Wow...after a year I am told my dog DOES NOT have cushings

[Cindy]

Hi,
I have been on this board here and there over the past year. I am not sure how much anyone would remember my story.

I will try to make it short. Last October after taking my dog to the vet due to her drinking alot of water, my vet told me my maltese had cushings. We put her on Selegeline. After reading and reading this board, I decided in June to take her to a specialist. The specialist told me that my dog did not look at all visually like a dog that had cushings. We did testing and she came up borderline cushings and a bad urinary infection. We did an ultrasound and her adrenal glands looked fine. I went back a month later to make sure the urinary tract infection was gone and we tested again. Now she tested negative for cushings. We decided to take her off the selegeline for one month to see if that was giving her the negative test results. Well....I went in yesterday and got the results today that after a month off the selegeline she is still negative for cushings. I am so happy. For some reason though I feel she does have it. I dont know why I keep thinking this. The symtoms she has is alot of water drinking, panting, laying on the cold floor, lifting one leg sometimes when sitting.

I just thought I would share with everybody. I am almost thinking of in a few months having her retested. It is just unbelievable!

Thank you all! Thank you also for listening and caring! :)

Cindy
And of course my baby, Merry. ;)

[acushdogsmom]

Hi Cindy and Merry!

I'm always glad to hear good news. :)

I'm so glad also that you have a Specialist to consult with now and it sure sounds like Merry does not have Cushing's, especially if the Specialist doesn't think it's Cushing's and since Merry has now tested negative two times. The borderline result you got before could have been just due a temporary elevation in cortisol levels. (Maybe a bad urinary tract infection could have caused cortisol levels to go up enough to get a borderline test result?)

Since Merry still has symptoms (increased water drinking and panting and laying on the cold floor), have you asked the Specialist what else (besides Cushing's) might be causing those symptoms? I'm sure the Specialist can figure out what else could cause those kinds of symptoms and then also prescribe appropriate treatment.

Good luck, and please come back and let us know how you and Merry are doing, even if she is not a Cushing's dog after all!

[Cindy]

Acushdogsmom,
Thanks so much for your reply. The few visits I had with the specialist, she really couldnt come up with what it was. She said that she seems fine.

Also, this specialist is about thirty miles from my house. I absolutely love her and raved about the whole place, but had a bad incident with the people working at the front desk yesterday. Even though I signed in and let them know I was there, they bypassed me and it was a big thing in the office yesterday. I was sitting around for a while. The doctor was very upset they did this and didnt charge me for the office visit and took 50% off the bill. Because of this, I dont know if I will go back to this office. I felt very uncomfortable the rest of my visit there with the office workers at the front desk. The doctor was very sorry though. I have found out that there is a specialist 10 miles from my house. I guess I am just venting a little. I feel I would like to have her see a specialist at some later date, maybe a few months down the road, but dont know if I should go back to the same place. I also am upset that my veterinarian diagnosed her with cushings a year ago without having me follow it up. I had to do it all on my own. My vets advice was to just keep giving her the selegeline. I guess I have some major decisions to make with where to take Merry in the future.

Thanks for listening! Also, I will continue to visit this board. My goodness, if it wasnt for this board, Merry would not of seen a specialist and she would still be on the selegeline.

Love you all!

Cindy :)

[Susan]

Hi Cindy,

What great news! Don't be to hard on those "front office" workers, they made a mistake thats all, everyone can make a mistake. If you really like that Vet I'd stay with her/him. The vet knows your dogs histroy, and thats important. My vet is sure that my Dukie has "cushing's" and we are going to see the specialist tomarrow. However Dukie also had a really super bad bladder/kidney infection (and I mean REAL bad) Well my vet gave Dukie 2 injections of antibiotics plus pills to give him everyday. I'll tell you what, I see a world of difference in my dog. He moves better, is much more alert, his hair is growing back, his skin looks better and the sores on his legs are almost all healed up. He did test high on his Dex suppression test, but maybe that was due to the massive infection that he had, I guess I will find out tomarrow.

