheaper than paying for surgery to remove bladder stones on Chewy.

    If I ever own a healthy dog, I wouldn't know what to do. I love them anyway, & wouldn't know what I'd do without them.

    Debbie
    Mom to 2 Cushing's angels

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    Hi Debbie,
    Nice update on Chewy, I often wonder how he is doing. I hope he continues to do well.

    Our Bailee (Lhasa)had 2 bladder surgeries at 14 and 15 y.o. One for a tumor and the second for stones blocking his urinary tract. No fun, I felt really bad for him, especially at his age
    John (Roxee & Rozee's Dad)

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    Quote Originally Posted by StarDeb55 View Post
    For those of you who don't know, I adopted Chewy from a breed rescue about 3 1/2 years ago. He will be 10 in June. When the rescue group member brought Chewy, along with a couple of other pups to my house for a "meet & greet", to help me decide who I wanted to adopt. Chewy was the only pup who went exploring all around the house, checking things out, not fearful in the least, basically acting like, "This is a pretty cool place. I might like this to be my forever home."

    If I ever own a healthy dog, I wouldn't know what to do. I love them anyway, & wouldn't know what I'd do without them.

    Debbie
    So the question is, and I already know the answer to this, but if you had to do over again, would you still choose your little problem child?

    I have two problem children and two healthy ones and thank goodness all the healthy ones require is love, yummy food, mat free coats and annual visits to the vet. The problem I have is that now that my healthy ones are getting up their in age, I tend to be borderline obsessive about any little sign of possible endocrine problems. It's funny how you go from asking "what in the heck is cushing's" to pointing out dogs on the street that have that "look". I suspect that I'm not the only one that does that but I may be the only one that has the nerve to quiz total strangers about their dog's health.

    G.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    It's funny how you go from asking "what in the heck is cushing's" to pointing out dogs on the street that have that "look". I suspect that I'm not the only one that does that but I may be the only one that has the nerve to quiz total strangers about their dog's health.
    Nope....you ain't the only one who does that! Folks tend to think I am either a nosy old biddy, plain crazy, or they actually listen...I love the latter ones!

    Good to hear about Chewy and hope he stays with you for many more years!

    Hugs,
    Leslie
    "May you know that absence is full of tender presence and that nothing is ever lost or forgotten." John O'Donahue, "Eternal Echoes"

    Death is not a changing of worlds as most imagine, as much as the walls of this world infinitely expanding.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    Glynda, yes, you do know the answer. I mean Chew is now my 3rd straight problem child, starting with Barkley, so why should he be any different than the first 2. I'm just glad he does not have Cushing's. My feeble memory has enough trouble remembering his allergy shot every 2 weeks, to the point I have reminders posted in about 3 different places, including my schedule on my computer. I tried to screw the last injection up so bad, I nearly gave him double the dose that he's supposed to get. The only thing that saved it was I guess I had actually placed the needle in the skin I had pulled up on his shoulder, & put the needle clear through the other side because the next thing I know, I feel the anti-serum running all over my hand as I'm injecting. That's the first time in 9 months that I totally botched one of his shots, & it's a good thing. I'm peeved about it though as the wasted injection was basically one month's worth of shots.

    Debbie
    Mom to 2 Cushing's angels

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    We did a little trip for weight checks today on both dogs. I'm happy to report that Chewy is back up to where he should be, now that Mom is feeding him enough groceries.

    Today: 20.7 lbs
    3 weeks ago: 17.4 lbs

    Time to stop the extra food as I do not want him gaining any more weight, 20 is just about right. I'm seriously considering a recheck with the derm vet as Chewy has now been on allergy shots for about 10 months. There is absolutely no improvement in the area of thinning hair & bald patches that led to the allergy testing almost a year ago. In fact, when he was out in the sun, going into the vet's office, that streak of thin hair down the middle of his back may be even slightly worse as I could clearly see his skin. The trip to the derm vet may have to wait until next month as his brother's stim is due at the end of this month.

    Debbie
    Mom to 2 Cushing's angels

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    Deb, glad to hear that Chewy is back to what you think is a good weight for him. If only I could get back to the weight that I think is right for me.

    I had missed your prior post back in January and got a real kick out of your story about how well you gave Chewy his last allergy shot. OMG, did I laugh. I also cringed but evidently it didn't bother Chewy one bit. Any chance that your boy might have alopecia x?

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    Oh, CRAP!!! I just "googled" canine alopecia x, & guess what the treatment of choice appears to be right now, trilostane.

    Debbie
    Mom to 2 Cushing's angels

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    That's right and if you read the two or three abstracts of studies that are published, I believe all of the dogs had elevated levels of progesterone. Oddly enough, an overwhelming majority of dogs had regrowth of coat within six months and some responded as quickly as 4 to 6 weeks. This is confusing stuff huh?

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Chewbacca, my other medically needy dog

    After taking a really close look at Chewy's tail & stripe of thinning hair down the middle of his back, I have decided that I want Dr. Lewis, my derm vet, to take another look at this situation. I made the appointment for the end of March as Harley's stim is due in another week & Mom can't afford both vet bills in the same month. By the time we go, Chew will have been on allergy injections for about 8 1/2 months, & it's my opinion that there should be some improvement by now. Chewy's beautiful Lhasa tail is now missing about 1/2 of it's hair, & is rapidly becoming an ugly, rat tail. After I saw that, I decided to make the appointment.

    Debbie
    Mom to 2 Cushing's angels

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