Any vets about? Can you help me with please?

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

My old spaniel has been diagnosed with Cushings. Vet has prescribed Vetoryl. Dog has a few of the symptoms; drinking and weeing a lot more, high liver enzymes but the blood test results were inconclusive. No sugar in wee. Vet is convinced that it is Cushings. Dog is otherwise ok. Good muscle, good heartbeat, glossy coat.

Dog has completely lost his appetite. Anything he does eat he throws up again. Managed to get some chicken and rice in him on Saturday because the vet gave him an injection to suppress the sickness. Then vet prescribed Zantac to stop the sickness. Can't get him to keep them down. He keeps being sick. They're not working. Vet has suggested a tablet form of the injection he had on Saturday. If I can get him to take them.

I have read that a classic symptom of Cushings is increased appetite. Dog is completely the opposite. Won't look at favourite treats. Just about managed to get him to swallow a piece of ham with the Zantac in this morning. Then he threw it up about an hour later. He also has a touch of diarrhoea when he goes to the loo. I guess from lack of food.

Vet is lovely and has been so keen to sort this out. However I'm now getting worried that perhaps it isn't Cushings after all and we're wasting time. Or there's something else that we've missed. What else could it be?

So worried about my poor old boy.

Did you have an ACTH stimulation test? Or a low dose dexamethasone suppression test?
Usually if I get an inconclusive ACTH stim I do a urine cortisol: creatinine ratio that will rule out or in cushings.

I don't know. He had to have a blood test, wait an hour while they did something and then take it again. That was the one that was inconclusive.

Thanks for answering.

Sounds like an ACTH stim, if this is inconclusive either urine cortisol:creatinine or low dose dex would be helpful in determining if it is Cushings.

Personally I'd be very reluctant to treat a dog for Cushing's on the basis of inconclusive tests. While it can be a really tricky thing to diagnose, in some cases requiring several different tests to do so, it's not something I just trial treatment with unless I've got really good reason to. So I'm not sure why he's getting Vetoryl on the basis of an inconclusive ACTH stim test when there are other tests that could be done to clarify things.

Your vet might have good reason for this though so my best advice is to talk to them about it and ask if there's anything else they can do to confirm the diagnosis.

Thank you. He seemed so sure. I keep going back to what I've read about dogs with Cushings eating a lot. He's not really eating anything. I made him some more chicken and rice tonight with a little bit of my lovely chicken stock in and he hardly touched it. And the bloody pills are still in it.

I've just been reading a bit more. Apparently the Vetoryl can cause vomiting and diarrhoea. So other than the lack of appetite he does meet the rough description. Although apparently he should also have elevated blood sugar. There was none in his wee, is that the same thing?

They don't all have elevated blood sugar and it is only enough to get glucose in the urine if there is concurrent diabetes which does happen.

There are a range of symptoms for cushings, but not all dogs have them all. Drink a lot and peeing a lot are the most consistent.

Went back for another check up today. Told the vet how he can't keep anything down, even water. He kept him in for a scan. Turns out he's not got much liver left. Not sure if it's lymphoma or cirrhosis or what. While he was at the vets he threw up his water. Vet says not to bother with Vetoryl anymore. Not sure if it is Cushings or whether the lack of appetite, drinking, weeing and high liver enzymes are all down to the knackered liver. He's still got a high temperature. He's had two injections of antibiotics and antisickness. We were sent home with special food but he won't even touch it. We've got to take him back for another two or three days to have injections again as he can't keep pills down. If he won't eat he'll just starve himself to death. Something has got to happen. He's got to eat.

So sorry to hear this MsAdorabelle :( in these situations I often advise owners that it is more important that their dog eats something than that they eat the special diet. I am not advising you to do this - simply saying that it's something to discuss with your vet tomorrow. Things like warm poached white fish, warm chicken and scrambled eggs are light but quite digestible. I sometimes resort to fresh raw butcher's mince for dogs that really won't eat. See what your vet says tomorrow.

He did nibble on some of our barbecued chicken last night but it came back up practically undigested a few hours later. Same with his treat yesterday morning. Ate a couple of bits and back it came a few hours later, still recognisable, undigested. Could even see the capsule in there. Will give it another couple of days of the injections and pray that he manages to eat something.

He must be starving. He's not eaten anything for four days. He's lost 1.25 kg since last week. That'd be like me losing half a stone. Not good.