Hi all.
Sorry I’ve not been on for a while, hope you and your fur babies are all doing ok?
Louis’s arthritis has been taking centre stage so I’ve neglected to post on here for a bit. The response to the Gabapentin seemed to have been a bit of a fluke. After that really good spell he slowly went back to being very disinterested and lethargic. So the vet tried a different drug called Galliprant. No instant improvement like before but he is only on a half dose to begin with. Although he wasn’t playing with his ball he certainly seemed interested if reluctant and just brighter in himself.
However last Friday he seemed to go extremely quiet. When he’s tired he’s VERY tired, I had visitors around on Sunday (no one we knew, I sold my car!) and he didn’t get up from the sofa to come and say hi. There have been a few times over the weekend when I’ve had to really coax him to get up and about. Still seems interested in his ball when I throw it up and catch it but as soon as I offer it to him he refuses. So, we went back to the vets today for a check up and a pre pill cortisol check. The vet has rang since with the blood work results and everything seems ok apart from his liver enzymes are raised which we expected as he’s only on a 10mg dose of Vetoryl at the moment. We’re still waiting for the cortisol results. When chatting to the vet he aired concerns that Louis is losing a bit too much weight for his liking (he’s down to around 22.5kg, his normal weight for years was around 24/25) and the lack of any real effect on his lethargy from either the Vetoryl or the painkillers. He’s now beginning to suspect an adrenal tumour rather than pituitary, and possibly malignant too. I feel a bit like the rug’s been pulled from under me! The vet has suggested a chest X-ray which I think is to check for any spreading and therefore malignancy and a specialist scan to locate the adrenal glands to confirm a tumour there. Statistically it’s 50/50 that it could be benign/malignant.
While I’m trying to get my head around this and the possibility of putting my boy through yet more tests what experience do you guys have of adrenal Cushings, and possible tumour problems? Any experiences, info or just plain words of comfort and encouragement would be greatly appreciated at the moment x