My big boy Gable - sweet Gabe is now at peace

[Harley PoMMom]

How's our Gable doing?

[Joan2517]

I tried upping to the extra 10 at night, but he just didn't seem good after a few days so I stopped. I think I'm going to have him tested over the weekend. He's drinking a bit more, panting more, and he's thrown up a couple of times in the past few weeks, maybe 3 or 4. I don't know if he's eating something outside that's doing it or not.

But he looks so good! Fur is all grown in and looks the same, no more piebald. He's still playing a lot and back up on the couch with us more.

Thanks for asking, Lori.

[Harley PoMMom]

Sorry for this recent bump in the road In light of his symptoms I think your idea of having him tested this weekend is a really good one. Are you considering having the full ACTH stimulation test performed to see how much cortisol reserve he has?

[Joan2517]

What does that mean exactly, Lori? I saw that in Glynda's post and wondered.

[Squirt's Mom]

When Squirt and I first started this cush journey one of the Admins at that time told me the ACTH treats the adrenal glands like a wet sponge. The first number just tells us that the sponge holds water but the second number is how much water was in the sponge when it was squeezed dry or how much that sponge was holding in reserve. This is with the old method of doing the ACTH where a stimming agent is used, which does the squeezing on the adrenal glands.

[Harley PoMMom]

If a dog gets stressed or sick, it's system needs some extra cortisol to help deal with the situation so it uses that "extra" cortisol that those adrenal glands have stored. The "resting" cortisol is what the body uses on a day to day basis and when any kind of stressful situation arises they need more cortisol to handle it so they use what the adrenal gland has stored. With the ACTH stimulation test, the stimulating agent causes the adrenal glands to dump that reserved cortisol and the post result is the reflection of that reserved cortisol...Hope that makes sense!

[Joan2517]

It does, thank you both. I'm not sure if I can do the test this weekend. I took Doree to the vet today because she threw up yesterday morning, didn't eat breakfast, then my husband gave her chicken for lunch and when I got home from work last night, there was diarrhea all over the back room. She was uncomfortable all night, so we went this morning. Xrays because she has a heart murmur, blood work just to make sure, urinalysis in case she has a UTI because she has been drinking and peeing more....$640 later, everything is fine. Go figure!

[Harley PoMMom]

OMGoodness! They sure do keep us on our toes, glad she's feeling better and will be praying that it continues. Keep us updated!

[Joan2517]

Oh dear, Gable's results from the ACTH test are not good:

Sample 1 is .3, ref range 1 - 5
Sample 2 is .4, ref range 8 - 17

I don't get it. He's drinking like anything, panting, still eating, but doesn't seem lethargic at all, no diarrhea, just vomited a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. And his last resting cortisol test was higher??

[labblab]

Wow, I don’t get it, either!! These results are really surprising, especially given that his resting result has always been so much higher than the .3 on this test. I think it was over 3.0 in November? But of course that was right before his next dose rather than a few hours afterwards.

Do you know whether the same lab has processed all these tests? Any changes at all in the source of the meds?

I am stumped. But at those low levels, I guess you’ll want to totally discontinue the Vetoryl altogether for a while...:-((((