Welcome! Thanks for the offer to help out owners of bassets with Cushing's or Addison's; people always appreciate hearing experiences of others whose dogs have similar medical conditions. 
I have one Cushings and one Addison basset--what luck!
Hello!
I just wanted to offer myself as a source of information and support to any basset owner whose baby has either Addisons or Cushings disease. Addison means no adrenal function...Cushing means way too much adrenal function. Anyhow, both my bassets are doing great, but it was a long, difficult road to finding the best way to take care of their needs.
If you need any support, please feel free to email me.
Here are some symptoms of both diseases....
Addisons: won't eat, weakness, tremors/trembling, dehydration, basically looks and acts on the brink of death, getting progressively worse. Usually, a dog will "crash".
Diagnose is made through blood work: ratio of potassium in electrolytes is clue of disease
Cure: none, but managable with monthly shot, and sometimes, a daily dose of prednisone (these dogs don't produce hormones to maintain body function). In fact, my basset Eleanor is like a brand new doggy after a couple of months. You'd never know she has this disease.
Cushings: eats WAY too much, fat pot belly (hmm, hard to tell in basset), drinks excessively (key), starts peeing in house all the sudden for no reason (another key), losing hair, hind leg weakness, dull flaky coat, weird skin bumps (sometimes). A lot of poor doggies that have this are very old and are just thought to be "losing it"....when this is not the case.
Diagnose through series of tests...
Cure: none, but also manageable by bringing the cortisol levels back to normal. Depending on the type of Cushings, medication and treatment varies. Franklin had to take some chemotherapy-like medication for a small period of time to shrink the tumor in his pituary gland that was effecting his adrenal functions. Once this happened, he went onto a maintanance dosage of about 5 pills a week. He is doing much, much better...has lost about 15 pound (he was OVER 100 pounds) and his hair is growing back baby-soft. One of the down sides to treating this disease is that since we have brought the cortisol levels to a normal range, his arthritis, which was "masked" by the steroid his body was over-producing, is really acting up. So the dog may require some none-steroidal pain meds in addition.
I'll post some pics of my babies in the near future.
Cheer up, these diseases are VERY manageable!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards,
Alisa
I just wanted to offer myself as a source of information and support to any basset owner whose baby has either Addisons or Cushings disease. Addison means no adrenal function...Cushing means way too much adrenal function. Anyhow, both my bassets are doing great, but it was a long, difficult road to finding the best way to take care of their needs.
If you need any support, please feel free to email me.
Here are some symptoms of both diseases....
Addisons: won't eat, weakness, tremors/trembling, dehydration, basically looks and acts on the brink of death, getting progressively worse. Usually, a dog will "crash".
Diagnose is made through blood work: ratio of potassium in electrolytes is clue of disease
Cure: none, but managable with monthly shot, and sometimes, a daily dose of prednisone (these dogs don't produce hormones to maintain body function). In fact, my basset Eleanor is like a brand new doggy after a couple of months. You'd never know she has this disease.
Cushings: eats WAY too much, fat pot belly (hmm, hard to tell in basset), drinks excessively (key), starts peeing in house all the sudden for no reason (another key), losing hair, hind leg weakness, dull flaky coat, weird skin bumps (sometimes). A lot of poor doggies that have this are very old and are just thought to be "losing it"....when this is not the case.
Diagnose through series of tests...
Cure: none, but also manageable by bringing the cortisol levels back to normal. Depending on the type of Cushings, medication and treatment varies. Franklin had to take some chemotherapy-like medication for a small period of time to shrink the tumor in his pituary gland that was effecting his adrenal functions. Once this happened, he went onto a maintanance dosage of about 5 pills a week. He is doing much, much better...has lost about 15 pound (he was OVER 100 pounds) and his hair is growing back baby-soft. One of the down sides to treating this disease is that since we have brought the cortisol levels to a normal range, his arthritis, which was "masked" by the steroid his body was over-producing, is really acting up. So the dog may require some none-steroidal pain meds in addition.
I'll post some pics of my babies in the near future.
Cheer up, these diseases are VERY manageable!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards,
Alisa
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sounds like you would by a lotto ticket and the person behind you would get the winning one.
Again my heart goes out to you (I just finished posting in another "addisons" thread ... )
We just recently went through it ourselves with Mocha (and unfortunately was not able to afford her continued treatment, she is still "living" at the vet clinic actually, we are trying to find her a permanent home that is able/willing/and capable to manage her daily needs, etc).
Was a heartbreaking decision to make, unfortunately was the only one I could. I just pray they / we can find her a place where she can be happy, healthy and well.
We just recently went through it ourselves with Mocha (and unfortunately was not able to afford her continued treatment, she is still "living" at the vet clinic actually, we are trying to find her a permanent home that is able/willing/and capable to manage her daily needs, etc).
Was a heartbreaking decision to make, unfortunately was the only one I could. I just pray they / we can find her a place where she can be happy, healthy and well.
Dear Alisabaum, Thankyou so much for giving me hope. Barney my Basset is 12 and may have Cushings. We have had xrays, ultrasound scans, blood tests and an ACDH test which came back inconclusive for Cushings. We go for another test next month. Barney only has one of the symptoms for Cushings, excessive thirst so I am hoping it may not prove to be Cushings. At least I know from your post that there is medication.
1 - 5 of 5 Posts
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