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Thread: Cody diagnosed with cushings

  1. #21
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    Apr 2009
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    It should really be given with a full meal, but hey, some dogs just don't want to follow the rules!! Is there something he just loves to eat? I think that a can of dog food would work or maybe even try giving him some hamburger/rice combination?? Also, adding extra yummy things to his food may work?

  2. #22
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    Dec 2018
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    He already eats canned dog food but maybe if I gave him some people food he would be more inclined to eat that in the mornings. He's just not a real big eater. I've tried different dog foods and right now he's on science diet for 7+ year old dogs Turkey barley and also the beef. He does like cooked chicken. We had to feed him that with rice when he had pancreatitis (although he ate around the rice.) Maybe I'll cook up that for breakfasts. He likes scrambled eggs too so that's another option.

  3. #23
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    My Harley wasn't a fan of the rice either, he did like pasta and potatoes so they could be an option, oh, another one is oatmeal.

  4. #24
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    Dec 2018
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    Wow never thought of oatmeal. I will try that at too since I eat that for breakfast too lol! Thanks ��

  5. #25
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    I was gonna suggest eggs. I've never had a dog turn down fried eggs with runny yolks! Also consider stinky foods like the water from a can tuna or salmon, or sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese on top...or canned tripe is almost always a winner tho the fats may be a bit too high so you would want to use just enough to give a scent to the food, maybe 1/2 tsp mixed with some warm water and poured over the food.
    "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.

  6. #26
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    Glen Cove, NY
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    Lena loved eggs. She got them every morning so I was sure she had her full meal. She also liked the wet dog food, not the canned, but the gourmet ones. Or I would make her a cheeseburger. After a while, she would not take the Vetoryl no matter how I tried to hide it, but she still got whatever she wanted to eat.

    Gable hasn't given me any trouble eating, except for a few days in the beginning of Vetoryl. I mixed a little bit of the Caesar wet food that I feed to my little girls and he ate it right up. Now I get the wet food out for the girls, tell him to keep eating his dry food, then put his pill in a spoonful of that and we're good.
    Joan, mom to my Angel Lena, Angel Gable, Angel Phoenix, Angel Doree, Cooper, Sibble, and now Raina.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    UPDATE: Sorry it's taking me so long to post again but here is an update on Cody.
    So he started out at 10 mg of Veteryol 2x a day and after 2 weeks was tested and seemed good. After the 3rd week though he became listless and wouldn't eat. The vet suggested taking him off for a week then starting him back on a lower dose. He started getting back to his old self and we started up again at 15 mg. total a day. Two week test was fine but week 4 he had a seizure. Scared the heck out of me.
    I rushed home to emergency where he had another seizure. His electrolytes we're low so the gave him anti seizure meds and an IV to get his electrolytes stabilized.
    The next morning I was able to take him home but he is on anti seizure meds now (which I'm not too thrilled about). They wanted to try the Veteryol again at an even lower dose but I refused. He wasn't urinating in the house (we have a dog door) and although he drinks more than normal, has a pot belly and is losing his hair I don't think it's worth going through that again. They mostly started him on it due to testing results which showed high cortizol, high liver enzymes and some protein in the urine.
    I'm going to let them keep monitoring him for now but I would prefer to just treat the symptoms because he seems much better off the medicine than on it. I may have to find another vet though because every time I go in they try to get me to start him up again.

  8. #28
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    Hi Julie,

    I am so sorry to hear about these issues with sweet Cody and I hope that he is feeling much better soon. Could you do us a favor and post the results of those monitoring ACTH stimulation tests, and were these a complete ACTH stimulation tests with a post draw performed or were they the "new" pre-pill method? Also, I see that his electrolytes were unbalanced, was this just the potassium and sodium or were the other minerals abnormal too? Has a recheck been scheduled for his cortisol and electrolyte levels?

    Another concern I have is that in your first post you mentioned that Cody has bladder stones, have they been removed?

    Sending huge hugs to you and Cody, Lori

  9. #29
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    Mar 2009
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    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    I am so sorry for the things that have been happening with Cody! Bless your hear and his. I don't blame you one bit for not wanting to try the Vetoryl again. And I am NOT pushing you to treat but simply want you to know there is another option if you are in the US. Lysodren can also be used and it works only on the adrenal glands. Vetoryl works along the HPA axis, or path. HPA stands for hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal. Many things are controlled via that path, not just cortisol production. So Lysodren might be something to think about IF the signs become more than you and/or Cody can deal with. For now however, I would also choose to focus on the seizures and let the Cushing's slide to the background. And if the vet cannot understand your preferences and work within that parameter I would be looking for another vet that would, too.

    Know we are here anytime you wish to talk.
    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.

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
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    20

    Default Re: Cody diagnosed with cushings

    These were the results of the test when he was brought in after his seizures:

    CBC:WBC 13.47, NEU 11.3, HCT 45.7%,, PLG 465
    CHEM: BUN 27.9m crea 0.6, GLu 115, Tcho 332, alt 363{h}, ci119.1, lAC 4.1{h}, pcv/tp 56\8
    d dIMER SUBITTED
    dOPPLER bp 153MMhG
    It said blood tests revealed high potassium and low sodium. The gave him anticonvulsant meds and kept him overnight. They sent him home with kepra for the seizures. That was back in August. Just last night 11/7 he had another seizure. Brought him into emergency where they kept him over night giving him basically the same treatment they did before. Midazolam to stop the seizures the Kepra but it didn't seem to stop them long term. He's still in the emergency room where they are now trying a drug called zonisamide along with the Kepra. I am praying this works and I can take him home tomorrow :-( . I'm really scared if they can't get them to stop. The last cushings tes he was was the regular ACTH test and according to the doctor it looked good. But it looked good the first time too and then things started going downhill. He got bloodwork this time and a urinalysis also to make sure there wasn't something physically going on to cause the seizures but it came back OK. I read somewhere that dogs that have the pituatary tumor sometimes it grows and can cause seizures. I'm hoping that's not the case because it sounds like it could cause worse unmanageable problems. He hasn't had his stones removed because sometimes seems to always be happening.

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