I have had an encounter with Cushings. Although, the dog was not mine. He was a small mutt, about 25 lbs.

I did see the dog about every two weeks. He was on meds and that kept things under control. As far as I could tell, there were little if any major issues.

The dog lived to be 14, and died of other issues.

Sorry, I don't know of any support groups. Have you tried looking for this on Google? You might also try "dog support groups."

Good luck!

SG

There is a list for cushings. I was on it when my Akita was diagnosed. I don't know if I still having the address or not but I'll look. You could probably find it by searching for "cushings list" or along those lines. It wasn't a yahoo group but you might try looking there too.

Lisa

Thanks, I appreciate it. Maybe I'm just using the wrong key words when googling. I'll try your ideas.

Laurel

Symptoms:

Polidipsia.- the animal drinks a lot of water
Poliuria.- the animal urinates a lot ( which is an obvious symptom, if it drinks a lot of water it´s going to pee a lot )
Pendulous abdomen
Simetrical bilateral alopecia.- loss of coat and changes in the quality, ammount and texture of the coat & skin.
Muscular atrophy.- the animal losses muscle mass
Anestrus and testicular hypoplasia.- the females have no heat, in the males the testicles turn smaller.
Obesity
Hyperpigmentation.- the skin turns black

What it is:

Hyperadrenocorthisism ( Cushing Syndrome ) is a hormonal imbalance originated in the cortex of the adrenal glands,
the cortical cells begin to produce massive ammounts of cortecosteroids ( cortisone and it´s related compounds ).

How it´s diagonsed:

Symptoms plus lab tests.

Treatment :

Surgical.- Adrenalectomy
Medical.- o,p'-DDD

The link for one listserve is below.

If I ever have another dog diagnosed with it I would pay for a second test with a different lab and get a second opinion from an internist.
I had one dog with it that was too old and his health so bad that both the vet and I thought the treatment alone would kill him. He lived nearly 2 more years and slowly went blind and developed neurological problems. Eventually he wasn't able to eat or drink without me helping and he gradually lost the ability to get up once he lay down. We had him euthanized at home.
My own opinion was that he probably had a brain tumor since he never showed some of the 'classic' symptoms of Cushings.

My other dog had a false-positive diagnosis and the treatment nearly killed her. If I hadn't stopped the treatment at the first sign of her losing her appetite she wouldn't have made it.
I later had other bad experiences with the lab this vet used...........one was that she was in kidney failure and needed immediate attention. They had somehow gotten her tests mixed up with another dog's lab work. Needless to say, I left this vet and his lab!

Anyway, I ended up treating her for Addisons Disease (under-productive adrenal gland) for the rest of her life, and she also ended up with immune deficiency disease.

I've recently read of a drug that seems to help a lot of Cushings dogs have a better quality of life, but none of my vets suggested it.......not sure why.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cushings

Trilostane is very recently available in the US for treatment of Cushings with less side effects than lysodren. Well, except for the very low risk of sudden death. But other than that, it is a reversible non-cytotoxic drug that doesn't carry the risk of making your dog Addisonian like lysodren can. Some vets use trilostane in conjunction with ketoconazole (an anti-fungal drug) to increase the bioavailability of the trilostane and reduce the dose.

As far as behavior changes, most dogs don't have that many except the already mentioned increased hunger, thirst, and perhaps panting and lethargy. I've heard a few people say that their dog got aggressive or had other odd personality changes with Cushings in the untreated stage, but that seems rare. Once treated and stable, it seems all those signs go away.

As far as pain and quality of life go, I think it depends on how well the disease is being managed. Most seem like happy dogs, unless they go into a Addisonian crisis. Then they are pretty darn miserable until their cortisol levels are fixed. But that is pretty easy to do. If they are accidently made permanently Addisonian, that is treatable too. I guess it would be a big problem if your dog was hard to medicate for some reason, because treating either Cushings or Addisons is usually a lifelong ordeal. Another issue would be if your dog get stressed at the vets or resented frequent blood draws. I think the biggest issue in treating Cushings is the expense and inconvenience to the owner, because the dog must be pilled, monitored at home carefully, and the drug dose must be monitored closely requiring many blood draws and trips to the vet. This isn't a type of disease where you just give some pills for a couple of weeks and it goes away. It's generally life long. So it requires a lot of committment from the owner. But dogs are well worth the effort IMHO. Their quality of life is much improved with treatment.

