Hi, my name is Addy and I have two dogs Zoe and Koko. Zoe may have Cushings and I need advice. Here is the long history. I am at work so won't be able to post again for 5 hours. Thank you.
Rescued Zoe, a Lhasa Apso, on 4/17/07 from animal control. She weighed 19 pounds and was 11” high at the shoulder. Probable age 5 years but not sure. Put her on Canidae all stages dog food. Had a bit of a touchy stomach. New food gave her soft stools. Only other problems were reverse sneezing and paw chewing.
August 08 brought home nine month old male dog from animal control. Zoe hurt her paw and had trouble walking, took her to emergency before picking up new dog. Thought it was just strained, rest and pain killers. Saw regular vet, gave her Rimadyl. Had bad reaction to drug. Could hardly stand up. Lots of stress in house with new dog who is sick with kennel cough. Then Zoe ate something in the park, her Canidae formula changed unbeknown to me. Got diarrhea. Vet put her on flaygl and canned Hill’s ID. Told me to pick out new food and transition. Should not be a problem. Was a problem, could never get her off the canned ID. Sometimes even one piece of kibble would cause water stool. Had to supplement canned ID with rice and pumpkin. All blood work normal back then.
April 09 both dogs had vomiting and diarrhea. Put Zoe back on Flaygl but stools never got to be 100%. Went to new vet, blood work again normal. Gave me more Flaygl and Panacur. Two months later went to holistic vet also trained in western medicine and asked for help. She thought Zoe had stress colitis. She did thyroid panel sent to Michigan State. Said Zoe was in the low range, treatment not recommended. However, she wanted to try a glandular thyroid drug called Armour. She put Zoe on a raw commercial diet, Shen Calmer and Armour along with Culturelle probiotic. Zoe went on new diet cold turkey. She said I went too slow trying to transition, and had me journal. We went up and down with water stool but most days she only had one small stool a day. Energy level went up, she lost weight, sore paw was better. She ran into trouble a few months later, put her on Flaygl. Tapered her off it according to new vet, added some Honest Kitchen to her diet and a miracle happened. Zoe was normal again and stayed that way all last winter until we took her to groomers in February. Noticed her coat was very thin after the groom, like she lost her undercoat.
March 10 went back to holistic vet, asked to take Zoe off Armour, I had read drug had been reformulated in Spring of 09 and humans were complaining of hair loss as a new side effect. Thought it was affecting her coat. Thought she may also may a urinary infection as has been licking her potty since last August. She said do urine test for Cushings. Also did panel for thyroid but only checked Free T4 and T3, not full panel. Test came back that Armour really wasn’t affecting her levels, said ok to stop it but that Urine Creatinine test came back positive with very high numbers and she said dogs with that high of numbers always have Cushings, wants to do low dose dex test. She is already picking out what drug to use. I told her I did not even collect urine specimen correctly, no one told me it had to be first urine of the day. Zoe had eaten breakfast, drank water, went for a walk, urinated a few times and then I took the specimen around 10:30am. She is very reactive on walks. She said that did not matter and Zoe had to have Cushings drugs or her hair would all fall out in 2 months. Told vet she would be too stressed all day to stay in cage at vets and worried it would not be accurate test. Vet said stress would not affect the test.
Everything I read tells me the opposite of what this vet says. HELP! She has no other symptoms except a poor coat. She hasn’t even had a physical exam. If I post her test numbers could anyone give opinion? I feel like I need to start all over with blood work, exam, chemistry panel, etc before testing again for Cushings.