Has anyone else here had a dog with Cushings disease?

[bunnies]

13. I understand exactly how you feel.

Youve already handled it better than we did. When Bean started losing her hair we chalked it up to old age. That, and being a Bichon, she's had skin issues her whole life. There have been very few times when she didnt have a bald spot somewhere. We were always told it was allergies so seeing the hair loss was not something we stressed over.

Then one day (a Friday night of course) she started vomiting white foamy stuff. Again, this is common with her when she eats something random from the ground. No worries. The next day she refused to eat. The next day she stopped drinking. And by Monday (the day I brought her to the vet) the wouldnt even look up when called and she was throwing up yellow liquid EVERYWHERE. When I got her to the vet, they thought she had some parasite and didnt expect her to live. I left the vet that day knowing very well that we would probably have to put her down. When the antibiotics started to help her, the vet staff was shocked. She spent 3 days there. I picked her up on her 11th birthday.

We started her on 30mg Vetoryl, which was a good dose for a while. Since then, we've added 10mg at night and shes doing well. I recommended the increase myself due to excessive panting and loose stools. Tests confirmed my instincts were correct. Did they give any reason for starting Toby on such a high dose? 60mg is really, really high for a small dog. Especially considering youve caught it so early. Bean is on the highest dose my vet has ever given a dog her size (17 lbs). My best advice for you right now is to really watch him closely for signs of hypoadrenocorticism. They should have given you a packet that tells you what to look for. Too little cortisol can be just as dangerous to Toby as too much. Thats why the balance of meds has got to be perfect.

Dont freak out. I promise I'm not trying to freak you out. Im sure your vet thinks the dose is appropriate. Just monitor him closely until his next test (should be a couple of weeks from now). Once the meds are right, you wont see any signs of the cushings. And its perfectly reasonable to expect Toby to live a good long life. Bean will be 13 in Dec and she acts just like she always did pre-cushings.

And please dont hesitate to PM me with any questions. I know what youre going through.