Any tips on distinguishing warning signs of Cushings from normal signs of aging?

[lhsdavis]

Mine started with the excessive drinking and accidents became more frequent. And shes always been a eater so her desire for food wouldnt cause me to think anything of it. Then two years ago before christmas she developed pancreatitis and spent three days in the hospital. All her blood work was off the charts so they recommended that after her meds were finished for pancreatitis to have her tested for cushings. I did, she tested on the low scale for it and since she was 11 I opted for something that would just help her be more comfortable, so we gets 15 mg of anipryl a day. It worked wonders for her.

 

[Barkley]

Heather - thanks for adding your two cents here, I for one really appreciate it!! We have been down one heck of a road in trying to get our pup diagnosed, and have ended up with a doc who is pressuring me to try meds that are not appropriate for him. Too long a story to bother with here, but I had wondered about anipryl, and your comment is encouraging. For now, we are treating him with flax/melatonin, which is working to a degree, but once we give it the full four months, I think he is probably going to need just a little something additional to help keep him comfortable. It's good to hear of a success with that particular drug; I'll look into whether it might be appropriate for him. Anyway, thanks again!

 

[MorganBaby]

First of all I agree with others with the fact that you're just trying to be a good parent to your baby! But it does sound like just general aging symptoms, all things I went through with my last dog, who was 17 years old (not a boxer). How my vet put it to me when I was starting to get really worried about her as she aged was, "you and I may not be able to keep the pounds off or be as active as we once were either, but that's no reason to put her down yet." And the signs of her aging started when she was 10 years old, and look she went another 7 years before I saw the quality of her life being to difficult on her. Just so you know, as they do age there are meds out there to really help them stay comfortable, we went from using buffered aspirin as needed for her old aches and pains, to having to increase to a mild narcotic drug to keep her more comfortable on her bad days, to doing a steroid injection (which really brought the life and energy back to her for a little while).
As for the Cushings, I can tell you it is hard to differ between that and the later stages of the aging process, as my girl aged alot of what you see in Cushings does look very similiar to a very old dog. However one distinct thing to notice with Cushings, or Diabetes which can occur as they age also, is any abnormal, persistent smell from the dog. With Diabetes they will increase their drinking and urinating and have a fruity smell to their breath. With Cushings the dog might start smelling "stinky" all the time no matter how much you give them a bath. They have that "wet dog, old gym sock" smell and start shedding more. This was the sign my sister's dog had when they took him to the vet and found out he has Cushings. They only did the urine test that the other person posted about because he's an older Rottweiler and has surpassed his life expectancy anyways my sister didn't want to spend the money on the more expensive tests since the urine test was pointing towards the Cushings diagnosis, and the meds for the Cushings doesn't treat it, it only extends their expectancy and they are very expensive meds. So they just keep him as comfortable as they can in the mean time.
Sorry this post ended up being so long, but hope that last little part of the smells to watch for helped.

 

[trc4941]

I just want to report that Rocco is doing GREAT. He was on the first round of meds...the loading round where he they load him with Lycodrene (sp?) to get his cortisol levels down. His levels went down within a week and we saw a huge difference in his whole demeanor. We couldn't believe how fast he improved. The drinking, peeing, panting...everything improved. He was back to his old self. He just had another blood test after being off his meds for a few weeks and his cortisol levels are normal. So no more meds until we see something different. He'll be tested again in about a month. I'm so glad we decided on the treatment. His quality of life..........and ours...has vastly improved.