My dog has had Cushings for over a year...high dosage...would love information!

[labblab]

Hi again, Jennifer! Thanks so much for giving us this update. I apologize for the delay in replying to you, but this has turned out to be a busy day of chores for me. I do want to add a couple of thoughts, but I'm afraid they'll have to wait until tomorrow. So thanks for your patience, and I'll be back again a bit later on.

Marianne

[lulusmom]

Hi Jennifer. I am sure Marianne will have some input for you when she has time to check in but I wanted to address your question about the DDAVP injection based on my own experience. DDAVP is a synthetic form of the anti-diuretic hormone (ADH) which regulates the amount of water in the body and increases sodium and water absorbed by the kidneys. It is rare that a dog being treated with Vetoryl does not see a complete resolution of excessive drinking and peeing but a small number of dogs will still have an ADH deficiency. If this were to be your dog's problem, DDAVP would likely be effective. My second cushingoid dog was a shelter rescue so I knew nothing about his history. Unfortunately, his excessive drinking and peeing never resolved with trilostane or mitotane treatment despite excellent control of cortisol His urine specific gravity (USG) never improved and stayed at a pretty consistent 1.008 which is quite low. If your vet is suggesting DDAVP, I have to assume your pup's USG is also below 1.015. Unfortunately my dog did not respond to either the DDAVP eye drops or pills so he was ultimately diagnosed with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus. To correctly diagnose diabetes insipidus through testing, a water deprivation test is done but I did not want to subject my dog to that so we did a trial with DDAVP. That is what most vets recommend so there is no reason why you can't give it a try. If there is an ADH deficiency, a dog usually responds quite quickly. I hope this helps.

Glynda

[labblab]

Welp, I finally made it back again — sorry for the delay! I’m really glad Glynda stopped by in the meantime, and especially because she’s had first-hand experience with this treatment. Coincidentally, you’ll see that another of our new members has already been using DDAVP injections with her dog, so you may want to check out her thread:

https://www.k9cushings.com/forum/sho...tes-insipidus)

Given Glynda’s thorough response, I really only have a bit of context to add. I’ll give you a link below that explains Diabetes Insipidus in greater detail. As Glynda has mentioned, there are two forms. Her dog suffered from the “Nephrogenic” form, but the one that we see most often among Cushpups is the “Central” form since it arises from a tumor in the pituitary gland, just as does Cushing’s itself. DI is an uncommon ailment among dogs in general, but we have seen our share of the Central form here due to the pituitary tumor linkage. DDAVP can and has been helpful in a number of these cases. So as Glynda says, I see no reason not to give it a trial run if your vet thinks it’s a good idea. Here’s the explanatory link, and definitely do let us know what happens if you decide to give it a try.

https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-p...ipidus-in-dogs

Marianne

[jenner1026]

Thanks to you both. Not sure why I didn't get a notification there were replies- I will look into that.

This is so helpful and I am going to talk to my vet about it. Sounds like it could be something that could work!

Glynda, sorry it didnt work for your dog. Did they start with the drops or injections?

[jenner1026]

Hi everyone and Happy New Year!
A little update on Jet - reached his 11th birthday on Christmas

He is pretty stable and still taking the 60mg AM and 30mg PM dose of Vetoryl. He is currently on no other medications. He always had gas problems (ugh) but the Nutro food I had him on was making it even worse....so, we switched him to Purina Pro Plan EN fiber balance and seems to be working well. He also takes 1 of the Purina probiotic packets a day to help with the GI issues.

In regards to Cushings, he is still drinking and peeing a lot, but nothing too uncontrollable. I have him on a routine. He went on Friday for his latest STIM test and I am waiting on the results. When I saw the vet we talked again about the DDAVP injections and I just don't have the ability to do that. I live alone and the thought of giving Jet injections once or twice a day seems miserable and too much for me to handle.

My bigger concern as he gets older now is the hing leg weakness and possible arthritis. I continue to give him 1 Dasuquin supplement per day. Don't see a ton of change but I am not too sure? Sometimes when he gets up his bones creak like an old man. It's so strange. I just hope over the next year or 2 it doesn't get worse but I am sure it will...

