Dog with Cushings Disease
My boy (14yo male neutered Springer Spaniel) is showing many of the signs of Cushing's disease. His eyesight is failing badly. (But he also has digenerative retinals). He eats everything, drinks a ton of water, urinates often as a result, has exhibited skin problems in the last few months, seems to be getting "weaker" in muscle structure than he really should be. Pants most of the time. I know he's old, so a lot of this could be age related. The blood tests have come back as "non-conclusive" his cortisol levels are 19.8 which I am told is a grey area...Do you have any suggestions as to how to proceed. The vet is wishy washy on doing more tests because he says they are also likely to be inconclusive. The medical treatments I've read about for it sound as bad as the problem. I'm not keen on giving heim something that "kills" a portion of his organs to reduce the production of hormones. I've heard a lot of things in the last few months regarding cortisol-thru a company add for cortislim. Basically saying it controls/reduces the production of the hormone, and provides a calming effect (anti stress). Since he is mostly blind--I would assume he is somewhat stressed a lot of the time (I would be). Could this be helpful? What would you suggest we do next? I don't mind the tests if we will learn something, but if it just stresses him more for nothing I'm not sure what is best. |
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Dog with problems walking
When I came home from work yesterday, Sparrow(6yo female neutered mix breed), who stays in my basement with access to the crawl space under the house, was having trouble going up the stairs. She seemed sick - hot nose & depressed. She has a knot midway up her tail about the size of a quarter. Her hindquarters are slightly swollen and tender. Her behind was dirty with dust, some fecal matter, and little black dots that looked like flea eggs (she doesn't have fleas - she's on med from the vet.) It seemed she had been dragging her bottom on the ground. My gut feeling is that she may have been bitten by a spider or god forbid a snake (in my basement?!!) but I'm also worried that she's hurt her back. She can still walk - even jump on the bed - but she is not moving correctly. She is still eating and drinking. She's not any worse this morning, but no better. She's not limping, but she acts stiff - is not moving her hind legs with ease, but I don't see where they look out of whack. For example, when she goes up steps, she just goes one step at a time, very slowly and carefully when she usually bounds & skips steps. It doesn't look like she's knuckling over, and her feet and legs look normal. Another thought after babying her this morning - she has had trouble in the past with her anal glands being blocked. Usually I try to massage & expel them when I bathe her. I haven't noticed her dragging her butt, which usually happens when her glands are filled and need expelling, but is it possible this could be the problem? Or constipation?
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