My 9 y.o. dog was just diagnosed with Cushings. I’ll be starting her on Vetoryl next week. Is there anything I should know/do beyond the med?
Just that it may take some time to get the dosage correct, and if it is the correct medication for your dog .
It also takes some time for the medication to show results so watch your dog carefully and read all the information that comes with the medication so you’ll know what side effects to look for.
Don’t be afraid to call the vet and ask questions if you don’t understand the dosage or how the medication works.
Well, we’re at 3 weeks on Vetoryl and my dog continues to decline. She was started at 30mg once a day; she’s ~28 lbs. I just started giving 30mg twice a day per the vet.
She’s noticeably weaker in the hind end and unable to climb the things that one month ago was no problem… Her frantic, ravenous, hunger is altering her behaviour; it’s as though her brain has been taken over by an alien. She’s not the same dog of even a week ago. Tonight she pushed through the back door (hydraulic closure). She has never attempted this previously. She no longer runs with us to haul hay for the cattle but instead stays behind to cruise the corral and horse paddocks for food. Awareness of what’s going on around her has diminished, which means I can no longer take her to the stables safely. That was the highlight of her day but there’s one horse that would kill her; he’s very aggressive, especially toward dogs. Trash raiding and counter surfing are now the norm. She inhales any rodent that she can catches; nearly choking because she’s tries to gulp it down. It’s just so sad to see her world shrinking. And I don’t want to imagine the constant, insatiable feeling that she’s starving.
Hopefully, the meds will work because she can’t continue like this.
((hugs)) & Jingles for your beloved dog & her family
I am so sorry she is not doing well. What does the vet say about her behavior? Any alternatives?
Years ago (30), my aged cocker spaniel developed Cushing’s.
It took a while to get the dosage of meds right. Vetoryl wasn’t around then. I used Lysodren. We finally hit the sweet spot and we had 3 good months where he only required drug once a week. It took a good bit of dosage adjustments. Luckily, I am a pharmacist and could micromanage the dosage changes by making capsules out of people pills. Unfortunately he went into intractable seizures and I had him euthanized. I suppose that his was pituitary in origin. He had a few lesser seizures a couple years before that we never treated.
My dog never developed the ravenous appetite but drank LOTS of water and was incontinent while sleeping. We just happened to go to a new vet fresh out of school and he noticed his bare striated skin on his pot belly. He must of studied or followed a case of Cushing’s during his schooling. When he got enough Lysodren in his system he flat out stopped eating AND drinking overnight. Then we went to the once a week maintenance dose and he rebounded to near normal for both food and water.
Jingles to you and your pup. It is a tough disease.
Susan
