Hi Everyone, I'm just going to start with an introduction for myself and Fraser and give you all a bit of the back story. His official Diagnosis of Cushing's was just over 2 weeks ago, and he has now been on Trilostane for 2 weeks exactly. Before I go any further, so far so good! (by the way, now that I get to the end of the post, it turned out to be a long one! Sorry)
Anyway, so the questions started about 2 1/2 months ago. I took both of my boys (he has a brother - Oscar) to the vet to have their teeth cleaned. Because of their age Fraser 13, Oscar 12 1/2) they underwent pre anaesthetic blood tests just in case. Osca'rs came back fine but Fraser had some elevated levels. The Vet said to me it could be a freak result, nerves etc, or just ageing, but that we would test again in a month to be sure. Meanwhile be on the lookout for signs of Cushing's or Thyroid. So off I went, did some reading to find out what the different symptoms were for both (they gave me a brief run down, but I like specifics) and the observations began.
Meranwhile, 1 week later, Oscar decides to jump off a wall at the park and ruptured his cruciate ligaments in his right back knee. Surgery for him, complete 100% rupture. Due to the treatment required for Oscar (not to mention the price) Fraser's tests got put off a little longer than planned. Meanwhile, I had been watching him closely anyway, and in my mind he was showing classic signs of cushiness. Pot Belly got a little rounder (he has always had a slight pot), drinking more, eating alot (didn't realise at the time he was actually eating half of Ozzie's as well!) and then the skin infections started. Again he has always had flaky skin on his belly, but almost overnight it got worse and little puss spots started that would then turn scabby, the skin would pigment and then peel off in great clumps. I also noticed that his muscle tone had shifted a little around his legs. Now the good news is, he didn't lose any hair (I have one partially bald boy at this point anyway due to surgery, didn't want another!) and his legs didn't seem to be significantly weaker. He can still jump into the car and chase his ball.
I do remember saying to my sister about six months ago that he had suddenly got old - which I now know is a common thing and why so many don't spot this right away - but his mood hasn't changed, he is still a velcro dog (wants to be with you 24/7 and follows me everywhere - even to the bathroom!) he chases his ball at the park, demands his daily walk etc. So it was only the physical symptoms that had it in my mind.
Anyway, so after my wallet recovered a little, I took Fraser back to the vet to run another blood test on him. This was just an inhouse test, to see if those initial results were a fluke or not. As expected, results came back high, much higher again that last time. So next we ran a full blood screen and sent it to an outside lab for deeper screening. Results came back high and liver enzymes were elevated this time too. Vet wanted to do an ultrasound at this point and then the LDDST - honestly at this point I couldn't afford both so we went straight to the LDDST. Results came back - yep, definitely cushingoid.
Now after reading many threads here over the past few weeks (OMG some amazing superheros on this site! Seriously strong people here) I know many of you are sitting there saying "What were the numbers". I don't actually have copies of them - yes I will rectify this and get them - but I can't answer that for you at the moment. I have learnt already to ask for copies, just in case of emergency if nothing else, so will make sure I get that next time.
Anyway, we ordered medications - Trilostane - and guess what, only avalable in quantity of 100 capsules, so horrendously expensive outlay again. I really hope his dose is right - don't want to be stuck with them if not! (I'll get to that in a minute) It seems Vetoryl is not sold here, but there are certain pharmacies who will supply Trilo to the vets, in large quantity only. This is not reassuring if his dose has to change.
Yes the dose - seems we aren't starting low, but going straight to 60mg once a day. Fraser weighs just under 10kg. He is a Maltese Scottish Terrier cross. I questioned the vet about the dose and she said because it is so expensive they went straight for a dose that seems to be the most common maintenance to hopefully reduce likelyhood of changing. I'm still not sure, but so far it seems ok.
So he has now been on Trilo for 2 weeks. On day 4, appetitie dropped dramatically and he started being his usual fussy self again, only picking out the good bits (they get home prepared food specific to them - not table scraps, they aren't kibble dogs. Actually they eat better than I do!). His water intake has slowed down, and this sudden burst of energy appeared! Without knowing, I started giving him his capsule with dinner (they don't eat breakfast) so a couple of hours after dinner he would start jumping on me with his toys wanting to play! Haven't seen this amount if energy in a while!
A few days later I read here that the cap should be with breakfast because of the monitoring tests, spoke to the vet and changed to mornings instead. They now both eat breakfast too. So after two weeks now his skin has cleared up really well too, still flaky as before but no infection spots now. Energy levels are amazing, yet he is quite happy to stop and have a sleep too. Running after his ball well, panting less (forgot to mention that one earlier) and just looking brighter over all. And as far as I'm concerned, the best bit is he never stopped giving cuddles or trying to push me off the bed at night! Still very affectionate and loving.
We are due for the STIM test next week to check his progress and I will make sure to get those results along with the others, but I just wanted to introduce ourselves and say Hi. Give you a bit of backstory to start us off, and next post I will probably bombard with questions. Such as "When is the other shoe going to drop?" I can't believe it has been this easy so far, from everything I have read, it shouldn't be. Don't get me wrong, I have been plenty stressed and tearful about the whole thing, but he just seems to be getting better! No side effects to date, happy little chappy.
So on that note, we are off to the beach with my sisters and the rest of the K9 family (4 adults, 1 4yr old and 4 dogs). Thanks for reading this marathon post and I will check in again shortly.
Naomi and Boys.