I will report back with his STIM results after I get them.

Regards,
Jennifer

[Squirt's Mom]

Thanks for the great update, Jennifer! It's always good to hear a pup is doing well! My Bud is a larger dog, for me anyway at 50 lbs, and he is starting to show some signs of arthritis. I worry about being able to handle him physically if he gets bad....I don't know that I can lift him and I too live alone so I hope neighbors will be around if that time ever comes. I've got him and my Pug on Glycoflex III and it does help but I'm looking at other things to add as time passes.

Do let us know the test results when they come in. Based on the signs that are still present he may need a little increase. But the numbers will let us know.

Hugs,
Leslie

[jenner1026]

Hi lovely friends! I hope everyone is well. I visit from time to time - you all are so helpful and amazing.

An update on Jet (not a great one but could be worse....):

Jet had been doing pretty solid on Vetoryl for the last year. Taking 60 mg in the am and a rotation of 30 and 60 in the pm. He had 3-4 ACTH tests in a row that came back perfectly in range. Was doing tests every 4 months.

Always eating and drinking like crazy - I could barely get his bowl on the floor and he would be barking and barking for his food! Peeing a lot. Normal bowels.

I went on vacation in July and returned on August 7th. Since I have been back he has slowly lost interest in food and water. He gets a combination of Hills Rx wet food (which he will mostly eat) and rx kibble (which he does not). He also has started having arthritis so he is on 1 dose of Rimadyl as well. That is working well for his arthritis. For a dog who went from being so ravenous to this - it's just simply odd!! He sleeps a ton now too and doesn't want to get up in the mornings - in the past he would cry for me to get up!

I spoke with his vet last night and she unfortunately thinks he may be suffering from a macrodenoma. Thank God you all have a wonderful thread in this forum that I have read through and understand what other pups have gone through!

Jet is almost 12....so I wouldnt do anything too extensive...but, I do think it's a good idea I get an MRI for him to see the size of his tumor and if in fact it is a macrodenoma. If so, I can figure out a treatment plan from there.

I believe the options are radiation, surgery or trying doses of prednisone with the Vetoryl to see if it would at least help and have him start eating normally again.

If anyone has any advice happy to take it! I would also like to know from others once they started seeing symptoms like these how long before it got even worse...just so I understand approximate timing. Thank you all!!

Jennifer

[labblab]

Hi Jennifer and Jet! We’re always glad to see you, but definitely wish your news was a bit different this time around :-(. It sounds like you’ve made a good start reading through the Macroadenoma thread, though. And I’ll plan to stop back by tomorrow to add a couple more thoughts. In the meantime, though, I wanted to greet you two once again. And as I say, I’ll be back.

Marianne

[labblab]

OK it's me back again. I wish I had some great words of wisdom to add, but if you've read the Macroadenoma thread, you already know the story of my own journey with my boy. If you're able to have the imaging done, I do think that may give you a greater sense of peace regarding the path forward for Jet. Since I didn't do that myself, I'll always have some question marks hanging over my head. And if the macrotumor is confirmed, perhaps the size and growth pattern will offer some clues as to timing and optimal treatment approach.

I've always thought that it's such a cruel twist of fate when this sledgehammer of a diagnosis hits after we've finally gotten the Cushing's symptoms themselves under control. It's like winning the battle but losing the war. But it is what it is. And I'm afraid that there's no set time frame that I can offer out to you. As you probably noted on that thread, there are some similarities to most all of our stories, but also individual patterns.

I do want you to know how sorry I am that you may be dealing with this, though. And I encourage you to return and update us with any additional news. Sadly, we don't have many registered members posting here any more. But I suspect there are still a number of folks who read what's written. So whenever we can add any new info or thoughts regarding current treatment approaches, I believe it's always a help to other parents as well.

Best wishes to both you and your sweet boy. And truly, also the best luck possible to you in the coming days.
Marianne

[jenner1026]

Thank you, Marianne. I am sad