Hi. Has anyone every had to deal with a dog

[Baja Margie]

with Cushings Disease? Our Jack has been diagnosed with Cushing's Disease. Poor little guy. Your experiences? Thanks mucho.

[Sanity Claws]

1. Cushing Disease

Cushing's Disease also occurs in humans. Isn't it failure of the adrenal glands? Or some other glandular problem?
I've never heard of it in dogs. You may want to go a web site more suitable to this inquiry. Have you tried "allexperts.com."

[Marlie]

2. Our dog

Yes, our dog Joe, who died when he was seventeen years old (about
ten years ago) was diagnosed with Cushings Disease when he was about
nine years old, they put him on meds and he was fine. Went on to live
a very full life and never acted sick once he was on the meds.
Forgive me, it's been so long, I simply do not remember what drug
he took but it really helped. We did take him to Purdue for the
tests, etc. because we were so concerned - take heart, he should be
fine but probably will have to remain on meds the rest of his life
but once diagnosed and treated he will feel so good again. That was
our experience with this disease. Good luck to both of you.

[TexasSissy]

3. I have a dog recently diagnosed with Cushing's.

I know it's upsetting, but don't despair. Once you get your bearings, you will realize that this is not as bad as it sounds at first.

If you join Yahoo.com, you can participate in the many "groups" on yahoo. And there is a group specifically for owners who have dogs with Cushing's Disease. It is a fantastic group! It has files attached to the group; they contain all sorts of information on Cushing's.

If you don't know how to access groups on yahoo, here's how:

go to www.yahoo.com
register to join (you must have setting for ALL cookies to be accepted)
go the Cushing's group site, which is http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CanineCushings-AutoimmuneCare/

You can either just read the stuff there (messages and files), or you can join and participate.

Words cannot say how helpful that group has been to me. There are people in that group who know just about everything there is to know about the disease.

If you want to ask me any particular questions, feel free, and I'll tell you what I can. How old is Jack?

[LisaM]

4. My friend's dog has it and they are using some medication

so far, so good. It's been about eight months. His dog is a Shepard/Husky mix, large, and is about 12 years old. He is doing well. I don't know what the medication is - some sort of blue pill.

[Wheaty]

5. I had one who had it

My Vet put my dog on a form of Aricept (used for Alzheimer's).

My grandmother who has Alzheimer's and my dog for the most part were on the exact same medication.

My vet said it either works really well for the dog or it doesn't. My dog did really well on it and lived happily for 5 more years.

YMMV...Good Luck

[Baja Margie]

6. Thank you everyone !

Thank you for the links. I'll keep you updated, he goes back into the vets this afternoon, yes it is the pituitary gland, which can be treated with meds. The other sorce is another gland, where the tumor must be removed. He's already had three tumors removed in the last year.

Thank you so much again !!!

[TexasSissy]

8. The common drug to treat this is Lysodren, which is a form

of chemotherapy (in pill form). Don't let the word scare you. But that is indeed what it is.

Trilostane is the accepted method of treatment in the U.K., but that drug has not been approved here in the U.S. yet.

My dog is on Lysodren (somewhat sizeable white pills). It starts with 7 to 10 days of giving it to the dog every day, then doing another blood test. If the results are good, then you go to only once or twice a week of giving the drug (with my dog, it's only once a week).

Then you have to keep an eye on your dog to watch for symptoms of too little of the hormone (the drug is killing the adrenal gland, so that it doesn't produced so much of the hormone, and if it goes too far, your dog may get too little of the hormone - this is rare, but you have to watch for it).

My dog is feeling better since being on Lysodren. He is doing very well. I am very encouraged.

I encourage you strongly to join the yahoo Cushing's group. There are files in that group that give the reader all sorts of scientific information about the disease, as well as healthy eating plans, the differences of the different kinds of medications and treatment, symptoms to look for, etc., etc. The "owner" of the group (dogmother) knows just about everything there is to know about this disease, as do some of the others.

Good luck.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. There is a K9Kidneys Group

on yahoo that discusses various kidney related dog diseases including cushings. I have a juvenile renal failure dog and have gotten some good advice there. As with all groups evaluate the advice you are given.