Dukies mom, Susan

[Cindy]

Thanks Susan,
First, the reason I am questioning my veterinarian is she diagnosed my dog with cushings a year ago, put her on Selegeline, only working with one other dog with cushings and never suggested I look into this further to a specialist. Now after going to the specialist on my own, my dog is diagnosed with not having cushings. Doesnt give me much faith in the veterinarian.

The specialists office I went to, I like the specialist very much and it was a mistake the office workers made, but they nastily tried to blame me somehow. The specialist (who is the owner of the facility) came down on them very hard and they werent too friendly to me...very uncomfortable. These are the people that bring my dog in the back for testing etc...

THese are the reasons I feel I need to rethink, not only her veterinarian who misdiagnosed her and didnt have me see someone who was more knowledgable (in fact she said I shouldnt see a specialist) and also the incident at the specialist.

Anyway, it has been some week with this. I know something is going on with my dog with all the water drinking, etc but we came up with nothing.

Again thanks to this board, I went to the specialist! I am so grateful to all of you!

Cindy

[Buddys mom]

Hi Cindy-Today was my big day to get my 13 yr old schnauzers results back from his dex-test last Friday. The vet (not specialist) told me they were negative. I was and am shocked. He told me he wasn't sure why Buddy has the classic symptoms. He wants to do some basic panels (blood tests) next week to check for diabetes and kidney disease. I know he has had several random glucoses checked. (normal) He drinks like crazy. consequently urinates frequently, Eats like he is starved, pants periodically. There is no hair loss and I can't be sure if he is pot bellied because he is at least 5 lbs overweight. SOMETHING is amiss and has been for a few years. To complicate matters, Buddy used to be able to still hold his urine for at least 3-4 hours and now he can't. It might be old-age but if it is -it sure came on overnight with his latest UTI and bladder stones. (removed 2 weeks ago. Cindy-do you or anyone else have any idea what could be wrong?? I will probably post a new bulletin about this. Thanks-Buddys mom

[Cindy]

Buddysmom - Wow, sounds similar to my dog. My dog has the panting, constant urinating, excess drinking. She doesnt have a pot belly and only has the slightest amount of hair loss. What I do definetely recommend is maybe you go see a specialist. If I didnt go, I would be still medicating my dog for cushings. I know that there has to be a reason for all the water drinking, but they cant find anything. Let me know how you make out. Good luck!

Cindyh

[Buddys mom]

Hi Cindy-It sounds like our dogs are very similar. It also sounds like we are at a loss with somewhat paradoxical(?big word) problems. Is Merry an inside-pet. Buddy is and the thought of keeping him outside would kill me. I would probably move out there with him. Of coarse, having any extreme measures done is something I don't know if I could do. This will eventually affect my life if some kind of treatment can't be done. I can't really leave my house for over a few hours. I have a sick grandchild that lives one hour away and I am going to have to free myself up soon. In the past Buddy has always gone with me most places, but I can't expect others to be happy about a 'peeing' dog coming over. I don't understand why my GP vet didn't want to do ultrasounds or xrays or something. You'd think he'd want to take my money. Couldn't these films show (or not show) the liver, adrenals etc.??? Buddy actually seems to feel pretty good for his age and that sort makes it all the harder. Any words of wisdom or commaraudarie (?spelling?) is appreciated. Buddys Mom

[Cindy]

Buddysmom -
So sorry for your situation. The vet doesnt do the ultrasounds. It is the specialist that has that equipment and goes in depth like that. Merry's specialist said her adrenal glands looked great, so there again she really didnt think she has cushings. Also, just like you, my 12 year old maltese is stilling jumping around like she is a puppy...so happy for that. Yes, Merry is an inside dog. I dont know what advice to offer other than to check out a specialist. My opinion - the vets are great for vaccinations, etc, the simple things, but when something else doesnt seem right, it is time to look into a specialist. I certainly learned that so well, being if I didnt reach out to a specialist, Merry would still be on Selegeline for cushings and now she has been diagnosed as not having it. Good luck!

Cindy