Anyone with experience of cushing’s disease?

[PetPositive]

Hi,

my elderly dog is having various diagnostic tests done at the moment due to some sudden hair loss on his back and neck and increased drinking. We’ve ruled out hypothyroidism and having skin scrapes done next but our vet mentioned another possible cause could be Cushing’s. He has some of the symptoms (hair loss, increased drinking and weeing and sometimes seems like his back legs are feeling weak) but then he doesn’t have the characteristic pot bellied appearance.

I was just wondering if you’ve had a dog with cushing’s how it presented early on? And your experience with treating/managing it if you’re happy to share?

thank you :)

My gorgeous JRT had all the text book symptoms inc pot belly and her blood test was negative.Myself and vet very surprised.Fingers crossed that your dog is ok.X

Our Yorkie had it, with no pot belly. My vets advised treatment was rarely successful in small dogs and she lived a happy 3 more years before she went to sleep.

i had a horse with it, who i treated for 15 (very expensive) years. Horses have different symptoms to dogs so was shocked when the dog was diagnosed with it!

Our yorkie had it and with the symptoms you describe, plus anxiety and a pot belly which did become much worse over time. He also seemed to lose some of the pigment in his skin. He lived for a further six years with the medication controlling it adequately, but never brilliantly. It's an evil disease really. Whilst somewhat treatable, it caused lots of issues as he got older, like muscle weakness, high levels of lipids in the blood and an enlarged liver. I really hope your dog doesn't have it, but try not to panic if he does. We just loved our dog and gave him the medication which managed things well for the best part of six years and he was still able to live a happy life xx