Hello everyone,
We were just told today that our little 5yr old Yorkie has the pituitary type Cushing's syndrome. She had a clean vet visit including blood work back in March of this year. In July she began to gain wait (1 1/2 lbs), drinking alot, peeing alot, infrequent accidents in the house that are very unlike her.
She went from sleeping in our bed all night to sleeping on the floor (could get onto the bed any more) and wanting to go out almost every 90 minutes to 2 hours. Panting alot, and eating alot. Previous to July she loved to take long walks and now frequently refuses to walk very far. We took her to the vet late in July and they stated her liver enzyme levels were slightly elevated. We had her on an anti-biotic and a liver supplement for 2 weeks. The vet suspected a possible UTI. She showed improvement over the next two weeks and became fairly active again, but this was very short lived.
Last week all of the symptoms returned. She even had a small bout of blood tinged diarrhea. On Monday they did another liver enzyme level test and her GGT levels were high ( i'll get the actual #'s from the vet tomorrow) I believe he said her ALP was 91 ( in the normal range?) . The Vet even stated he didn't expect Cushings because this ALP # is typically 10 times as high in his typical Cushing's patients. They also found blood in her urine and have prescribed another 2 weeks of clovomax anti-biotic (sorry my spelling may be incorrect).
On Tuesday we took her for the LDDS test. The vet stated her system didn't suppress like it should have and the results are pointing to the pituitary Cushing's
Since the phone call we have been devastated. Finding this website helped us feel a little better. Everything we've read so far states life expectancy is 2 to 3 years. I'm hoping we've caught this early enough to begin treatment and have her for much longer than 2-3 years.
She's never had any other illnesses.
We're hoping to discuss treatment options over the next couple days. If we're not comfortable with our current Vet, i was able to find an Internal Medicine specialist close by from a link here in the forum. Thank you!
I've tried to read and learn as much as possible about Cushing's over the past couple days and i'm sure this forum will be invaluable.
Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!
As soon as i have more specific info regarding her liver enzyme tests and the LDDS test i will post it.