I tried to post the group for Cushings and this forum wouldn't allow it???? So instead I am sending this link and there is a link to the group on here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canine cushings group

My dog had a successful surgery monday, all stones were removed; they did the cushings test wednesday and I should have the results tomorrow or saturday.
She is recovering well, she is still boarded at the vet. At this point, my bill with them is approx $2000.

If she is postively with cushings disease, I'm a bit discouraged from what I read here as far as managing the medication, what kind is the best one, the monitoring, etc...

Her incontinence has been hard on us, she is up and down from the bed 5 times at least during the night, barks for water at 2 a.m., we are at our wit's end, all our carpets are ruined at this point. Sorry about the venting, but as much as I love my dog, my husband is at the end of the rope with her and won't have anything to do with the extra work; so If she has cushings, I don't know if I can deal with all that.

Two months ago I was told that my dog probably had Cushings, based on symptoms and elevated liver function tests. The day that she was to go into the vet for day-long testing to confirm the Cushings diagnosis, my horse dropped dead right in front of my eyes. I cancelled the dog's appointment as I couldn't deal with it right then.

I never did schedule the testing. The dog is 14, has had a good life, and I wasn't sure how much we were willing to go through emotionally and financially---and how much we were willing to put her through physically. Not at her age, beyond the normal life span for her size and breed(s). I understand that the treatment is difficult at best.

Now, two months later, she is still with us although she pretty much sleeps all the time. She still eats well and takes short walks. She has quit barking for water, although she would like to drink more than we give her. There have been occasional accidents in the house but none so far at night.

We have cancelled our vacation and are trying to see to her comfort, assessing her condition on a day to day basis. I hope that if she is in pain, we will recognize it.

Nancy

My dog, Hoover, was diagnosed with Cushings about 2-3 years ago. Due to his advanced age at the time of diagnosis, I opted for no treatment. The only real issue was the incontenence, which, as you know, is not easy.

He had absolutely no behavioral changes associated with Cushings, other than increased thirst (which made him pee more). Same happy, stubborn hound that I had loved for years.

I made a pee-station for him inside the house. I layered those house breaking floor pads ontop of a thick, washable, plastic floor covering. He was allowed to go in the house on that pad. However, I have to say, he still did have some accidents elsewhere. I was able to deal with it, but, honestly, it did take a chunk out of my day, cleaning up, mopping, putting down fresh pads, etc.

You might consider leaving Sadie outside at night. Before Hoover became decrepit with age, I often made him a bed on the back porch so he could go out and potty at leisure. I also left him outside during the day as much as possible.

If he had been younger when he was diagnosed, I would have definitely put him on the Cushings meds. But at 13 years old, I just felt that the meds were too much for him.

Ask your vet if she has another patient that has a dog with Cushings that would be willing to talk to you/answer questions.

update on my bichon, tested and diagnosed in july with cushings; we've since changed vets in september and this new vet was highly doubtful that the dog had cushings, she's done the testing again and there is no cushings, the dog was taken off lysodren and is doing extremely well. She's 13.
She was thoroughly tested after a month off lysodren to make sure she was ok.

From what I understood about cushings, it cannot be cured or does not go away but I can only conclude that my dog was misdiagnosed initially.
Our original vet said that bladder stones my dog had removed in july are also a sign of cushings, the new vet says not ; the new vet has more of a "diagnose and observe" mentality, my old vet was more of a "diagnose and medicate immediately" mentality.
Both are good vets but I guess there are different schools of thought on cushings.

My cat is 15 and has Cushings. Her medications cost $50 a month. She seems to be doing well on the meds. She urinates a lot, I clean her litter box every day.

My Cocker has been treated for Cushings for 6 years. He's on Lysodren and doing fine.

He has growths popping up all over his body. I usually leave the growths be however there are some that have to be surgically removed because they are large and bleed constantly. His hair grows slower and he pee's quite a bit.

I get his med's at Costco which saves me a bundle verses a regular pharmacy.

He has good days and bad days because of his age. With Cushings there is no pain.

Basically it a tumor that grows around the pituitary gland or the adrenal gland. Most cases affect the pituitary gland which is not operable.

Lysodren keeps the tumor from growing. Blood tests are recommended every few months to monitor the medication.

(((HUGS))) from Eirn
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