Down the Cushings Road Again -- Abbie, 15 year old beagle is now at peace

[Harley PoMMom]

If this were me, I would opt out of giving her dose of Trilostane that morning, Trilostane is known to cause gastric upset, and if given on an empty stomach it could make her nauseated...JMO

[judymaggie]

Okay, guys, two for skipping dose, one for giving without food ...

Since Abbie's stools are finally firm, I am leaning towards thinking that the risk of a stomach issue outweighs the benefit of one dose (and Abbie would still get her evening dose).

That said, the voting is still open!

[Budsters Mom]

I would personally never give Trilostane without food. It can be really hard on sensitive stomachs. I would sooner skip a dose than do that.

[Squirt's Mom]

If it were me, I would tell the vet to run the other tests that require fasting at a different time. Vetoryl needs to be given with food before the ACTH just as usual. To my mind, leaving off the morning dose will not reflect an accurate picture of what it is doing for the cortisol since half her daily dose will be missing. That's my vote!

[labblab]

Judy, if you feel uncomfortable giving the trilo without food, then certainly go ahead and withhold it. Even though my own boy usually took his trilo with a meal, he never had any GI issues on the occasions that food wasn't involved so I wasn't particularly thinking about that as a problem with Abby. Plus, my family members are told to please take all their medications as usual on the mornings of fasted tests. So that's more what I was thinking about and where my advice was coming from. But whereas, for instance, you really don't want a patient to skip even one dose of blood pressure medication especially on the day of an exam, it's hard to think the lack of trilo would have any immediate negative impact on the chem testing. So if you prefer to hold the trilo that morning, then I don't think it would present any problem.

Marianne

[labblab]

If it were me, I would tell the vet to run the other tests that require fasting at a different time. Vetoryl needs to be given with food before the ACTH just as usual. To my mind, leaving off the morning dose will not reflect an accurate picture of what it is doing for the cortisol since half her daily dose will be missing. That's my vote!

Hey Les, the other tests are indeed going to be run on a different day than the ACTH. So what we're debating is just whether on the day that Abby is fasted for the chem panel, should Judy give the trilo or withhold it.

[Squirt's Mom]

Ohhhhhhhhh...never mind then.

[Budsters Mom]

Judy, Have you called and asked the vet about Abbie's morning Trilo dose the day of the Chem panel? I wouldn't think it would affect any of the findings, but you could ask to be sure.

Trilo really tore up my little guy's stomach even when dosed with food. Abbie's is much bigger than Buddy was and it doesn't affect all dogs the same way.

If all checks out with the vet. I still vote for erring on the side of caution and skipping the morning dose of Trilo.

Kathy

[judymaggie]

Kathy -- I am more concerned with the food that is given before the Vetoryl (and the cheese ball containing it) affecting the super chem results than I am about the Vetoryl itself. I do give Abbie pepcid before the two meals after which she gets Vetoryl and, thankfully, she has not had any negative effects.

Abbie goes for her 30 day ACTH on Tuesday and will discuss this issue with him when he calls with results. Abbie is only his third dog being treated with Vetoryl (and he is not following any prescribed protocol with at least one of them) so I am the primary decider with regard to this aspect of Abbie's medical care.

[molly muffin]

I'd skip the trilostane on the day of the fasting test.

The trilostane is for the cortisol, the fasting is testing for other things that shouldn't be affected by the lack of trilostane dosage. That's my thought anyhow.