Cushings disease & a very anxious rescue dog

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with our situation and could offer some advice please?

Our 10 year old staffy has recently been drinking alot of water between 5-7pm, experiencing incontinence on and off in the early evenings, as well as an increase in anxiety around this time, so barking and unable to settle.

She is also much more obsessed with food and seems to get more anxious when she thinks we're about to start cooking a meal and has to come and sit in the kitchen and watch us cook!

She has recently lost her hearing, is on a long term anti-inflammatory (for conservatively managing IVDD & luxating patella) and has generally always been very anxious since we adopted her from the RSPCA at age 5. She also seems to be going through a spell of her anal glands getting repeatedly blocked. This happened a few years ago but has been fine until now.

She has had full blood works done and a urine test, all these showed was her urine was over diluted. The vet wants her to be tested for Cushings disease, my concern is she gets very stressed at the vets. The test involves leaving her there all day and I don't want to put her through this unless absolutely necessary.

Does anyone have any experience of what alternative tests can be done and also how to deal with a dog that hates being left at the vets? I tried to discuss someone staying with her with the vet receptionist and she looked at me like I was mad!

If it is Cushings, then the sooner it's diagnosed the better. Unfortunately there's no other way to test for it, and if your pup's nervous they may want to sedate her a little before taking blood samples 

Will they do the test in house or do they have to send it off for analysis? If they do it in house that will explain why they need to keep her in all day.

Quite often a dog will get more stressed with their owners present than if they're left with the experienced vets & vet nurses.

Cushings can be treated although not cured, but the treatment can rake quite a toll on health - not always, just sometimes.

Hi Gilly,

Thanks for your reply, I have asked the vet to give me a call to discuss sedation and we will then get her booked in for the test. I think it is done in house but this is another question I will ask. Yes the treatment doesn't sound totally straightforward unfortunately, fingers crossed that it isn't cushings. Thanks again for giving me your advice

Hopefully it isn't . But don't despair if it is! There are drugs that can counteract the symptoms.

Are you insured?

Yes we're insured, she's booked in for Monday and I'm allowed to have her back between blood tests - so I'm glad I spoke to the vet about my concerns. She does appear to be getting worse so I really hope they can get to the bottom of it.

I'm sure they will!

Good luck & please let us know how it goes.

Hi Gilly,

Test results back and it is not cushings, so the next stage is scans and x-rays. We have noticed over the last couple of weeks that her ribcage looks enlarged and her harness feels tighter, but she is losing weight. Extremely worried, taking her back in tomorrow to be checked over as they can't do scans until next Thursday