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Thread: Brit has crossed The Bridge - new to cushing

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    6,593

    Default Re: new to cushing

    Hi and a belated welcome to the forum. I'll try not to repeat what others have already shared so I will keep my comments focused on things that have not been covered in detail. Boxers are definitely a breed that seems to be genetically cursed and are predisposed to calcinosis cutis (cc) which is a rare and very trying symptom of cushing's. A skin cytology with tape may pick up a secondary bacterial infection which is common with cc, but I'm not sure cc can be identified without sending a piece of one of the lumps out for examination. Cushingoid dogs with cc need to be on twice daily dosing of Vetoryl or compounded trilostane. I see that you will have liquid trilostane so this good because you will be able to split the dose prescribed in half and give with a meal in the am and pm. As Lori has already mentioned, it is known that many large dogs require much smaller doses of trilostane to achieve effective control of cortisol and has provided a link to the 2014 study done by UC Davis. The results of that study have also been validated by many veterinary teaching institutions across the globe who have set their own starting dose protocol ranging from .1 to .5 mg per pound of body weight. With your dog weighing 75 lbs, most specialists would likely start her on no greater than 15 mg twice a day. We have seen so many big dogs overdosed so we go to great lengths to share as much information as we can with members. In addition to the link Lori provided, I am providing additional links to handouts for lectures/presentations given by prominent endocrine experts that touches on this subject. If your vet has taken any continuing education on the canine endocrine system, he/she will most likely have heard of Dr. Edward C. Feldman, Professor Emeritus UC Davis and Dr. Claudia Reusch, Professor and Director of Clinic for Small Animal Medicine at University of Zurich. Please either share these links or print out the documents for your vet so he/she is aware of this most important development.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5R...ZrNmlXZHM/view
    https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/...UE5AlZP-w5HfCg

    If you have a facebook account, I recommend that you consider joining the Dogs with Calcinos Cutis support group. Please use link below. Members there share their experience with what has worked and what hasn't worked for their dogs. Unfortunately there is no single oral or topical medication that works for all dogs. There are lots of pictures posted by members of that group as well. You will definitely see a lot of short snouted breeds like Boxers, French Bulldogs, Boston Terriers and English Bulldogs. The administrator of that group created it as a moral support network, not a place to learn about cushing's so you definitely want to stay here as you'll find no better educators or resource library elsewhere.


    https://www.facebook.com/groups/988564191285009/

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: new to cushing

    we brought brit home tonight they tells us her kidneys are failing. It looks like we will have to make the tough decision within the next week. They did IV flush and meds and she still will not eat or drink. the antibiotics she was on was cephalexin 500 mg 2 tablets twice a day. just seems funny she was ok eating and drinking prior to her taken these, now we are talking about making that tough decision. thanks for all the feedback on the cushing, I have learned allot

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    York, PA.
    Posts
    11,036

    Default Re: new to cushing

    Oh Jim, I am so sorry to hear this news about Brit. I did see that the SDMA kidney test results were slightly above normal 15 ug/dl (0-14) but her creatinine was within the normal ranges, have these levels elevated?

    I've uploaded her blood panel results, hope that was ok.

    Hugs, Lori
    Attached Images Attached Images

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: new to cushing

    This never the news we want to hear and I am so sorry. Please know we are here anytime you need to talk, vent, cry, whatever. We DO understand and are here to help any way we can.

    Hugs and ear scritches,
    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.

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    6,593

    Default Re: new to cushing

    Jim, like Lori, I am wondering if subsequent blood and urine tests were done after the ones posted. I've had dogs with end stage kidney disease and have a recently diagnosed cushingoid dog whose labs looked much worse than Brit's and he is doing well after an internal medicine specialist got him diagnosed and on appropriate medication for hypertriglyceridemia, hypothyroidism, severe hypertension and blood thinners for chronic increased platelets. Brit's results just don't look like you should be having to contemplate euthanasia. If it were my dog, I would ask for an immediate referral to an internal medicine specialist as I believe Brit's complications are well above the knowledge and experience of a general practice vet. I would hate to see you euthanize your precious Brit without a second opinion from a board certified veterinary internal medicine specialist. If this is something you can afford, I would do this immediately on an emergency basis.

    No matter what you decide, we're all here for you.

    Hugs,
    Glynda

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    6

    Default Re: new to cushing

    thank Lori, just to let you know Brit past tonight at 9:30 pm at home (naturally). I do not know what the second set of blood test were but the vet said everything was very high. they went up in two weeks not sure why. But this is the second dog I lost to kidney problems in 7 months, but our other one was 17 years old. One thing i notice with both of them about 2 months before passing they stop barking not sure why. Sad night. thanks for all the help. Just an FYI we do have two pups from each of her litters, but one is Diabetes insipidus. not sure if you every heard of that. he is 6, takes desmopressin twice a day and is doing great. Thanks again, going to try and get some sleep
    Last edited by jtarlecki; 01-31-2019 at 11:21 PM.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Glen Cove, NY
    Posts
    1,940

    Default Re: new to cushing

    I'm so sorry for your loss of Brit. Losing them is so hard.
    Joan, mom to my Angel Lena, Angel Gable, Angel Phoenix, Angel Doree, Cooper, Sibble, and now Raina.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    rural central ARK
    Posts
    14,549

    Default Re: new to cushing

    Dear Jim,

    I am just so sorry to hear about the loss of your sweet girl, Brit. I know only too well what you are feeling today and wish I could take that angst from you. All of our babies bring such joy to our lives and when they leave the pain we feel is just as immense as that joy. But one day you will find yourself smiling when you think of her, of some silly thing she did, of a certain look on her face. And that pain you hold today will fade a little bit. I don't think we ever stop hurting or missing them but it does get better and the memories we cherish will bring back some of that joy we once felt. Please know we are here any time you wish to talk. We understand very well. Also please feel free to start a memorial thread to your precious girl in the In Loving Memory section if you wish. We would be honored to help you celebrate her life.

    My deepest sympathies,
    Leslie

    “Some of you, particularly those who think they have recently lost a dog to “death”, don’t really understand this. I’ve had no desire to explain, but won’t be around forever and must.

    Dogs never die. They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say:” No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.” Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk.
    It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone (exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.

    However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.

    When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging it’s tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: “Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.”

    When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)

    Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.

    But don’t get fooled. They are not “dead.” There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are.

    I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. You’ve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.”
    by Ernest Montague
    "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.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    18

    Default Re: new to cushing

    I'm very sorry For your loss Jim.


    Nancy

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